Bebop Cliché Lines Exploding From The 4 note 'Sound' Chord in V7 Chords.

This is a follow up from the previous blog on Bebop Cliché, and closes the book on this topic for a while.

Ok it's been a while but I have something here that might be of interest. I didn't invent it, it was just laying there to be explored. Obviously it's not new, when I ran it by my friend (jazz pianist and teacher) Hal Galper as if I alone had found this he straightened me out on that score rather quickly so I had to smile at myself a little but !! there may be some of us who could benefit in the improv department not to mention voiceleading. If you have read my blog on the bebop cliche you would notice that I have explored it mostly in a major ii V and a little mention of minor ii V. What I'm thinking (apparently not an original thought) was working with the "Sound" chord: i.e. Fma7(b5)/G, and generating from that the descending bebop cliche line in the 'expansion' of a ii V.

The example I use is Sound 1 (S1 = ma7[b5]) using Fma7(b5) as an example. Just to refresh your memory on the Sound numbers: (using Fma7[b5]) as a Sound 1 (S1) starting point.

FS1 = Fma7(b5)

FS2 = FmiMa7(b5)

FS3 = F7(b5)

FS4 = Fmi7(b5)

FS5 = Fma7(b5)sus4

FS6 = F7(b5)sus4

All of these can represent some sort of G7 chord as in Fma7(b5)/G = G13 etc. or as in FS6, F7(b5)sus4/G = G7(#9#5) etc.

OK, the bebop cliche that expands ii V harmony into some linear action went like:

Figure 1.
               [ FPS1/D——————FPPS1/D————— FPS1/D——————FS1/G ]

                Fma7/D——————Fma7+/D—————Fma7/D——————Fma7(b5)/G =

                Dmi9———————DmiMa9—————Dmi9———————G13.

The distinguishing feature of this exercise is the chromatic line from DmiMa9 (C#) to Dmi9 (C) to G13 (B) [C# C B also B C C#].


Within this 'Sound' chord the chromatic movement produced is (D) C# C B. So what is happening here is basically the movement of the 5th of the F 'Sound".  I realized quite some time ago, that there is at least one other (really 3 other) places to operate a bebop cliche from within the 'Sound' specifically FS1 used here. So here goes.

Fma7(b5) or FS1 can be used over a 'B' root to produce an interesting voicing for mi11(b5) [ B half diminished ]....  When the potential bebop cliche is applied there as in iimi11[b5]) to a V7 chord as in Bmi11(b5)—E7(b9), the result is: (see Figure 2)

Figure 2.

              FS1/B———————FS5/B——————FS1/B——————FS2/E

               Fma7/———————Fma7(b5)sus4/B——Fma7/B —————FdimMa7/E

               Bmi11(b5)—————BmiMa11(b5) ———Bmi11(b5) ————E7(b9)

The chromatic line here is: (/B) is A# A G# (also G# A A#).

Now if that idea is applied to G7(#9#5) [Galtdom] or even Db13 using FS6 ( F7[b5]sus4) there can be a similar result. So this is information that may be of some value when applied to making melody and harmony in the improv process.

So here is the outline for FS6 (G7alt or Db13).

FS6/Db [or /G] written as: (with the 'F' note on the bottom of the voicing)

Note that here I'm just using the Dominant as the root of the dominant chord while leaving out the 'ii' root (Ab) so these are all variants of a Dominant: (See Figure 3.)

Figure 3.

                     BPS1/Db[/G]———BPPS1/Db[/G] ————BPS1/Db[/G]———BS1/Db[/G]

                     Bma7/Db[/G]———Bma7+/Db[/G] ————Bma7/Db[/G] ——Bma7(b5)/Db[/G]

                     Db13sus4 ————Db13(#11)—————±—Db13sus4————Db13

The chromatic cliche´ line here is: G F# F (also F F# G)


If FS6 (and/or BS1 and have the same notes in them7) is used as a half diminished chord as in a min ii V, the chord would be Fmi11(b5) as is written here.

Figure 4.

                       FS6/F—————FS5/F———————FS6/F———————BS2/F(—/Bb)

F7(b5)sus4/F ———Fma7(b5)sus4/F—————F7(b5)sus4/F——————BdimMa7/F(—Bb)

Fmi11(b5)—————FmiMa11(b5) ——————Fmi11(b5) ——————Bb7b9

Note that the Bb7b9 has no written b7 but it is implied by the noninterference of the b9.

The chromatic cliche´ here is E Eb D (or D Eb E).


Now that this process is 'explained,' I'll just add up the cliche lines as they emanate from each note of the FS wether FS1 or FS6.

