Michael Kahr, Graz/Austria

CHROMATIC HARMONY IN THE MUSIC OF

HERBIE HANCOCK AND CLARE FISCHER

Pianist Herbie Hancock (*1940) is widely recognized both as one of the most popu-
lar musicians in jazz and as a groundbreaking figure of the post-bop era. In addition
to his membership from 1963 to 1968 in the seminal Miles Davis Quintet, the mu-
sic he recorded for Blue Note Records during the same period, released on albums
such as Empyrean Isles, Maiden Voyage and Speak Like a Child, has been highly influ-
ential for subsequent generations of jazz musicians. This article explores Hancock’s
harmonic style and its relationship to Clare Fischer’s music–a relationship addressed
by Hancock several times in his career, such as in an interview from April 2012:
One of my first influences for harmony was a vocal group–the Hi-Lo’s. I found
out, the arrangements I liked the most were by a guy named Clare Fischer, who
recently passed away. When I finally did meet Clare, it was not that long ago
considering that I had listened to the Hi-Lo’s back in the 50s.1
In another interview from May 2013, he offers more details on Fischer’s influence:
I studied, on my own, the harmonies from [Fischer’s] arrangements. They were
more advanced than what anybody else was doing […] As a matter of fact,
when I was in high school, I formed a vocal group that was at first more like
Four Freshmen harmonies [...] But then when I heard the Hi-Lo’s and Clare’s
arrangements, I started writing more like that, […] That was a big lesson for
me on developing more advanced harmonies, and I took that with me to New
York and all that. If you listen to Speak Like a Child, his influence is huge on
that record, in the voicings and the harmonic devices.2
These statements also coincide with comments made in earlier interviews, including
those published in 1978 in Jazz-Rock Fusion: the People, the Music and The Black
Composer Speaks.3

1 http://www.amoeba.com/live-shows/detail-2383#cat-most_recent_shows/page-1
(accessed Jan. 20, 2014), author’s transcription.
2 http://jazztimes.com/articles/76522-herbie-hancock-remembers-clare-fischer
(accessed Jan. 20, 2014).
3 Julie Coryell and Laura Friedman, Jazz-Rock Fusion: The People, the Music (London: Boyars,
1978). Lida Belt Baker and David Baker, The Black Composer Speaks (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow
Press, 1978), p. 114.

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Hancock’s complex harmonic approach has been addressed recently, from various
perspectives, in a number of publications; 4 this paper complements these previous
studies, investigating the influence of Fischer’s arrangements for the Hi-Lo’s on
Hancock’s harmonies. The analyses, comparing the music of the two, are based
on historical information, Hancock’s own remarks in the liner notes to his albums,
and transcriptions by the author and Bill Dobbins. They also draw on the literature
discussed, particularly on Franz Krieger’s catalogue of Hancock’s harmonic devices.
In addition, the study makes use of the results of previous studies of Fischer, includ-
ing the author’s dissertation5 and information shared during the First International
Clare Fischer Symposium, organized by the author at the University of Music and
Performing Arts in Graz in May 2010. This information proved particularly integral
to the connection between chromatic voice-leading events and conventional vertical
structures in Fischer’s music. A number of Fischer’s arrangements for the Hi-Lo’s,
part of a vast collection of manuscript scores and notes found in Fischer’s private
library in his home in Los Angeles, have also proved indispensable; the collection
is now archived in the online repository PHAIDRA, hosted by the library of the
University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz.6

The Hi-Lo’s

The vocal group known as the Hi-Lo’s was formed in 1953 and consisted of four
male singers – Gene Puerling, Bob Strasen (replaced by Don Shelton in 1959),
Clarke Burroughs, and Bob Morse. The quartet sang in the barbershop style and
quickly achieved a degree of popularity. Fischer joined the group in the mid-1950s as
a pianist and soon began arranging for them as well, though much of his early work
remained uncredited. Fischer’s first credited arrangement on a recording was of the

