The first phrase can also be seen as a descending Gmin9 run. In the early jazz days a half diminished chord was also thought of as minor 6 chord with the 6 in the bass. So Em7b5 was Gm6/E. So Evans was playing on the minor chord built on the 3rd of Em7b5. Then he used the fact that any lick played on a ii chord will work translated a minor third up over an altered dom V chord, thus playing the same descending minor 9th run transposed up a minor third.
Mark Parnis hunty ur so deep. You have to be a professor in the music field. Blows my mind. I have to have my friend here to break it down. That is why I watch his videos. So cool.
At 5:18 you could argue that the Bb G# A is still in the same pattern as the previous two if you think of the approach pattern as diatonic-above, chromatic-below. Great video, can't wait to try this out!
Thank you so much! I’ve been looking for approach tone videos in the style of Bill Evans forever! So glad I found this. More please! ;) Ps: I’ve been jamming on this lick for about 30 minutes and it’s getting to be what I’ve been trying to play like. Those chords totally open you up for improvisation. Time to transpose :)
Would be good to see breakdowns of more Bill Evan’s licks. Then the next level up would be talking about how you construct new licks. How much of it is analytical (which that video basically was), and how much you just hear the individual notes before you play them. I’m guessing that the faster you play on piano, the less you can pre-hear individual new licks, and fall back on theory + trial and error in practice, and on what you played yesterday when performing.
wow such a great video! by the way can anyone explain to me why the Bb9 pattern could work on the ii - v of em7b5 (or gmin6) and a7? Im beginner to jazz theory so it would help very much! Thanks;)
Hey man, quick question: so, the use of the minor 7 (flat 5) chord as the 2 chord would imply that we are in D Aeolian (i.e the flat 5 of the 2 chord is the flat 6 of the D, which implies Aeolian over Dorian) however when you land the D, you use a natural 6 instead of a flat 6, which implies that we are in Dorian. Any insight into this?? .......and btw your explanation of where to accent the notes to make it really swing helped sooo much! It feels like I'm floating on air when I do it right.
For the 2 chord (Em7b5) you could definitely see it as being in D Aeolian. But when I play the Dm6/9 (which includes the B natural) I would actually think of this as in D melodic minor. It's good to change it up like this as it provides some harmonic variation! Hope this helps :)
In minor tunes, tonic minor chords are typically played as some flavor of min6, or perhaps min(maj 7). The min 69 chord is a pretty common variation used since the early to mid 60's. I daresay Bill Evans was one of the folks who popularized it's use. Aeolian does equal "natural minor", but if you consider the functional harmony ramifications of that , Aeolian would leave the tonic minor chord as a min 7, a sound typically associated with the pre- or sub-dominant function of a ii V7 I progression.
Thanks PianoPig....what's your name? I am brazilian, i am beguiner piano, i Love jazz and Bossa Nova, i like your videos ok? But i speak in english...few words... Hugs!!!
It is convenient to first learn the lick by the 12 keys and then use them on the jazz standard, so you can play the same on any key and not have more familiar tones than others, at least that is how I see it.
Make sure you're logged into the Academy, then click this link: bit.ly/2DV6bCh - there should be a 'Download Resources' button which will give you the PDF straight away 😀
Dear Piggie, do you think you do a little something about the style of Vince Guaraldi one of these days? I think he's very underestimated. Well, just a thought...
I've notice that a lot of your voicing don't have the root in the chord, do you have a video that talks about how to construct chords like that ? makes them sound so good and special, not like the straight boring sounding same chords.
I figured it out! Ha! I am so proud of myself! This whole progression seems to be based on the D harmonic minor scale, there are a few outside notes. First one the C of the Alt chord, but C is the third of that A7 alt chord, so it makes a lot of sense to throw that one in there. Then there is the Ab of the Dm69 approach pattern, but that's just part of the pattern, and finally the natural B of the Dm69 chord, but that is just part of that chord and it sounds good, as there are a few ways to resolve the minor 251 progression, one is to the m7, another is mM7 and last but not least m6 or m69. It might seem kind of obvious once you know it haha but figuring it out and drawing conclussions is kinda hard and fun at the same time!
Hi Tom, glad you enjoyed the lick! I advise start practicing it over your minor 251s, I've done a video on those so you can check that out here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-x9LNj2uCWtE.html If you want more cool stuff you can always check out the PianoPig Academy!
Really cool. I am a guitarist and trying to learn upright bass. I don't play piano, but on guitar this reminds me of the "Cry me a river lick" in Gm, followed by another, up a minor 3rd, which works with E half diminished and A7+ then cool enclosures over Dm. Way cool. Thanks for sharing.
Cool lick. With respect though, would like to point out that the notation is incorrect. You are playing an 8th and dotted quarter (in swing time) respectively on the last two beats of the ii and v chords but it is notated as just two quarters.
I appreciate your efforts to make this video but I hoped you weren't using different and inefficient fingers choices each time you go through the sections. Please present a clear fingering number decisions and stick to it while playing. Changing it this way make you look unprofessional.
I appreciate your efforts to make this video but I hoped you weren't using different and inefficient fingers choices each time you go through the sections. Please present a clear fingering number decisions and stick to it while playing. Changing it this way make you look unprofessional.
