Rhythm changes: Difference between revisions
→Application in jazz composition: [[Image:Rhythm changes complete in B-flat.png|thumb|350px|Rhythm changes in B{{music|b}}, as commonly used for improvisation.<ref>Spitzer (2001), p.68.</ref> Slashes indicate improvisation. {{audio|Rhythm changes comp |
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In [[jazz]] and [[jazz harmony]], "'''rhythm changes'''" refers to the [[chord progression]] occurring in [[George Gershwin]]'s song "[[I Got Rhythm]]". This pattern, which forms the basis of countless (usually uptempo) jazz [[musical composition|compositions]], was popular with [[swing music|swing]]-era musicians: It is found in "Shoeshine Boy" ([[Lester Young]]'s 1936 breakout recording with [[Count Basie]]) and "[[Cotton Tail]]"<ref name="Luvenia">"Duke Ellington the Man and His Music", p.20. Luvenia A. George. ''Music Educators Journal'', Vol. 85, No. 6 (May, 1999), pp. 15-21. Published by: MENC: The National Association for Music Education.</ref> written by [[Duke Ellington]] in 1940, as well as [[Charlie Christian]]'s "Seven Come Eleven",<ref name="Yaffe">Yaffe, David (2005). ''Fascinating Rhythm: Reading Jazz in American Writing'', p.17. ISBN 0-691-12357-8.</ref> [[Charlie Parker]]'s "[[Salt Peanuts]]",<ref name="Yaffe"/> and [[Thelonious Monk]]'s "[[Rhythm-a-Ning]]",<ref name="Yaffe"/> for instance. The earliest known use of rhythm changes was by [[Sidney Bechet]] in his September 15, 1932<ref>[[Brian Rust|Rust, Brian]], [http://www.mainspringpress.com/book_rust.html ''Jazz and Ragtime Records, 1897-1942''], [http://www.mainspringpress.com/ Mainspring Press], 2008.</ref> recording of "Shag" with his "New Orleans Feetwarmers" group.<ref name="money">"[http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/moneychords/rhythmchanges.html Rhythm Changes]", ''MoneyChords'' (''angelfire.com''). Includes an extensive listing of tunes utilizing these chord changes.</ref> |
In [[jazz]] and [[jazz harmony]], "'''rhythm changes'''" refers to the [[chord progression]] occurring in [[George Gershwin]]'s song "[[I Got Rhythm]]". This pattern, which forms the basis of countless (usually uptempo) jazz [[musical composition|compositions]], was popular with [[swing music|swing]]-era musicians: It is found in "Shoeshine Boy" ([[Lester Young]]'s 1936 breakout recording with [[Count Basie]]) and "[[Cotton Tail]]"<ref name="Luvenia">"Duke Ellington the Man and His Music", p.20. Luvenia A. George. ''Music Educators Journal'', Vol. 85, No. 6 (May, 1999), pp. 15-21. Published by: MENC: The National Association for Music Education.</ref> written by [[Duke Ellington]] in 1940, as well as [[Charlie Christian]]'s "Seven Come Eleven",<ref name="Yaffe">Yaffe, David (2005). ''Fascinating Rhythm: Reading Jazz in American Writing'', p.17. ISBN 0-691-12357-8.</ref> [[Charlie Parker]]'s "[[Salt Peanuts]]",<ref name="Yaffe"/> and [[Thelonious Monk]]'s "[[Rhythm-a-Ning]]",<ref name="Yaffe"/> for instance. The earliest known use of rhythm changes was by [[Sidney Bechet]] in his September 15, 1932<ref>[[Brian Rust|Rust, Brian]], [http://www.mainspringpress.com/book_rust.html ''Jazz and Ragtime Records, 1897-1942''], [http://www.mainspringpress.com/ Mainspring Press], 2008.</ref> recording of "Shag" with his "New Orleans Feetwarmers" group.<ref name="money">"[http://www.angelfire.com/fl4/moneychords/rhythmchanges.html Rhythm Changes]", ''MoneyChords'' (''angelfire.com''). Includes an extensive listing of tunes utilizing these chord changes.</ref> |
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==In jazz composition== |
==In jazz composition== |
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== Application in jazz composition == |
== Application in jazz composition == |
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[[Image:Rhythm changes complete in B-flat.png|thumb|350px|Rhythm changes in B{{music|b}}, as commonly used for improvisation.<ref>Spitzer (2001), p.68.</ref> Slashes indicate improvisation. {{audio|Rhythm changes complete in B-flat.mid|Play}}]] |
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The "rhythm changes" is a [[thirty-two-bar form|thirty-two-bar]] AABA [[musical form|form]] containing four eight measure [[section (music)|sections]].<ref name="Spitzer 81">Spitzer (2001), p.81.</ref> In [[Roman numeral analysis|roman numeral]] shorthand, the original chords used in the "A" section are |