4 Compare Bill Dobbins, Herbie Hancock – Classic Jazz Compositions and Piano Solos (Rotten-
burg am Neckar: Advance Music, 1992); Franz Krieger, »Impressionist and Expressionist Har-
mony in Jazz, as Exemplified by Herbie Hancock« (Jazzforschung / Jazz Research 44, 2012),
pp. 91–124; Keith Salley, »Ordered Step Motives in Jazz Standards« (Journal of Jazz Studies 8/2,
2012), pp. 114–136; Richard Tuttobene, The Herbie Hancock Collection (Milwaukee: Hal Leon-
ard, 2002); Dmitri Tymoczko, »The Consecutive-Semitone Constraint on Scalar Structure: a
Link between Impressionism and Jazz« (Integral 11, 1997), pp. 135–179; Johannes P. Wallmann,
»The Music of Herbie Hancock – Composition and Improvisation in the Blue Note Years« (PhD
diss., Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University,
2010); Keith Waters, »Modes, Scales, Functional Harmony, and Nonfunctional Harmony in the
Compositions of Herbie Hancock« (Journal of Music Theory 49/2, 2005), pp. 333–357, and
Keith Waters, The Studio Recordings of the Miles Davis Quintet 1965–68 (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2011).
5 Michael Kahr, »Aspects of Context and Harmony in the Music of Clare Fischer« (PhD diss.
Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney, 2010).
6 https://phaidra.kug.ac.at (accessed Jan. 20, 2014).

74
jazz standard »Tenderly«, released on the album And Suddenly It’s the Hi-Lo’s in 1957
– the year Herbie Hancock turned 17.7 In the same year another Fischer arrange-
ment, »Solitude«, was released on the album Ring around Rosie, featuring singer
Rosemary Clooney.8 In 1958, the albums Love Nest and And All That Jazz were
released, featuring further arrangements and two original compositions by Fischer.9
Of possible indirect relevance to Fischer’s influence is trumpeter Donald Byrd,
who mentored young Hancock upon his arrival in New York in 1960. Byrd knew
Fischer well from previous collaborations: during school vacations they had played
together in so-called territory bands, and in 1957 Byrd recorded the album Septem-
ber Afternoon with a large orchestra arranged and conducted by Fischer. However,
we can only speculate as to whether Byrd related his experience working with Fi-
scher to Hancock.

Fischer’s arrangement of »Tenderly«

Clare Fischer’s arrangement of »Tenderly« is a characteristic example of his contri-

butions to the Hi-Lo’s; it also makes use of a number of harmonic techniques that
can be found in Hancock’s music on Speak Like a Child, particularly the following
features (compare Examples 1 and 2):
– chromatically moving major seconds (Ex. 1, bars 1–2, 7–8, 13; see
framed areas #1)
– minor seconds in voicings (Ex. 1, bars 4, 12, 14; see frames #2)
– chromatically ascending fourths between middle voices (Ex. 1, bars
7–8; see frame #3)
– chromatic bass lines as part of a minor line cliché (Ex. 1, bars 10–11; see frame
#4) and a re-harmonisation (Ex. 2, bars 15–17; see frame #1)
– re-harmonisation accompanied by chromatic voice-leading in all voices (Ex. 2,
bars 16–17; see frame #2)
– constant structures in minor thirds, outlining a diminished scale (Ex. 2, bar 25:
Db/D, E/F, G/Ab, Bb/B; see frame #3)

7 The Hi-Lo’s, And Suddenly It’s the Hi-Lo’s (Columbia 952, 1957).
8 The Hi-Lo’s, Ring around Rosie (Phillips BBL 7156, 1957).
9 The Hi-Lo’s, Love Nest (Columbia CS 8057, 1958) and And All That Jazz (Columbia CS 8077,
1958).

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Example 1: First page of Fischer’s arrangement of »Tenderly« for the Hi-Lo’s 10

10 Reproduction of original score, used by kind permission of the Fischer family. All accidentals
appear as in the original. For clarity of the analysis, lyrics have been omitted. Tenor voices sound
one octave lower. The performance on the album recording is slightly adapted, including in bar 10
(omission of last note in bass voice), bar 12 (bass voice slightly changed) and is a semitone lower.

