Useful Voicing?

[krooner]

HI,guys,
Having started going through F.Mantooth's "Voices For Jazz Keyboard", I've been playing around with various voicings. Regarding the chord sequence : - Bm11-E9-Amaj9-Dmaj9, I've noticed that, while needing to alter L/Hand notes for each chord, the R/Hand voiced quartal F#-B-E, may be played throughout. Bearing in mind the lack of movement, would this voicing sometimes be used by experienced players?
Comments would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Kj

[engelbach]

Originally Posted by krooner

HI,guys,
Having started going through F.Mantooth's "Voices For Jazz Keyboard", I've been playing around with various voicings. Regarding the chord sequence : - Bm11-E9-Amaj9-Dmaj9, I've noticed that, while needing to alter L/Hand notes for each chord, the R/Hand voiced quartal F#-B-E, may be played throughout. Bearing in mind the lack of movement, would this voicing sometimes be used by experienced players?
Comments would be appreciated.

Cheers,
Kj

Interesting idea. It sounds okay as long as the left hand fills in so there isn't a big gap.

However, while I can't speak for anyone else, I'm not likely to use it because I don't hear anything especially interesting in maintaining the same quartal above all four chords, I'm not crazy about the voice leading, and I find it more interesting to have some movement in the right hand.

But perhaps that's just me.

[edrowland]

Sounds like the germ of a great idea. But I agree with Gerry, it sounds a little plain.

An idea I like, and use a lot is planed pairs of quartals.

e.g. E-A-D/F#-B-E

One of the advantage of using a pair, is that one of the two chords will include the 3rd.

That pair fits over 3 of the chords. And the Amaj takes F#-B-E/G#-C#-F#. That's an idea that I would definitely use while comping over that set of changes.. Gives you a chance to make the ostinato F#-B-E apparent throughout. But still provides some room for motion, and variation, and melodic line.

I'm a guitarist. We guitarists usually play the inversion -- quintals -- because they're super-easy to play on guitar. Strings are tuned a 5th apart (for the most part). But the sound (and the theory) is pretty much the same. Quintals and quartals use the same notes, just spaced apart a bit more.

Diatonically planed stacks of 5ths is something I use heavily in my playing. Take that quartal stack; move it up or down the diatonic scale using only notes from the scale. Voila! Diatonically-planed quartals. A whole scale full of 'em.

You also get a killer sound if you plane the 4-4-4-3 "so what" chord (or 5-5-5-3 for guitarists).

So could I see myself jamming just the one quartal through all four chords? Definitely. Wailing away on the next-to-last chorus in a solo. As one of those Pat-Martino-style ostinato arpeggios that never goes away, and makes your ears bleed, and gives you a fleeting glimpse paradise when it finally resolves. And having maybe laid the foundations for it in a previous chorus, by playing heavily out of quartal vocabulary. Heck. You might even be able to play it for two three entire choruses over every single change in the tune. Seriously. Very seriously. It's a great idea.

Here be fertile ground. I'd definitely encourage you to dig further.

There's a Tom Harrell tune (Touch the Sky) based on the exact opposite of your idea. A fixed G D A quartal stack in the left hand, throughout the first half of the A section; with the right hand playing a different quartal stack above the fixed left hand. A great source of interesting ideas for quartal playing. (Gmin11 | | GMaj7(69) / G9(sus4) | G69(no 3) / GMaj9#11 Gm11 | Gm11 | Gm11). You have to do a little work to decode that, unfortunately. But the voicings are explicit spelled out in the lead sheet. Found in the "Straight Ahead Jazz Fakebook" -- my favorite source for great tunes.

[krooner]

Jerry, Edrowland,
Thanks very much for your comments.
I'm encouraged by your suggestions that the voicings I offered could work depending on what else is occuring; I've always loved a tasty bit of 'ostinato' but [ shame on me ] until now, I didn't know what it was called.
Regarding paired quartals and the like, there's loads of interest there for me to be going on with.

Cheers!

Keith