Spicing Up a Standard
Part I
by Ed Saindon
Focus for the first in this series of articles will be on modem
reharmonization concepts and other related techniquevused
in making a standard tune sound more contemporary. With-
out losing the essence of the tune's progression, such devices
as chord alteration, superimposition, unusual tensions/voic'
ings and substitution offer the contemporary mallet artist
many harmonic avenues in a standard tune format. The tradi-
tional reharmonization devices, such as substitute dominant
chords, chromatic II-7 V7's, diatonic substitution, etc., used
by many of the mainstream jazz players, have certainly been
highly developed into an art form over the years and warrant
close scrutiny, but this series will concentrate more on con'
cepts and techniques applicable to a more contemporary har-
monic language.
Although harmonic concepts from either the mainsrream
or more modem sqle can cross over into each other, caution
should be used rvhen applying a concept from one style into
the other since the techniques might not always be stylisti-
cally compatible. An effective method that avoids the possi-
ble srylistic discrepancy is to fuse harmonic concepts from
both sryles. An example with specific combinations will be il-
lustrated later in the article.
In order to reharmonize a standard, it helps to know the
original changes in order to determine the basic progression,
including the essential foundation chords of the tune. Possible
ways to determine the original changes would be: old lead
sheet/fake books, older recordings or older musicians (ask
around). If the original changes cannot be exactly deter-
mined, it's fairly easy to decipher the reharmonized version in
terms of what is and what is not important.
Regarding lead sheets: A lead sheet should be thought of as
a general guide or road map, so to speak, and not be taken too
literally, since in most cases lead sheets have many deviations
from the original progression and/or from lead sheet to lead
sheet. The vibist should not be glued to any one specific
change, but rather have a number of harmonic options readily
available to fit any musical moment from chorus to chorus.
Again, analagous to reharmonization is that of the lead
sheet/road map concept whereby phrases used in reading a
road map are directly applied to reading through a lead sheet.
Such phrases as "taking a detour," "finding a more direct
route,'l or "taking the scenic route" can be directly applied in
terms of the harmonic aspect in playing a standard tune. For
example, the phrase "taking a detour" might refer to a har-
monic technique which deletes a few chords in place of others
but ends up at basically the same point in a given part of the
progression. A possible harmonic technique for this category
would be superimposition. "Finding a more direct route"
might refer to stripping down the changes to more of a basic
skeletal chord framework. "Taking the scenic route" would
describe the technique of using basically the same changes
without too much alteration, but with the addition of embel-
lishment enhancements such as passing dimlnished chords,
chromatic approach chords, chord alteration, etc.
The changes in Example 1 comprise the original progression
of Stella by Starlight (transposed to the commonly played key
of Bb, although the original is in G).
The progression in Example 2 is a commonly played version
of SteLlab Stm@t. In making a comparison between the two
versions, Example 2 was derived from the application of
mainstream harmonic devices to the original version. So, in
a sense, the harmonic devices and concepts discussed in this
series can be thought of as an extension of the mainstream
harmonic style.
HARMONIC CONCEPTS
Although the topic of this article could span a lengthy series
on the subject, it is my principal goal to elicit self-motivated
research into the harmonic practices of the contemporary jazz
harmonic language and beyond. With that in mind, the format
of this article and limited series will include brief explanations
of various concepts and devices along with their application
in the form of a reharmonized version o{ Stella by Stadight and
other standards in future articles. Note: many of the examples
used in the harmonic concept explanations will correlate with
the reharmonized version of Stelln,bl Strrlight. Also, acciden-
tals in the notated examples will only be good for their corres-
ponding note and not for the duration of the measure.
Chord Alteration: An easily applicable technique whereby
individual chord tones of the chord are chromatically altered
without changing the true harmonic function of the chord.
Common alterations are major 7il5 and major 7h5 for major 7;
minor 7b5 and minor major 7 for minor 7; diminished major
7 for minor 7b5. Refer to Example 3A.
Note: The chromatically altered chord tone should be
smoothly resolved to the original chord tone or voice led to a
chord tone in the succeeding chord for an overall continous
flow in the progression. A harmonic technique which is a
derivative of chord alteration is the concept of line cliches,