76
Example 2: Second page of Fischer’s arrangement of »Tenderly« for the Hi-Lo’s 11

11 Reproduction of original score, used by kind permission of the Fischer family. All accidentals
appear as in the original. For clarity of the analysis, lyrics have been omitted. Tenor voices sound
one octave lower. The performance on the album recording is slightly adapted, including in bars
22–23 (melody only, no other voices until beat three in bar 23) and is a semitone lower.

77
In bars 16–17, Fischer’s arrangement includes a re-harmonisation, a particular char-
acteristic of his harmonic approach. The section is based on a simple II-V cadence
(Am7–D7); Fischer employs the three distinct chords Bb6/addmaj7–A6 –Ab9/sus4, which
bear little functional relationship to the original but are the cumulative result of
smooth individual voice-leading (Example 3).

Example 3: Bars 16–17 in Fischer’s arrangement of »Tenderly«12

The Ab9/sus4 chord appears as a subV (tritone substitution for D7) with the note Db
functioning as a suspension, resolving to the third of the chord (C) on beat two.
The third in the foregoing Bb6/addmaj7 chord is also briefly suspended (Eb) on beat
two, then moving chromatically to Db. The lower voices also descend chromati-
cally, while the top note A is sustained. The result is an A6 chord with no obvious
functional role–and far removed from the expected dominant chord, D7. Yet, this
seemingly out-of-place vertical structure has a linear connection to the subV chord
Ab9/sus4 : A6 reaches Ab9/sus4 via the chromatically descending bass voice (A–Ab), the
chromatically ascending top voice (A–Bb) and the two sustained voices F# and Db.
Example 4 shows a reduction of the progression, including the preceding two bars:

Example 4: Bars 14–17 in Fischer’s arrangement of »Tenderly«13

12 Tenor voices sound one octave lower than written.

13 Ibid.

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The entire passage is based on an imperfect cadence in the key of G, consisting of a
long, descending chromatic bass line from D in bar 14 to Ab in bar 17 (horizontal
line) and involving the progression of the dissonant major seventh between C–B
(vertical line #1) to the even more dissonant flatted ninth between B–C (vertical
line #2), finally resolving to the fairly stable, but non-diatonic, Bb6/addmaj7 chord.
Fischer made frequent use of such linear harmonic solutions, in which the expected
resolution of one dissonance leads to the creation of another dissonance, throughout
his career. Similar solutions can be found in Herbie Hancock’s music on Speak Like
a Child.

Speak Like a Child

The album Speak Like a Child was Hancock’s sixth album for Blue Note Records.14
Recorded and released in 1968, it marked his re-emergence as a leader after a 5-year
stint as sideman in the Miles Davis Quintet, and his first record under his own name
on Blue Note since 1965’s Maiden Voyage. Hancock is the only soloist on Speak Like
a Child and is accompanied by Ron Carter (b) and Mickey Roker (dr), as well as
Jerry Dodgion (alto fl), Thad Jones (flh) and Peter Phillips (b-tb). In the liner notes
Hancock credits Gil Evans, Oliver Nelson and Thad Jones as having influenced the
music on the album–but does not acknowledge Fischer.
Not all the pieces on Speak Like a Child are reminiscent of Fischer’s work. How-
ever, elements of the pieces »Toys«, »Goodbye to Childhood« and »Speak Like a
Child« resemble his harmonic approach and are thus analysed here as compositions,
along with excerpts from Hancock’s piano improvisations. Similar to Fischer’s early
arrangements for the Hi-Lo’s, these three pieces are melancholic: all three are in
medium to slow tempos, feature descending lines in the voice leading, and focus
largely on harmonic variety and colour. In Nat Hentoff’s liner notes, Hancock says:
Now what’s different in Speak Like a Child as a whole has to do, first of all,
with harmony. For the most part, the harmonies in these numbers are freer in
the sense that they’re not so easily identifiable chordally in the conventional
way. I’m more concerned with sounds than chords, and so I voice the harmo-
nies to provide a wider spectrum of colors that can be contained within the
traditional chord progressions.15