The "rhythm changes" is a [[thirty-two-bar form|thirty-two-bar]] AABA [[musical form|form]] containing four eight measure [[section (music)|sections]].<ref name="Spitzer 81">Spitzer (2001), p.81.</ref> In [[Roman numeral analysis|roman numeral]] shorthand, the original chords used in the "A" section are |
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Revision as of 18:18, 3 September 2012
In jazz and jazz harmony, "rhythm changes" refers to the chord progression occurring in George Gershwin's song "I Got Rhythm". This pattern, which forms the basis of countless (usually uptempo) jazz compositions, was popular with swing-era musicians: It is found in "Shoeshine Boy" (Lester Young's 1936 breakout recording with Count Basie) and "Cotton Tail"[1] written by Duke Ellington in 1940, as well as Charlie Christian's "Seven Come Eleven",[2] Charlie Parker's "Salt Peanuts",[2] and Thelonious Monk's "Rhythm-a-Ning",[2] for instance. The earliest known use of rhythm changes was by Sidney Bechet in his September 15, 1932[3] recording of "Shag" with his "New Orleans Feetwarmers" group.[4]
In jazz composition
This progression's endurance in popularity is largely due to its extensive use by early bebop musicians. The chord changes began to be used in the 1930s, became extremely common in the '40s and '50s, and are now ubiquitous.[5] First, "I Got Rhythm" was by then already a popular jazz standard; second, by listening to the song and writing a new melody over its chord changes, thereby creating a composition of a type known as a contrafact), a jazz musician could claim copyright to the new melody rather than acknowledge Gershwin's inspiration and pay royalties to his estate.
Today, mastery of the blues and rhythm changes are "critical elements for building a jazz repertoire".[6]
David Yaffe argues that the use by African-American musicians and groups of a chord structure written by a Jewish musician is a highly visible example of the collaboration between the groups that took place in song more than in written literature due to racial segregation.[2]
In popular music
In popular music, "rhythm changes" refers to the first four-chord section of the full progression that the term denotes in the jazz context.[citation needed] This "sub-progression" forms the entire harmonic structure of an enormous number of popular hits released during the 1950s and 1960s (as well as of a significant number since then), in part because Gershwin's song is not the only source of this portion of the progression: Because the chord changes in question form part of a circle progression, they have been readily amenable to independent discovery by other artists both before and after Gershwin, with the effect that less creative musicians have been able to "borrow" the progression from songs other than "I Got Rhythm" whether or not those songs themselves borrowed from Gershwin.
Application in jazz composition
The "rhythm changes" is a thirty-two-bar AABA form containing four eight measure sections.[7] In roman numeral shorthand, the original chords used in the "A" section are
| I vi | ii V | I vi | ii V |
(tonic-submediant-supertonic-dominant played twice) then
| I I7 | IV #ivdim7 | I V | I |[citation needed]
In a jazz setting the changes are usually played in the key of B♭[5] with various chord substitutions. Here is a typical form for the A section with various common substitutions:
| Bb G7 | Cm7 F7 | Bb Gm7 | Cm7 F7 | | Bb Bb7 | Eb Ebm | Bb Gm7| | Cm7 F7 |
| Bb Gm7 | Cm7 F7 | Bb Gm7 | Cm7 F7 | | Bb Bb7 | Eb Ebm | Cm F7 | Bb | [citation needed]
The "bridge" consists of a series of dominant sevenths that follow the circle of fifths, sustained for two bars each and thus conveying the sense of a shifting key center:
| III7 | + | VI7 | + | | II7 | + | V7 | + |
| D7 | + | G7 | + | | C7 | + | F7 | + |[citation needed]
The B section is then followed by the second 8 bars of A section
| Bb Gm7 | Cm7 F7 | Bb Gm7 | Cm7 F7 | | Bb Bb7 | Eb Ebm | Cm F7 | Bb | [citation needed]
Variant versions of changes are legion due to substitutions: often the beboppers, for instance, would superimpose series of "two-fives" (passing sequences of minor-7th and dominant-7th chords) or other substitutions for interest or in order to discourage lesser musicians from sitting in on the bandstand.