FS1

E —(E Eb D or D Eb E)

B —(B C C# or C# C B)

A —(A A# A G# or G# A A#)

F —(F F# G or G F# F)

These can be interpreted according to the root used in FS1 or FS6 ( or !! BS6 or BS1).....

Figure 5.
             G13..b13..5                G13..sus4..#11..5           G13(9)..#9..9..b9            G13..Ma7..1...b9..
             Bmi11(b5)..3..b3       Bmi11(b5)..1..b9..9..b3  Bmi11(b5)..ma7..7..6    Bmi11(b5)..5..b6..6
             Db7alt..#9..9..b9       Db7alt..b7..ma7..1..b9   Db7alt..+5..6..b6..5       Db7alt 3..4..#4..5
             Fma7(b5)..ma7..7..6   Fma7(b5)..b5..5..#5..6  Fma7(b5)..3..4..3..b3  Fma7(b5)..1..b9..9..#9

Over G13, E Eb D creates a chromatic line moving between the 13th the b13th and the 5th

Over G13, B C C# creates a chromatic line moving between the 3rd the sus4 and the #11
Over G13, A# A G# creates a chromatic line moving between the #9 the 9 and the b9
Over G7 (G13), F F# G creates a chromatic line moving between the 7th, the ma7 and the root.

Over Bmi11(b5), E Eb D creates a chromatic line moving between the 11 the (major) 3rd and the b3
Over Bmi11(b5), B C C# creates a chromatic line moving between the root, the b9 and the 9 (fast b9)
Over Bmi11(b5), A# A G# creates a chromatic line moving between the Ma7, the b7 and the 6th (3rd/V
Over Bmi11(b5), F F# G creates a chromatic line moving between the b5, the 5th and the b6.

Over Db13, E Eb D creates a chromatic line moving between the #9 the 9 and the b9
Over Db13, B C C# creates a chromatic line moving between the b7 the Ma7 and the root
Over Db13, A# A G# creates a chromatic line moving between the 13 the b13 and the 5th
Over Db13, F F# G creates a chromatic line moving between the 3rd the 11 and the #11.

Over Fmi11(b5), E EbD creates a chromatic line between the Ma7 the b7 and the 6th (bebop clich´e)
Over Fmi11(b5), B C C# creates a chromatic line between the b5 the 5th and the #5

Over Fmi11(b5), A# A G# creates a chromatic line between the 11th the major 3rd and the b3rd 

Over Fmi11(b5) ,F F# G creates a chromatic line between the Ma7 the root the b9 and the 9. 

Some of these moves are obviously to be done as passing tones. You will no doubt hear which ones they are. I'm glad I put it up as it helps to clarify things in my own mind. Will anyone pick up the torch here?

The moving line potential of the Bebop Cliché in the Sound

There are multiple application of the so called Bebop Cliché from the sound. Check out the previous blogs on the Sound (here and here) to get a background on this. Once upon a time in Boston at a Jazz Ed conference, I was encouraged to expand this cliché material this way by none other than David Leibman.

The bebop cliché traditionally springs from the realm of a ii—V7 harmonic progression for example: Dmi9—G13 (—) being expanded to Dmi9—DmiMa9—Dmi9—G13. What it is really about is the expression of a descending chromatic line (it can ascend too, depending on the chord and intention of the player). This was outlined in the last few previous blogs on 'The Sound.' Another thing it is about is that it operates as a delaying tactic towards the resolution of the mi9 chord to the dominant V7 chord. The bebop cliché can also be treated more melodically with a melody that has within it the descending/ascending line.

This blog will explore the multiplicity of the 'Sound' Chord (FS1 [Fma13b5] and FS6 [Fmi11(b5]) function and application of the bebop cliché to these functions that seem to arise.

Here is the most common use of the bebop cliché in a ii—V progression. Note that it is expanded in the 2nd two bars.

Here are the most common and useful functions of 'Sound' 1 (FMa7[b5]) and 'Sound' 6 Fmi11(b5) with the roots that create related chords as either a V7 chord or ii chord.

Each of these Sound Chord voicings using in this case an 'F' Sound (Sound 1 and Sound 6)




The bebop cliché line is a chromatic primarily descending line but it is used as an ascending chromatic line as well.

The bebop cliché chromatic line starts on the C# (or perhaps the D note) which is the major 7th in DmiMa7 which and falls chromatically to the B natural which is the 3rd of the G13 (the dominant partner in this ii—V. This cliché then, operates from the Major 7th of the ii and/or #11 of the dominant. It can easily ascend from the 3rd of the dominant chord to the #11 of the dominant chord (even ascending to the 5th).

