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Ep1. What does the ideal jazz musician know how to do?


Fundamental Features of Jazz[edit]


To answer this question one must first know what kind of music constitutes jazz. Even if one believes that jazz cannot be defined, it is agreed on by all parties that it is a style of music created at the turn of the 20th century by mostly African Americans combining the two musical scales of the diatonic (European) with the pentatonic (blues) scale, using syncopated rhythms, and improvisation. Therefore, at a minimum the ideal jazz musicians must know these three aspects.

For a defense of these three features (hybridization of the diatonic/pentatonic musical scales, with syncopation and improvisation) playing a central and fundamental role in jazz see the jazz video presentation of "The Complexity of Defining Jazz: The Galactic Model” (2016) – Main talk, Parts I and II given by Dr. David C. Ring (b. 1952) and Dr. Charles Otwell (b. 1950).

In The Serious Jazz Practice book, guitarist author Barry Finnerty, who played with many jazz artists including Miles Davis, includes topics on the diatonic scale that includes diatonic interval and triad studies, including spread triads and quartal triads, with diatonic interval variants and use of seventh chords.

What are diatonic triads?[edit]

This section consists of excerpts that have been edited from Reddit.com's music theory page.

A diatonic scale is one in which each of the seven letters (A-G) appears once (either natural, flatted or sharped). Diatonic is also used to refer to notes or note clusters “within the key,” where the key is based on a diatonic scale.

A chord is any number of notes sounded simultaneously. A triad is a chord made of three notes where the distance from each note to the note above it is what musicians call a "third," which means either 3 or 4 semitones. A diatonic chord is one built from the notes of a diatonic scale. So a diatonic triad is simply a 3-note chord (with the structure described above) that comes from a diatonic scale. If a musician forms a three-note chord within the key of C major, then he/she has formed a diatonic triad.

A "third" is a musical interval or relationship of pitches based on the letter names assigned to notes. A up to C is a third because it spans the space of three letters (A B C). A triad is a three-note stack of thirds, such as A C E. Not all thirds sound exactly alike because the pitch difference from letter to letter is not always the same, and the quantity descriptor "third" doesn't account for sharps and flats, which will change the precise sound of the third (the quality).

Diatonic refers to notes which belong in a given diatonic scale. Diatonic triads, then, are the chords that occur naturally when all the notes used belong to the operative scale. So in C Major (C D E F G A B C), a diatonic triad starting on C will be C E G (C Major). A diatonic triad starting on D would be D F A (d minor). If you change the key, the chords will change even if you start with the same root note. For example if we change to C natural minor (C D Eb F G Ab Bb C), the diatonic triad starting on C would now be C Eb G (C minor).

At Reddit.com's music theory page Sperry023 points out that learning diatonic triads is a fantastic way to improve playing by ear and basic composition because it gives you a head start on what harmonies (chords) are "supposed to work" in whatever key you are in, although they are a bit generic.

Two Aspects of Triads[edit]

Because a triad is a three note chord where the three notes are in intervals of some type of 3rd apart, there are two aspects or ways of looking at the 3rds, the Quality and the Quantity.

  • Quality indicates how many half steps between each 3rd, as in three half steps is a minor third, four half steps is a major 3rd.
  • Quantity indicates the distance in the letters of the intervals (C E G), (C d E), ( E f G).


The diatonic triads are the chords naturally found in any given key. For a major key, the quality of these chords are I ii iii IV V vi viio). If you have a chord, say C# major, some may think a major 3rd above C# is F, but since C-F is 4 letters apart, this would be considered some type of 4th. F would have to be respelled as E#.

Just so you have triadic formulas, smallest to largest, the four types of triads you can build are Diminished (min 3rd, min 3rd), Minor (min 3rd, maj 3rd), Major (maj 3rd, min 3rd), and Augmented (maj 3rd, maj 3rd). In the natural major scale, there are no augmented triads, though these can be found in other circumstances, such as in the harmonic minor scale (the III would be III+ because of the raised 7th in the scale).

A triad is a chord made up of a root, a third of any size, and a fifth of any size. A diatonic scale is a major scale and its modes and the three forms of the minor scale and their modes. So, a diatonic triad is one whose root, third, and fifth are from one of the diatonic scales.

