Sophisticated blues
We all want to add those ‘special’notes to our solos but it’s not always easy to do. Let John Wheatcroft guide you through the maze.
If you look at the history of popular contemporary music there was a point, a little less than a century ago, when the distinction between what constituted blues and what defined jazz was a little arbitrary to say the least, with many artists widely regarded as masters of both (Bessie Smith and Lonnie Johnson spring to mind). Countless blues artists were happy to expand their sound with the addition of jazzy overtones (the mighty Robert Johnson for one, and later on the equally talented T-Bone Walker), while the concept of a jazz musician without a deep understanding and assimilation of the blues was considered an impossibility, as to quote the great Count Basie, jazz was created as a highly successful attempt at ‘swinging the blues.’
As time has progressed the distinction has grown wider, with the blues being associated with a simpler 12-bar sequential form, based around the I-IV-V chord progression and with melodies drawn predominantly from the Minor Pentatonic and conveniently titled ‘Blues’ scales, with the emphasis on the feel, tone and expressive intent, while jazz has become associated with a certain cerebral complexity, with more involved harmonic and melodic structure, often 32-bars or greater, and with a huge emphasis placed on improvisational flair, instrumental prowess and harmonic knowledge.
As is so often the case with musical generalisations, somewhere in the middle ground lies the ultimate. Fortunately many musicians, with a blatant disregard for association with any one genre over another, have been happy to plunder both sides along with anything else that crosses their path, leaving the classification for the critics. This stylistic cross-pollination allows music to
STYLISTIC CROSS-POLLINATION ALLOWS THE MUSIC TO KEEP MOVING FORWARDS, EVER EVOLVING INTO FASCINATING NEW FORMS THAT CAN BE BOTH STYLISTICALLY AWARE, INFORMED, AUTHENTIC AND UNIQUELY PERSONAL
keep moving forwards, ever evolving into fascinating new forms that can be both stylistically aware, informed and authentic and uniquely personal at the same time, allowing an artist to wear his influential colours with pride. Interestingly, if the purists, and there are many, were to go back a couple of years before the formation of pretty much any style of music, they would almost certainly find a very similar principle at work. Personally, I’m with Buddy Rich on this one who famously once stated, ‘There are only two types of music; good and bad.’
The purpose of this article is to look at ways to combine some of the best elements from both styles, so to this aim we’ll begin with the basic I-IV-V chord sequence in both Major and Minor forms and examine ways in which we can add both harmonic and melodic sophistication with the application of a small selection of simple but well placed musical concepts. Obviously the actual parts that are played here show just one possible outcome, whereas the permutations are of course endless. So it’s important that after you’ve gone through the written parts for the examples in this lesson, that you make some attempt to understand not just what is being played, but more importantly why. This way, you’ll be in good shape to recognise when your favourite players employ similar ideas, and you’ll also be able to create your own parts when necessary, and come up with a limitless number of variations in different musical environments and settings. And that’s very useful indeed!
We stay close to the chords this month, so although there are a few choice moments of chromatic action going on, there’s nothing too bonkers from an ‘outside’ perspective. More on this area another time, but the good news today is that it means that all of the principles we’re about to look at are fairly safe to use cross-stylistically. Mustang Sally may never sound the same again!
TRACK RECORD Two great CDs to check out are JimJam (Sulphuric 2000), featuring Jim Mullen and Hamish Stuart, and Bireli Lagrene’s Electric Side (Dreyfus 2008). Jazzers with a bluesy edge include: Joe Pass, Kenny Burrell, Wes Montgomery, George Benson, Robben Ford, Larry Carlton, Wayne Krantz, John Scofield, Frank Gambale, Scott Henderson, Matt Schofield, Denny Ilett and our very own Shaun Baxter.