The Sound chord shown here can be held and manipulated with each of these lines individually either as a chord voicing or as a line which can related to these cliché lines on an individual basis. I'll outline some examples in the next blog in this series.

The Sound

The Sound: I'm putting together a series of blogs on a voicing idea that has some connected but divergent paths that create transformations of chord quality and chord progression.

The Sound heard in jazz piano for over half a century now and we all know it so much it is often referred to as the 'stock 13" chord. I first learned it from the guys I was playing with in the 1960's and heard more about it from a jazz piano book series by John Mehegan, who featured this voicing in essentially what he called 'A' and 'B' voicings which using Fma7(b5) as an example of a G13 chord: The A version was this closed voiced chord in root position and the B version was the second inversion of that. This particular voicing was described by my friend Mike Nock, as 'The Sound' ...heard all over the world where and when jazz was played. Mike is an Australian (originally from New Zealand) jazz pianist who was visiting Grant MacEwan College's music program in the 80's I think. Mike was giving a talk about it. Of course it was already being taught in our courses there and it was affirming to hear Mike speak of this voicing in this way. There was a 2nd sound Mike mentioned where the 'A' note in this sample voicing FMa7(b5) was lowered to become (with a G bass) a G13(b9) or as a stand alone voicing for FDimMa7.

That did get me thinking: Oh yeah: Sound 1 (Fma7(b5) and Sound 2 (FDimMa7). I did have some conversations with a local brilliant pianist (who will be nameless for now) about this and over a period of time I was able to piece together a strategy to help to explore Tonality through to Chromaticism. This was a method of adding more color to a V13 chord in an incremental fashion, with some linear considerations like the bebop cliche.

First of all the voicing itself: using FMa7(b5) as an example, is used to create the familiar but still enchanting V13 chord as in:

FMa7(b5)/G = G13 (expressed here as a slash chord) N.B. GUITARISTS USE DROP 2s.

Here are other commonly played chord qualities using

FMa7(b5) (with these roots): 

FMa7(b5)/Db = Db7(#5#9) 

FMa7(b5)/D = Dmi6/9 

FMa7(b5)/B = Bmi11(b5) 

FMa7(b5)/E = E7sus4(b9)

In functional analysis:

bVIIS1/I = I13 ... (V13) 

IIIS1/I = I7(#9#5) ... (V7(#9#5) 

bIIIS1/I = Imi6/9 ...  (Imi6/9) 

bVS1/I = Imi11(b5) ... iimi11(b5) 

bIIS1/I = I7sus(b9) ... V7sus(b9)

This system mostly visits V7 chord quality and color along with  ii—V's and the integration with the Bebop cliche.

The bebop cliche could be described as a moving chromatic line between chord tones—specifically in V7: 5—b5—4—3 and variations but it is essentially that.

The chord shapes used are named to be descriptive as to their function. It's the drill that many have practised but in order to facillitate a hierarchy of tension/color, I'll reiterated a few basics:

G13—I6/9 using the 'Sound' as notated above would be:

FMa7(b5)/G—Emi11/C or in functional terms: bVIIS1/1 (V13) — iiimi11/1 (I6/9)

Interpolating the related iimi7 of V13 or Dmi9—G13 using this 'Sound' method of description we call
the iimi9 chord using a description that elides with the 'Sound' method calling it 'PS1' or "the Preparation of 'Sound' I, i.e. FMa7/D = Dmi9.

FMa7/D—FMa7(b5)/G—Emi11/C and in functional terms: bIIISPS1/I (iimi9) —bVIIS1/I (V13) —I

For an increase in harmonic rhythm the bebop cliche is introduced into this progression as another interpolation (which means basically: all the additional changes occur in the same amount of time as the original V—I). The purpose of this extra harmony added, creates some additional tension and release element in the progression. The iimiMa9 implies the V7/ii and spins out some extra energy to the iimi9 chord before it resolves to the V13 chord (The bridge to 'Confirmation' [Charlie Parker] is a good example). The bebop cliche in the progression example goes something like this:

Dmi9—DmiMa9—Dmi9—G13—C. Using the PS1 designation as the preparation of S1, it is logical that the 'Preparation' OF the 'Preparation' of S1 (PPS1), could look like this in the progression. Using this 'slash chord' method in this progression this is the result:

FMa7/D—FMa7(+5)/D—FMa7/D—FMa7(b5)/G—[Emi11/C] ... or in functional terms:

bIIIPS/I (/ii)—bIIIPPS1/I (/ii)—bIIIPS1/I (-ii)—bVIIS1/1 (/V) —I

Sometimes this cliche is expressed melodically over a ii—V as well. Check out John 'Dizzy' Gillespie's 'Groovin' High' for an example.