Ajouter de l'harmonie jazz au blues

Adding Detail to Bebop Progressions

So as well as melodic invention, bebop players added extra detail to their chord progressions as well.

Evolution of the 12-Bar Blues

Far from being just chords I, IV, and V, the 12-bar blues evolved under bebop to have a little bit more detail. Let's look at a few areas where the changes are different:

• In the last four bars of the progression, we're used to going:
  • Chord V
  • Chord IV
  • Chord I

Bebop players wanted to make the progression sound more like a jazz progression. So we're going to go 2, 5, 1.

• In this key, we're going to play:
  • E minor
  • A7
  • And back to D.

Adding Further Detail

To add further detail, we're going to prepare our two chord in bar nine with a three, six.

• If you have a look in bar eight, I've put:
  • A minor
  • 2, 5, 1 into E minor.

So we're adding extra layers of detail to the fundamentally quite simple blues sequence, giving it a new kind of sheen of bebop detail.

Transition from Chord I to Chord IV

There's just one other area I'm going to look at, which is the transition in bar four from chord I to chord IV.

• We're going from D7 to G7.

Bebop players thought they could actually make that a 2, 5, 1 as well. So instead of just going D7 up to G, we're going to put a 2, 5, 1 into G.

• I'm going to go:
  • A minor
  • D7
  • Into G7.

Check out Figure 10.5, which has these extra harmonic layers added.

Bringing It All Together

Here's the head with the rhythm section playing the extra chords.

With my chromaticism, heavy articulation of my offbeat phrasing, short notes, and extra harmony, I've turned traditional I, IV, V, III chord blues into something a little bit more detailed and evocative with bebop.