You're a great pianist, and the best jazz piano teacher online. You really are the best, it's not so much about the material that you show, but the way you demonstrate the ideas with your playing. You really focus on one point, but manage to illustrate what you're doing going from the very basic idea, up to your usual professional level. We learn so much this way.
Yes, what choices you make are usually better determined by the "cadences" or what tonality are we aiming for. Too much emphasis is placed on scales and modes in today's jazz pedagogy and not enough on analysis of the harmony. Great video, Jeremy!
I love this way of thinking and kind of moved to it naturally. I feel like with enough improv you get a natural feel for "good" and "avoid" notes over each chord, so just operating in the context of scales gives you less to think about. Sometimes I make up scales too, looking for common notes between weird successive chords to make up something to get through it smoothly.
I very much agree with you and I have always wondered why this way of thinking is not much more talked about. Having said that, I just listened to Oscar Peterson's version of "All of Me" while looking at the transcription and I noticed that a lot of times, at least in the second chorus when he goes into double time lines he is thinking mostly mixolydian on the dominant chords. I had noticed this before when I listened to his version of "Wave" where you find also some V/V/Vs and V/Vs etc.
Yes! I don't think the two approaches are mutually exclusive and "right/wrong." If you watch my video about the iii chord, one of the things that I discuss is that you can "dip into" the chord-scales of some of these chords in order to get more colorful/bright/or even "out" sounding material. Thanks for this comment - it's very insightful.
Hi Jeremy, this was SO helpful. Especially for students like me who are struggling to make all those dominant cycles(Jordu etc) My brain and chops don’t work that fast (yet) Thank you!
I feel like this is very unconventional, possibly controversial take, but for All of Me, I agree with what you're saying about the A7 tonicizing Dm (and Dm being more of a tonic minor). I think it would actually make a lot of sense to label the RN of Dm as a i/ii, as apposed to say the ii/I aka ii (the 'of I' obviously being implied in RNA to the point of complete omission). This gives some light to the function of the Dm, as well as it's relation as 'the key of the moment' to the overall key of the tune. Not really necessary, but I can see some times where things are complicated enough that this might help my thought process.
I think I see what you're saying, which is that the D minor has two functions. It is both the i of the moment and the ii. I think that's totally correct and totally normal and I think it can be interpreted in both ways...with slightly different harmonic results. However, that A7 leading into it only relates do D minor and should be treated as part of the Dm key center, yes?
Yup, trying to convey a tonality of D Minor at that moment with V/ii - i/ii RNA. As opposed to toncizations where the you see a lot of ii - V chained in such a way that the ii is functioning as a ii in a ii-V and never as a true cadence. Pretty sure I'm overanalyzing at this point, and should just go play some music =) but thank you for indulging me. Your videos are great! I wish I would had taken some of your classes back when I was in SoCal!
Great tips, good to practice. Lulu’s Back in Town is a Harry Warren song. Fat’s is playing it great :) Actually everything what Fat’s plays I tend to think this is his piece.
Hi Jeremy can you make a video where you explain how to play fast over the chord changes? Thanks a lot for you jazz education videos. I have your book.
This concept is so helpful for improvising. Use both modal centers and chord scales. This contrast can make improvisations more palatable and less "out" sounding. So the choice might depend upon the effect you are going for and your audience. Not to mention that playing key centers involves less brain-work, LOL!
Can you use this method on, say, the bridges of Rhythm changes or Jordu? Those progressions seem to revolve around the dominant arpeggios. Can you treat the Rhythm bridge as just a big 3 6 2 5 back to Bb?
Paul! Great to hear from you! Those dominants... probably each need their own scale because they are *secondary* dominants, meaning that they're in the key of the key center in which they're the V chord. In rhythm changes, D7 is momentarily in G, C7 is momentarily in the key of F major, etc.
Thanks for your video, Jeremy, I really enjoy your videos as a conservatory student, they're very focused and applicable. I am wondering, do you have some suggested listening for "ionian" phrases so to say, melodies in the key? Other players like Keith Jarret that does this a lot? Can be on horns too!
Fred Hersch and Paul Bley also come to mind as one of my favorites for this (although, he's one of my favorite pianists in general). Some of the Europeans like Tord Gustavsen or Marcin Wasilewski also tend to do this well. If this is an area of interest, learning some folk songs would also be a great way to go, as these are usually diatonic and have memorable melodies.
I am an intermediate jazz pianist and I must say this is a great video! However, I was wondering if we could use key centers for non diatonic/non functional harmony. I usually use individual chord’s scales But I’ve watched people use one scale for a bunch of non diatonic chord changes and they sounded great.
@@Osnosis so you are saying, if if there are a bunch of dissonant chord changes, we can play the scale of the chord that resolves the progression at last and it will work?
I’ve been improvising for many years and I almost never think of scales, though I do have an awareness of them somewhere in the back of my mind which I think is more related to technique than improvisation. I mostly think about several sounds which are majory, minory, dominanty, lydiany, diminishy, altery, bluesy, and out. As far as key centers, I commit them to memory in big chunks just as you described. Thank you!
Awesome! Sounds like you're on the right track. Scales can certainly be helpful to learn new sounds or conquer difficult progressions, but I think your approach is much healthier. :)
I hear the principle you're using (in Lulu). However I need more illustration. Your L.H. doesn't vary between the two concepts. So this is a R.H. improv. technique. Okay, so you're not playing 4 arpeggiated chord variations but one F-major scale, right? Show me more about that. I'm not as clear as you think I am. Thanks! I learn a lot from you.
Hi Jim! Yes, it's a right hand improv technique. Yes, you're correct. I'm playing the F major scale in the right hand even as the chord changes, because they key center for the entire progression is F major. We might need to talk more in depth - feel free to schedule a lesson (you'll find a scheduling link in the details for the video)