14 Speak Like a Child (Blue Note BST 84279, 1968).

15 Liner notes to the album Speak Like a Child (Blue Note BST 84279, 1968).

79
»Toys«

The composition »Toys« bears a close relationship to the blues, though it lacks the
conventional 12-bar form. The bluesy character is achieved through its mainly dia-
tonic melody, in the key of F major with the inclusion of minor thirds as blue notes,
and through its harmonic structure, involving the familiar I7 and IV7 but also in-
cluding dominants on scale degrees including the flatted seventh–similar to Charles
Mingus’ composition »Goodbye Porkpie Hat« (first recorded in 1959).
Example 5 is a lead sheet of the second theme chorus, including the slightly
altered harmonisation used in the solo section. Notably, the trombone plays a chro-
matic counterpoint to the mainly diatonic first and second voices. The use of a
functionally independent, occasionally dissonant low voice is closely associated with
Gil Evans’ style but also (as in the chromatically descending bass line from the
»Tenderly« example) with Clare Fischer’s. In the liner notes, Hancock says of »Toys«:
There are times [...] when I sacrifice the vertical for the horizontal structure in
going from one chord to another (a few bars later) and the reason is to allow
certain instruments to play a melodic line even though that line may involve
some harmonic clashes.16
Example 5 highlights these features, described as characteristic of Hancock’s style in
the literature and can be found in Fischer’s work for the Hi-Lo’s as well:
– fourths between voice 1 and 2 (bars 1, 2–4, 6, 11–12; see frames #1)
– major seconds moving chromatically (bars 1–2; see frame #2)
– parallel fourths (moving by whole step in bar 6 and chromatically in bars 15–17;
see frames #3)17
– minor seconds moving chromatically (bars 6–7; see frame #4)
– the progression, in the lower voices, of a dissonant major seventh to a dissonant
minor second (vertical lines in bar 6), recalling the voice-leading example in
Fischer’s »Tenderly«, where a major seventh resolves to a flatted ninth

16 Ibid.
17 Similar passages can be found at the beginning of the fourth solo chorus and at the end of the fifth
and sixth choruses of the piano solo.

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Example 5: Transcription of Hancock’s horn arrangement in his composition »Toys«18

18 The transcription represents the second theme chorus, which differs slightly from the first. The
chord symbols represent the basic underlying harmonies, as found on lead sheets. The harmonies
for the solo section are slightly different.

81
»Goodbye to Childhood«

»Goodbye to Childhood« consists of a ten-bar head composition, played rubato by

the complete ensemble, and a ten-bar solo form for Hancock, accompanied in a slow
ballad tempo by bass and drums. In the liner notes Hancock states: »In the writing
of it, I again didn’t think about what the chords were. I had to figure out what they
were afterwards.«19
Bar 6 of the opening section shows the use of chromatically moving fourths in
the lower voices, similar to Fischer’s arrangement of »Tenderly« (Example 6; frame
#1). In bars 7–8 Hancock uses chromatically ascending seconds Ab / Bb–A / B
(frame #2). Minor seconds are absent here, but the flatted ninths between Bb–B
and C–Db in bar 5 (Example 6, horizontal lines) and the flatted ninth stretched
across an octave Db–D in bar 9 (Example 7, horizontal line) convey a similar level
of dissonance.

Example 6: »Goodbye to Childhood«, transcription of the horn arrangement, bars 5–8

Example 7: »Goodbye to Childhood«, transcription of the horn arrangement, bars 8–10

Hancock’s piano improvisation on »Goodbye to Childhood« reveals further use of

the devices found in the theme, such as chromatically moving fourths and major
and minor seconds.20 Extended chromatically descending lines are mostly absent,
with one notable exception in the third solo chorus. In addition, a passage of slash
chords in Hancock’s harmonisation of the C#7 chord in the last solo chorus shows a
surprising resemblance to a section in Fischer’s »Tenderly« (Example 8).

