PRACTICAL ARRANGING FOR THE JAZZ COMBO

PRACTICAL ARRANGING FOR THE JAZZ COMBOPractical Arranging for the Jazz Combo Dr. Aaron Lington Coordinator of Jazz Studies, SJSU
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PRACTICAL ARRANGING FOR THE JAZZ COMBO
Dr. Aaron Lington, Coordinator of Jazz Studies, San Jose State University Saturday, January 13, 2018
8:00am
Focus Most middle school and/or high school band directors lead a jazz band in addition to their concert bands. Great repertoire for large jazz ensembles is plentiful through trusted publishers. However, students in the large jazz ensembles oftentimes enjoy breaking out into smaller jazz combos. These combos can be a great deal of fun and can be an excellent learning experience for the students as it allows the members of the combo to have much more autonomy while also allowing more focus to be placed on improvisation rather than simply learning and executing a section part. Combos are much more mobile than large groups and you may find that performances by your combos at events is a logistically easy way to build relationships with your community, administrators, etc. “Faking” a jazz standard by simply reading the melody and chords in a real book is a good start, but it really does not take full advantage of what a jazz combo can do. With the right techniques, a “faked” jazz standard can be turned into a simple and great sounding arrangement. The focus of this session is to provide directors with helpful and straight-forward strategies to take a lead sheet and create a simple arrangement for three horns and rhythm section. This will be accomplished by: 1) Analyzing a lead sheet; 2) Altering the melodic rhythm; 3) Performing a simple and idiomatic reharmonization of the existing chord changes of the tune; and 4) Voicing the horns. Lead Sheets Wikipedia says this about lead sheets: “A lead sheet is a form of musical notation that specifies the essential elements of a popular song: the melody, lyrics and harmony. The melody is written in modern Western music notation, the lyric [if present] is written as text below the staff and the harmony is specified with chord symbols above the staff.
The lead sheet does not describe the chord voicings, voice leading, bass line or other aspects of the accompaniment. These are specified later by an arranger or improvised by a performer or rhythm section, and are considered aspects of the arrangement or performance of a song, rather than a part of the song itself.”
This second paragraph is most important: “…These are specified later by an arranger or improvised by a performer or rhythm section…”
Practical Arranging for the Jazz Combo Dr. Aaron Lington Coordinator of Jazz Studies, SJSU
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A lead sheet should only be considered a template of a piece - containing its most basic elements in their most basic form. However, everything an arranger needs to know to create an excellent arrangement is found within a lead sheet.
Questions that should be asked when looking at the lead sheet are: 1) Is the rhythm of the melody appropriate for the style of arrangement needed?; 2) Can the chord progression be improved upon?; and 3) What is the best way to set this for the horn players?
Melodic Rhythm
The term “melodic rhythm” refers to the rhythms used in any particular piece’s melody. In lead sheets, melodic rhythm is generally presented in a very simple way (whole notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, etc.) with little to no syncopation. Therefore, the melodic rhythm of a lead sheet is a guide only and should be rhythmically adjusted to fit the rhythms idiomatic to whatever style of music you will use for your arrangement. The best way to do this is to familiarize yourself with different styles of music through educated listening. Then, sing the melody to yourself how you would like to hear it played in this new style and record yourself singing it with your phone. Listen back to what you sang (being very forgiving of yourself for your singing talents) and transcribe the rhythm – viola!
Look at this first phrase from the lead sheet to the Cahn/Styne song “Time After Time”:
One can quickly see the overabundance of rhythms on downbeats. A performance of this melody exactly as it appears here would be dull and unengaging. If an arranger wanted to write an arrangement of this song as a medium swing, idiomatic syncopations could be added to the melody to help it lay within the style much more naturally. Consider this possible adjustment to the melodic rhythm of “Time After Time” set as a medium swing (articulations added but no adjustments made to chords):
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This same process would then be continued for the remainder of the melody. Reharmonization Once the melodic rhythm has been corrected for the entirety of the melody, one’s attention can then be focused on the chord progression. There are two main types of reharmonization: add chord and substitute chord. An add chord is basically what it says – a new chord is added to the existing chord progression to provide additional movement. A substitute chord involves replacing an existing chord with one that provides more interest and/or color. The new chord should still basically function the same way as the original chord (e.g. a ii7 substituting for a IV chord – they are both dominant preparation chords). There are two types of substitute chords. A primary sub which has at least two notes in common with the original chord and whose root is a major or minor 3rd above or below the original root, and a secondary sub which has at least one note in common with the original chord and whose root is a perfect or augmented 4th above or below the original root. In either case, using an add chord or substitute chord in the reharmonization process must still take the melody into account. One may not use a new chord that does not agree with the melody. In addition to the two aforementioned types of reharmonization, one is also encouraged to look for other simple and obvious ways to improve the lead sheet’s chord changes. Some examples of this would be (but are not limited to): 1) Adding extensions to triads; 2) Adding alterations to dominant chords; 3) Adding suspensions to any chord quality; and 4) Changing the bass note of any chord quality to adjust the relationship of the lowest note to the melody. All of these still must take the melody into account. Before committing to a change in the harmony of a lead sheet always ask yourself these two questions: 1) “Does this new change still have the same basic function as the original without interrupting the flow of the harmonic progression?”; and 2) “Does the melody fit the new changes?” As long as your answer to those two questions is “Yes!” then you are set to continue.
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As an example, let us examine the same phrase of “Time After Time” with a few changes made to the chord progression using the reharmonization process.
