Jazz Forum adventures

I've been busy writing on Jazz forums particularly 'All About Jazz' and strangely, 'The Guitar Jazz Theory' forum. Even though I'm not a guitarist, it's OK because these players seem to communicate and express their opinions one way or another. In the minds of some the CST (Chord-Scale-Theory) has come under fire and I had to be careful how I approached that topic. They were talking about the bV ending cliche as found in Night and Day. I gave an out line on this chord in the context of the song and tried to stress the chord function but I got a dismissive reply: "unlike you (meaning moi) I do not go from scale to scale etc..... Personally I've never heard of this as a separate theory and tried to explain that. I also got called on the the personal style of my writing pattern — I guess it's never to late to learn !!

It ended well at least for now and I got some positive feedback from them re my Night and Day analysis. Suddenly they were calling me 'Mr.' I won't let it go to my head but there is lots of fun and learning to be done through these forums. As a matter of fact I have started practising tunes just using harmonic function and targeting chord tones through adjacent tones and, was quite happy with the (actually) new result. I put the scales on the back burner (where they belong?). The thing is is there is a lot of harmony that can be inserted in some functional voice led way which can enrich your lines if you stick with this 'approach to chord-tone principle.' Not that related scales are left in the dust—they are absolutely necessary to work out melodic sequencing and possible scalar passage links.

More later.