19 Liner notes to the album Speak Like a Child (Blue Note BST 84279, 1968).
20 A full transcription of the solo is published in Bill Dobbins, Herbie Hancock – Classic Jazz Com-
positions.

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Example 8: Comparison of constant structures in Hancock’s »Goodbye to Childhood« (solo
chorus 10, bar 8) and Fischer’s »Tenderly« (reproduction of original score, bar 25)21

The chords in both examples are derived from the same diminished scale, F–G–Ab–
Bb–B–Db–D–E. Hancock’s example represents an exact transposition of Fischer’s
example.
Taken as a whole, Hancock’s piano solo is an exploration of various harmonic
and melodic approaches to the rather short, ten-bar form. As Bill Dobbins notes in
the preface to his volume of Hancock’s transcriptions:
Although Ron Carter’s bass line emphasizes the same notes in the correspond-
ing measures of each ten-bar chorus, Herbie discovers an ever-changing array
of harmonic colors which make the same bass notes sound fresh each time they
return. His brilliant harmonic spontaneity gives the entire piece a feeling of
continual harmonic evolution and development.22
Dobbins’ analytical chord symbols of the ten choruses of Hancock’s improvised pi-
ano solo on »Goodbye to Childhood« are provided in Example 9, which also reveals
occasional liberties taken by Carter in his choice of bass notes. Hancock’s piano im-
provisation shows particular harmonic variance in bars 2–4, and 6–9. Throughout
the ten choruses, bar 2 consists of varying chord qualities played over the bass note
Eb (B7/Eb, Ebm7/b5, Ebm6/9, Ebo and Eb°7) as well as the slash chords B7/F#, B7/A and
Ebo7/A; bar 3 appears as Bm7/b5, Bm7 and B7/sus4 and bar 4 involves variants of the
Emaj7/b5 chord (Emaj7/Bb, Emaj7, E6/9 and Emaj7/#5). Bar 6 shows Ammaj7, Am, Am7, Am9/C

21 Tenor voices sound one octave lower than written in the Fischer example.
22 Bill Dobbins, Herbie Hancock – Classic Jazz Compositions, p. 6.

83
and the progression Ammaj7–Am7/b5 ; in bar 7 Hancock applies the chords Dm7/b5,
Dm6/9, D7/sus4, Dmmaj7, Dm6/9 and a Dm triad; bar 8 is interpreted as Dm/C#, C#7/alt,
Dmmaj7/C# or C#7; bar 9 is partially dependent on the bass tone of the moment; the
variations include Dm/C–Bm7/b5, Fmaj7/C–Bm7/b5, C6/9–Bm7, C6/9–F6/9– Bm7/b5,
F6/9/C, Dm7/C–Bm7/b5, Cmaj7/#5 –G/B and Fmaj7/C.
In general, the emphasis on the harmonically distant tonal plateaus Ebm (bars
1 and 5) and Am (bar 6) lends harmonic richness to the piece; the appearance of
Ebm7 (with its dominant, Bb7) twice in each chorus suggests Ebm as the overall
tonal centre.
The frequent use of tensions and alterations as melody notes throughout
Hancock’s improvisation add a further melodic dimension to the piece’s colour-
ful harmonies. Interestingly, the majority of melodic connections between chords
are chromatic, vastly outnumbering connections by common tone. Chromatic and
common tone connections between chords also play an important role in Hancock’s
left-hand harmonies, though not to the same extent. The chromatically descending
bass line D–C#–C–B–Bb (bars 7–10) resembles one of Fischer’s favoured voice-
leading devices.