Here is an explanation of the changes that were made when compared to the original: Measure 1, beat 1: C6 chord changed to CMaj7 for a more updated sound Measure 2, beat 3: substitute G7sus for the original G7 so that melody agrees with the harmony Measure 2, beat 4: G7(b9) chord added for color and motion Measure 3, beat 1: C chord changed to 1st inversion CMaj7 for interest (makes it a little different from measure 1 which is essentially the same chord progression) Measure 3, beat 3: Amin7 chord changed to A7(b9) for color – function is really the same Measure 4, beats 1 and 3: the original ii-V7 in C major is replaced by a “backdoor progression” which is a common substitute. In this instance, it is a ii-V7 in Eb major, or one could think of it as a iv-bVII7 in C major. Measure 5, beat 1: C6 chord changed to CMaj7 for a more updated sound Measure 5, beat 3: B/C add chord included here for color. Essentially a chordal appoggiatura. Measure 6, beat 1: C6 chord changed to CMaj7 for a more updated sound Measure 8, beat 1: added a (b9) alteration to the original E7 chord. This aims the tension toward the vi chord in measure 9 (not shown). Measure 8, upbeat of 3: Bb13(b5) add chord included to increase motion on the syncopated melody note there. This is often referred to as a tritone substitution (one dominant chord replaced by another whose root is a tritone away – in this instance E7 replaced by Bb7). This same process would then be continued for the remainder of the melody. Voicings The term voicing refers to the way in which chord tones are arranged within a single instrument (like piano or guitar) or amongst several instruments (such as in a horn section). Since we are focusing on writing for small jazz combo, we will discuss the latter. For three horns, there are predictably three different ways in which one may voice them: 1. in unisons or octaves (called single density); 2. a doubled melody with one harmony note (called a density of 2); and 3. three different pitches – the melody on top and two harmony notes below it (called a density of 3)
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Let us discuss the ways in which these three voicing types are used. For a density of one (which should never be underestimated!) you write the three horns in a unison line or a line in octaves. The decision here may be made for you depending on the ranges of the instruments in question. This is most effective in active lines (e.g. a bebop melody or something similar). For a density of two, one doubles the melody note at the unison or octave and then adds the third note as a harmony note either a 3rd, 4th, or 5th, below the top note, taking into account of course the key signature and chord symbol. Density of two is useful in lyrical yet active lines. Here are a few examples of density of two:
For a density of three, there are three common possibilities all of which are in close position (outer two voices are no more than a major 7th apart). These voicings sound best on longer notes and/or more lyrical lines: 1. Triadic voicing – a voicing that has the melody note on top and two harmony notes below it. The two harmony notes are placed in such a way that a root position, 1st inversion, or 2nd inversion triad is formed. This triad must be compatible with the harmony and must not be the tonic triad. Here are some examples of three density triadic voicings:
2. Cluster voicing – a voicing that has the melody note on top and two harmony notes below it. The harmony note nearest the melody note will be a 3rd, 4th, or 5th below the melody note, and the remaining note will be a 2nd below that. This creates a voicing shape with a bit of “rub” to it – this is good! Here are some examples of three density cluster voicings:
3. Quartal voicing – a voicing that has the melody note on top and two harmony notes below it. From the top down, all of the pitches will be located an interval of a perfect or augmented fourth from the note above it creating a specific and identifiable sound. Here are some examples of three density quartal voicings:
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With these voicing types at your disposal, go through your lead sheet and locate places you would like to employ the various types of voicings. Remember that there is the risk of too much of a good thing! Do not be tempted to use three density throughout the entirety of the arrangement; it will reduce its effectiveness. Make your plan for where to use density and what kind of density to use. Then, voice the notes out and make assignments to the horns in your combo. As an addendum to this handout, you will find the full lead sheet and then my full arrangement of the melody of the song “Time After Time” using the techniques described above. Of course, one does not have to stop here! One may choose to write an introduction, interlude, solo section with backgrounds, etc. Only your imagination will limit you. And if you use the techniques described in this session, you can rest assured that your combo will sound polished and idiomatic. Conclusion The jazz small group is an excellent way to broaden your jazz program’s reach into the school and community at large. It is logistically easy to manage and provides some of your more motivated students an outlet to take charge and focus their energies on improvisation. However, material is needed for the small group to play and simple arrangements can easily be made from lead sheets. By following this simple step-by-step process for improving the melodic rhythm, adjusting some chords, and using solid voicings for the horns, an arrangement can be crafted that is fun to listen to and just as importantly, fun to play. Thank you for attending today and if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me anytime at [email protected]. Good luck and have fun!
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Lead sheet of “Time After Time”
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## ## ###
œ- œ œ
jœ .œ œv œ œ Jœ .œ œ œ œ
Jœ .œ œ œ œ
’ ’ ’ ’ Cmaj7/E A7(b9)
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6
’ ’ ’ ’ Cmaj7
3
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’ ’ ’ ’ Dmin7
Ó .œ Jœb
Ó œ œ œ3
Time After Time Cahn/StyneSCORE Arr. A. Lington
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jœ .œ> œv œ œ Jœ .œ > œ œ œ
Jœ .œ > œ œ œ
’ ’ ’ ’ Cmaj7/E A7(b9)
Jœ .œ > œ œ
œ œ# œ>
’ ’ ’ ’ Cmaj7/E
w w

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PRACTICAL ARRANGING FOR THE JAZZ COMBO