Examples of Diatonic Triads[edit]

  • The first three notes of the Star Spangled Banner (American national anthem) are three notes of a major triad.
  • The song "Happy Birthday" is diatonic.
  • "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" is diatonic.
  • Diatonic triads in the C Major scale are formed from C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, B°, whereas the diatonic triads of C harmonic minor are Cm, D°, Ebaug, Fm, G, Ab, B°

Other features of jazz music[edit]

Of course, Barry Finnerty (b. 1951) also includes a discussion in The Serious Jazz Practice book of the pentatonic musical scale, various types of arpeggios (seventh chord, diminished and augmented, and quartal). The modern jazz musicians also should be cognizant of whole tone scales, diminished scales, and chromatic scales.

A pentatonic scale is a musical scale or mode with five notes per octave in contrast to a heptatonic (seven-note) scale such as the major scale and minor scale. Pentatonic scales are very common and are found all over the world. They are divided into those with semitones (hemitonic) and those without (anhemitonic).

Blue tonality and inflections, patterns of musical call-and-response, phrasing closely reflecting speech, spontaneity or improvisation, an emphasis on individualized style, a willingness to foreground emotional intensity, and a range of characteristic rhythmic effects.

What standard jazz songs does a jazz musician know?[edit]

At JazzStandards.com it is noted that “40 percent of the compositions included on jazz CDs today are arrangements of the 1000 compositions found at JazzStandards.com.

Rhythm[edit]

In his interview with Miles Davis, drummer Art (Arthur) Taylor asks Miles the following two questions and Miles reveals the need for any good jazz musician to stay in shape and know, recognize and react appropriately to rhythm changes during performances.

“Art Taylor: Do you think boxing is comparable to music?

Miles Davis: I think it is. You have to have rhythm and good time to do both. Timing has to be good on both of them. Doing exercise makes you think clear and your blood circulate. It makes you think stronger, feel stronger, and you can play whatever instrument you play with greater strength, whether it's wrong or right.
Taylor: What about drums? Do you remember we were talking about drums the other day?
Miles: Drums? Drums? Oh, yeah! I think all musicians should have some kind of knowledge of drums and piano; not necessarily the bass, but at least piano and drums. Because drummers scare a lot of musicians. Like Tony [Williams]—a lot of musicians can't play with him because they're used to playing on the first beat and he accents on the second and third beats if you're in 4/4 time. Sometimes he might accent on any beat. And he might play 5/4 time for a while, and you've got to have that. You've got to know about rhythms and the feel of different rhythms in order to play with him, because he might haul off and do anything rhythmically. If you don't have any knowledge of time and different time changes, he'll lose you. You have to have it when you first start out, so it'll be back in your head, so it'll be natural.”[1] (bold not in original)

Improvisation[edit]

Garry L. Hagberg writes about what jazz improvisers better be ready to play during a 'cutting session' where musicians compared their strengths against each other.

“The "cutting sessions" of the pre-and early-bebop era functioned as a kind of final examination in the jazz analogue to Plato's Academy (indeed, an academy of the street—first in Harlem on 132nd Street, and later at Minton's): the criteria included an ability to play every tempo with ease from ballads to extremely rapid bebop; to improvise coherent melodic lines, unbroken by sudden changes in the underlying harmonic terrain, that themselves carried rich harmonic significance beyond that straight or "inside" underlying harmony; the mastery of standard (and growingly esoteric) repertoire; rhythmic precision, " swing", and the ability to move ahead of or behind the beat at will, as called for by the phrase; the ability to effortlessly employ the device of quotation (itself a measure of scholarly depth in the music); and lastly and most importantly, the finding of an individual "voice", a sound. These criteria do not, of course, constitute an exhaustive list. But they are, with variations and emendations, still with us to the present day, . . . . ”[2] (bold not in original)

NOTES[edit]

  1. ↑ Arthur Taylor, Notes and Tones: Musician-to-musician Interviews, expanded edition, First Da Capo Press edition 1993. This Da Capo Press paperback edition of Notes and Tones is an unabridged republication of the edition published in New York in 1982, with the addition of a new introduction by the author, new interviews with Dexter Gordon and Thelonious Monk, and new photographs. It is reprinted by arrangement with Arthur Taylor. Copyright ® 1977 by Arthur Taylor Foreword copyright 1982 by Arthur Taylor. "Introduction," "Dexter Gordon interview," and "Thelonious Monk interview" copyright ® 1993 by Arthur Taylor.
  2. ↑ Garry L. Hagberg, "Jazz Improvisation: A Mimetic Art?," Revue Internationale de Philosophie, Vol. 60, No. 238 (4), Philosophie de la musique/Philosophy of music (December 2006), 473.
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