Example 9: Harmonic comparison of the 10 choruses of Hancock’s improvised piano solo

on »Goodbye to Childhood«23

Bar 1 Bar 2 Bar 3 Bar 4 Bar 5

Ebm7 B7/Eb Bm7/b5 Emaj7/b5 –Bb7 Ebm7
Ebm7/Gb B7/F# Bm7 Emaj7/Bb–Bb7 Ebm7
Ebm7/Bb B7/A B7/sus4 Emaj7–Bb7 Ebm7
Ebm7 Ebm7/b5 Bm7/b5 E6/9 –Bb7 Ebm7
Ebm7 B7/Eb Bm7/b5 Emaj7/#5 –Bb7 Ebm7
Ebm7 Ebm6/9 Bm7/b5/F Emaj7/#5 – Bb7/sus4 Ebm7
Ebm7 Eb° Bm7/b5 E6/9 –Bb7 Ebm7
Ebm7 Eb°7 Bm7/b5 Emaj7/#5 –Bb7 Ebm7
Ebm7 Eb°7 Bm7/b5 –B7 E6/9 –Bb7 Ebm7
Ebm7 Eb°7/A Bm7/b5 E6/9 –Bb7 Ebm6/9

23 Ibid., pp. 15–21.

84
 Bar 6 Bar 7 Bar 8 Bar 9 Bar 10
Ammaj7 Dm7/b5 Dm/C# Dm/C–Bm7/b5 Bb13/sus4
Ammaj7 Dm6/9 C#7/alt Fmaj7/C–Bm7/b5 Bb13/sus4
Ammaj7 D7/sus4 C#7/alt C6/9 –Bm7 Bb7/sus4
Am D7/sus4 C#7/alt C6/9 –F6/9 –Bm7/b5 Bb7/sus4
Am7 Dmmaj7 Dmmaj7/C# F6/9/C Bb7/sus4
Am7 Dm6/9 C#7 Fmaj7/C–Bm7/b5 Bb7/sus4
Am9/C Dm9/F C#7/alt Fmaj7/C–Bm7/b5 Bb7/sus4
Ammaj7 Dm C#7/alt Dm7/C–Bm7/b5 Bb7/sus4/F
Ammaj7–Am7/b5 Dm6/9 C#7/alt Cmaj7/#5 –G/B Bb7/sus4/F
Ammaj7 Dm6/9 C#7 Fmaj7/C Bb7/sus4

»Speak Like a Child«

Hancock points out in the album’s liner notes that the title track, »Speak Like a
Child« is a »sectional piece and has no definite tonal centres«. Indeed, the lengthy
form and slowly developing harmonic structures, which are characterized by chro-
matically descending lines in the inner voices, as well as the unexpected insertion of
the chords E9/sus4 –Am9 in bars four and five, make the identification of a tonal centre
doubtful. Although the melodic shape suggests an A-B form, the harmonies in both
parts are very similar. Example 10 shows the chord chart of the composition, with
the chords in parentheses denoting alternate harmonisations in the B section.

Example 10: Chord chart of »Speak Like a Child«

Db7/alt Db7/alt Ab7/alt E9/sus4 –Am9 (E9/sus4 –Am7/b5)

Bb13 Bb7/b13 Bbm7 (A7/alt) Eb7/b9/#11 (A13)
Ab13/sus4 Ab7/b9 G7/alt G7/alt
Gbmaj7/#11 Gbmaj7/#11 Gb°7/add9 Gb°7/add9
Eb9/sus4 (Dbmaj7/b5/Eb) Eb13 (Dbmaj7/b5/Eb) Ebm7 (Gbmaj7/#11) D7/#9 (Gbmaj7/#11)
Db7/alt (C/Db–Bb/C) Fmaj7 (C/B) –Bbm7 | : Am9 E9/sus4:||

85
Each part develops over a bossa nova groove for 28 bars, including a six-bar inter-
lude repeating the two-bar cell Am9 –E9/sus4 ; this interlude is extended in the solo.
The modal nature of this two-bar cell – exclusively based, with the exception of
the inserted E9/sus4 –Am7/b5 in bar 4 of the B section, on the A Dorian scale – stands
in contrast to the complex and highly chromatic piano solo choruses, serving as
temporary relief from the dense harmonic development. The unusual progression
Gb°7/add9 –Eb9/sus4 in bars 15–17 of the A section adds to the overall harmonic com-
plexity, but taken as a whole the harmonies can be reduced to a fairly conventional,
functional harmonic structure. Example 11 offers a functional rationale for the pro-
gression Gb°7/add9 –Eb9/sus4.