For example, here is the form with substitutions used by the guitarist, Mickey Baker:[citation needed]
| BbM6 Gb7 | F11 Gb7 | BbM6 Gb7 | F11 Gb7 | | Bb Dbm7 | Cmi7 F13b5b9 | BbM6 Gb7 | F11 F13b9|
| BbM6 Gb7 | F11 Gb7 | BbM6 Gb7 | F11 Gb7 | | Bb Dbm7 | Cmi7 F13b5b9 | BbM6 F13b9 | BbM6 |
| D13 | D13 D13#5b9 | Dm6 | G13 | | C13 | C13 C13#5b9 | Cm6 | F13b9 |
| BbM6 Gb7 | F11 Gb7 | BbM6 Gb7 | F11 Gb7 | | Bb Dbm7 | Cmi7 F13b5b9 | BbM6 F13b9 | BbM6 |
The component A and B sections of rhythm changes were also sometimes used for other tunes. For instance, Charlie Parker's "Scrapple from the Apple" and Duke Ellington's "Perdido" both use a different progression for the A section while using the Rhythm changes B section.[8] "Scrapple from the Apple" uses the chord changes of "Honeysuckle Rose" for the A section, but replaces the B section with "Rhythm"'s III7-VI7-II7-V7 bridge. Other tunes, such as Sonny Stitt's "The Eternal Triangle" and the theme from "The Muppet Show", use the A section of "Rhythm" but have a different bridge.[citation needed] Tadd Dameron's "Good Bait" uses the A section of the Rhythm changes but a different progression for the bridge.[9] Often in rhythm changes tunes, the B section is left free for improvisation even during the head (e.g. in Sonny Rollins' "Oleo").[citation needed]
Examples
The following is a partial list of songs based on the rhythm changes:
- "Anthropology" (Charlie Parker/Dizzy Gillespie)[5]
- "Cotton Tail" (Duke Ellington)[1][2]
- "Dexterity" (Charlie Parker)[5]
- "Fingers" (Thad Jones)[citation needed]
- "Five Guys Named Mo" (Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five)[citation needed]
- "Lester Leaps In" (Lester Young)[4]
- "Little Pixie II" (Thad Jones)[citation needed]
- "Meet the Flintstones" (Hoyt Curtin)[citation needed]
- "Moose the Mooche" (Charlie Parker)[4]
- "Oleo" (Sonny Rollins)[5]
- "Rhythm-A-Ning" (Thelonious Monk)[4]
- "The Sheriff" (John Lewis)[citation needed]
- "Steeplechase" (Charlie Parker)[5]
- "Straighten Up and Fly Right" (Nat King Cole)[4]
- "Tip Toe" (Thad Jones)[4]
- "You, Me, and the Bottle Makes Three Tonight (Baby)" (Big Bad Voodoo Daddy)[citation needed]
- "Race To The Bridge" (Gordon Goodwin)[citation needed]
See also
References
- ^ a b "Duke Ellington the Man and His Music", p.20. Luvenia A. George. Music Educators Journal, Vol. 85, No. 6 (May, 1999), pp. 15-21. Published by: MENC: The National Association for Music Education.
- ^ a b c d e Yaffe, David (2005). Fascinating Rhythm: Reading Jazz in American Writing, p.17. ISBN 0-691-12357-8.
- ^ Rust, Brian, Jazz and Ragtime Records, 1897-1942, Mainspring Press, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f "Rhythm Changes", MoneyChords (angelfire.com). Includes an extensive listing of tunes utilizing these chord changes.
- ^ a b c d e f Spitzer, Peter (2001). Jazz Theory Handbook, p.67. ISBN 0-7866-5328-0.
- ^ Thomas, John (2002). Voice Leading for Guitar: Moving Through the Changes, p.85. ISBN 0-634-01655-5.
- ^ Spitzer (2001), p.81.
- ^ Spitzer (2001), p.71.
- ^ Spitzer (2001), p.72.