I Hear a Rhapsody

[jazzfingers19]

Hey everyone...just wondering how you approach this song from an analytical stand point and improv stand point...some very cool changes.

[EdByrne]

Hey everyone...just wondering how you approach this song from an analytical stand point and improv stand point...some very cool changes.

Fingers,

I love this tune--so much so that I wrote an entire etude book on it in my Linear Improvisation Songbook Series: I'm Near A Rhapsody.

I'd start with the Reduced Melody, Guide Tone Lines & Root Progression, of course, & then target them with chromatic groupings (This tune suggests ones that are particular interesting & melodic). Also, develop the rhythms that you create for playing the melody, & apply them through permutation to your improvisations.

The tune is a basic 32-bar recurring form (AABA) in the primary key of Eb Major. The 1st 4 bars of the B section briefly go to the closely-related key of G minor (sans 1 flat).

There are 2 basic melodic ideas in the tune (A & B). While this is a uncommonly beautiful song, it is formally & harmonically typical.

Perhaps even more that usual, I base my improvisations on this tune on the composition itself.

[jazzfingers19]

that is exactly what i have been doing ed.

can i get you analysis of the first 4 bars? I wonder if i am seeing something else

[EdByrne]

that is exactly what i have been doing ed.

can i get you analysis of the first 4 bars? I wonder if i am seeing something else

These are the chords I use:

Eb:
// Cm7 / Fm7, Bb7 / EbMA7, Ab7 / Gm7, C7 /
// vi7 / ii7, V7 / I MA7, IV7 (Sub V7 of iii7) / ii7 of ii7, V7 of ii7) /

The lead-up to the top gets a brief relative minor feeling (Cm), due to the turn-around (Dm7-5, G9-9) & the 1st chord (Cm7), but especially the melody, which states (in moveable do): sol, la, ti, re, do, fa ('fa' Eb becoming'do').

[jazzfingers19]

Cool Ed. Thank you.

That is pretty much what I saw. What was throwing me was how I heard it played on a couple records. I THINK on a Bill Evans/Jim Hall record i have...the first 2 bars are different. I'll transpose the idea.

Basically you'd get Cm F#-.......kind of wierd right?

I think in the Coltrane version i want to transcribe the chords are as you have written.

[EdByrne]

Cool Ed. Thank you.

That is pretty much what I saw. What was throwing me was how I heard it played on a couple records. I THINK on a Bill Evans/Jim Hall record i have...the first 2 bars are different. I'll transpose the idea.

Basically you'd get Cm F#-.......kind of wierd right?

I think in the Coltrane version i want to transcribe the chords are as you have written.

Glad to be of help, jf.

I know I'm a broken record about this, but I frankly don't care what the chords are. The essential parts are so strong that the chords merely coincide with them.

[tweebinmusic]

Cm7 F#13 in the first bar is often used...

this equalizes the harmonic rhythm and approaches the ii chord from above by half step like the Ab7 does in the third and fourth bars. This creates balance and symmetry.

[EdByrne]

Cm7 F#13 in the first bar is often used...

this equalizes the harmonic rhythm and approaches the ii chord from above by half step like the Ab7 does in the third and fourth bars. This creates balance and symmetry.

Cool enough--makes sense (Sub V7 of ii7), since, as implied, it creates an uninterrupted 1/2-note harmonic rhythm. This could, by extension, be applied to the entire tune as well: B7 in 2nd 1/2 of m. 5; followed by Bb7, E7; EbMA7, Eb7; and so on (apply Sub V7 of everything). While it's a matter of taste, more chords don't, in my view, always make a tune better--or more interesting. When I compress & then sing the root progression in its simpler form, it seems satisfactorily melodic to me. In either case it would have little or no affect on the way I'd improvise over it.

Basic A-Section HR: //: -/.. /.. /.. / - / - / - / .. :// I like it!

Frankly, I find this sort of harmonic manipulation more useful as an arranger's art, since it affords coloristic alterations & development, even suggesting &/or facilitating new orchestrational options. In improvising, however, I'm usually seeking ways of simplifying the thinking & the entire potential straight-jacket, rather than complicating the process.

[tweebinmusic]

I hear you...

I guess as a pianist the harmonic rhythm tends to be a more organic part of the improvising process for me, as I am often making decisions on how I choose to mark it with l.h. comping.

I can choose to generalize, simplify, or specify harmonic motion, or play only melodic or harmonic material. I've also been working on altering the harmonic rhythm of the tune to catch polyrhythmic targets, rather than strictly agogic ones.

(at the same time, I was working the past two days with my students at unt extensively on compositional use of melody and diatonic and chromatic embellishment of target notes... very effective stuff!)

[EdByrne]

I hear you...

I guess as a pianist the harmonic rhythm tends to be a more organic part of the improvising process for me, as I am often making decisions on how I choose to mark it with l.h. comping.

I can choose to generalize, simplify, or specify harmonic motion, or play only melodic or harmonic material. I've also been working on altering the harmonic rhythm of the tune to catch polyrhythmic targets, rather than strictly agogic ones.

(at the same time, I was working the past two days with my students at unt extensively on compositional use of melody and diatonic and chromatic embellishment of target notes... very effective stuff!)

Cool, tweeb!

It's also great to hear that you are addressing much-neglected essentials in your teaching. Are you using my method, by any chance? I've developed a method on this and related skills--& it works great in classes & clinics.

[Phil Kelly]

Also:

Melodically, the two three note motifs ( bar 1 - C D Eb and Bar 5- Bb Ab Cb ) that eventually resolve to the same motif inverted in the cadence (D F Eb ) give you a couple "hooks" to start an improvisation with.

:cheers :cheers :cheers :cheers