Example 11: A section, bars 15–17

In bar 15 of the theme and the solo, the horn section and Hancock’s left hand each
play a rootless voicing typical of an F7/b9/#9 chord. The Gb in the bass can be viewed
as deriving from the diminished scale, relateable to F7/b9/#9 in conventional chord-
scale theory. The Eb9/sus4 chord in section A, as well as the Dbmaj7/b5/F in section B,
can be regarded as variants of a Bbm7 and Bbmmaj7 chord respectively, representing
the sixth scale degree in the key of Db. The horn arrangement in bar 17 also seems
to support this conclusion, clearly implying a Bbm7 chord (Bb, Db and Ab). Conse-
quently, the progression Gb°7/add9 –Eb9/sus4 can be interpreted as a simple tonicisation
of the VI chord (F7/b9/#9 –Bbm7), distorted only by the bass notes Gb in the dominant
chord and Eb in the destination chord. The bass note Gb can be interpreted as a
delayed resolution from the previous chord, Gbmaj7/#11; the bass note Eb anticipates
the root of the following V/V chord, Eb13 or Ebm7.
Example 12 offers a functional analysis of the harmonic structures in »Speak
Like a Child«. The Roman numerals refer to the fundamental scale degrees under-
lying the composition in the key of Db major. The chords of the tonally distant
modal sections at the end of each chorus and in bar four are provided in brackets but
not further considered, having previously been discussed. The previously discussed
Gb°7/add9 chord is replaced by the functionally plausible F7/b9/#9 chord. The chord
symbols and Roman numerals in parentheses refer to the harmonic structures found
in the B section.

86
Example 12: Functional analysis of »Speak Like a Child«

I V
Db7/alt Db 7/alt
Ab7/alt [E9/sus4 –Am9 (E9/sus4 –Am7/b5)]

VI VI (subV/V)
Bb13 Bb7/b13
Bbm7 (A7/alt) Eb7/b9/#11 (A13)

V subV/IV
Ab13/sus4 Ab7/b9 G7/alt G7/alt

IV V/VI
Gbmaj7/#11 Gb maj7/#11
F7/b9/#9 F7/b9/#9

V/V (I/3) II (IV) subV (IV)

Eb9/sus4 (Dbmaj7/b5/F) Eb (Db
13 maj7/b5
/F) Ebm (Gb
7 maj7/#11
) D7/#9 (Gbmaj7/#11)

I
Db7/alt (C/Db–Bb/C) Fmaj7 (C/B)–Bbm7 | :[Am9 E9/sus4] :||

The first line (bars 1–4) involves the tonic in the key of Db, re-harmonised as a dom-
inant chord, and the primary dominant, Ab7, appearing here as an altered chord.
Bars 5 through 8 in line two can be seen as a harmonic elaboration of the sixth scale
degree, at first in the form of the secondary dominant chords Bb13 and Bb7/b13 (both
as V/II), then as a conventional II–V progression (Bbm7–Eb7) – a common harmon-
ic motive in tonal jazz. In bars 7 and 8 of the B section, the introduction of A7/alt
and A13 results in a chain of chromatically descending dominant chords (Bb7–A7–
Ab7–G7) from bars 5 to 12, finally resolving to the fourth scale degree, Gbmaj7/#11. In
the third line (bar 9), the primary dominant appears with a suspended fourth (Db),
conventionally resolved to the chord’s third, C. In the following bar the G7/alt chord
functions as a tritone substitution for the secondary dominant, Db7, resolving to the
fourth scale degree, Gbmaj7/#11, in the fourth line (bars 13 and 14). The ensuing chord
Gb°7/add9 has already been analysed as a secondary dominant F7/b9/#9 (V/VI). The
second-to-last line (bars 17–20) shows a conventional imperfect cadence, with the
secondary dominant Eb7 (initially with a suspended fourth) followed by the subdom-
inant Ebm7 and the tritone substitution D7/#9 (subV), instead of the expected Ab7.
The harmony of the B section in bars 17–20 describes a similarly conventional
I–IV progression, with the tonic chord altered (flatted fifth) and in its first inversion.
The final line of the piano solo rests on the tonic for two bars, but this passage of
the head arrangement exhibits a more elaborate modulation: beginning with Db7/alt,
it moves to Am9 via Fmaj7 and Bbm7 in the A section and via the progression C/Db–
Bb/C–C/B–Bbm7 in the B section, strongly evoking Gil Evans’ harmonic style.

87
In sum, despite the intriguing complexity of »Speak Like a Child« – its tonally dis-
tant modal section, chord alterations, chromatically descending inner voices, and
the resulting delayed resolutions – the underlying harmonic basis would seem to rely
on fairly conventional functional harmony.

Conclusion

Upon examination, the harmonic structures and techniques in Clare Fischer’s ar-
rangement of »Tenderly« and Herbie Hancock’s music on the album Speak Like a
Child reveal conspicuous similarities, including:
– a high level of vertical dissonance, created by the inclusion of minor seconds,
major sevenths and flatted ninths in chord voicings
– constant structures in minor thirds, involving material from a single diminished
scale
– chromatically moving fourths and major/minor seconds
– expected resolutions of dissonances resulting in the creation of new dissonances
– long, chromatically descending lines in middle and lower voices
– parsimonious voice-leading with a high proportion of chromatic resolutions
All of these features are integral aspects of both Fischer’s and Hancock’s harmonic
styles–and yet, the existence of these shared musical devices is not in itself evidence
that Fischer was their sole originator, nor can it prove that Hancock became acquaint
ed with them in Fischer’s arrangements for the Hi-Lo’s, and not by other sources.
Prominent examples of movement in parallel fourths can be found on Bud Powell’s
1950 recording »So Sorry Please« and Horace Silver’s »Señor Blues«, voicings in
fourths appear in Duke Ellington’s »Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue« as early as
1937. We do not know how familiar Hancock was with these recordings, or with the
music of classical composers such as Claude Debussy or Maurice Ravel. However,
Hancock himself attests that he was listening closely to Fischer’s arrangements of
the Hi-Lo’s, that he was impressed by what he heard, and that he actively emulated
Fischer’s approach in his own writing during his formative years. In this light, the
analyses in this article may contribute to a more complete understanding of both
Hancock’s and Fischer’s personal styles, as well as revealing surprising parallels be-
tween American popular music in the 1950s and the modern jazz of the late 1960s.
These insights may provide a basis for further investigation into the evolving mean-
ing of musical devices and techniques and into the fluidity of musical ideas across
genres and periods as divergent as barbershop-style vocal music and post-bop jazz.

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Sources

(a) Literature

BAKER, David, and Lida Belt BAKER

1978 The Black Composer Speaks. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press.
CORYELL, Julie, and Laura FRIEDMAN
1978 Jazz-Rock Fusion: the People, the Music. London: Boyars.
DOBBINS, Bill
1992 Herbie Hancock – Classic Jazz Compositions and Piano Solos. Rottenburg am Neckar:
Advance Music.
K AHR, Michael
2010 »Aspects of Context and Harmony in the Music of Clare Fischer«. PhD diss., Sydney
Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney.
K RIEGER, Franz
2012 »Impressionist and Expressionist Harmony in Jazz, as Exemplified by Herbie Hancock«.
Jazzforschung / Jazz Research 44, pp. 91–124.
TUTTOBENE, Richard
2002 The Herbie Hancock Collection. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard.
TYMOCZKO, Dmitri
1997 »The Consecutive-Semitone Constraint on Scalar Structure: a Link between Impression-
ism and Jazz«. Integral 11, pp. 135–179.
WALLMANN, Johannes
2010 »The Music of Herbie Hancock – Composition and Improvisation in the Blue Note
Years«. PhD diss., Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development,
New York University.
WATERS, Keith
2005 »Modes, Scales, Functional Harmony, and Nonfunctional Harmony in the Composi-
tions of Herbie Hancock«. Journal of Music Theory 49/2, pp. 333–357.
2011 The Studio Recordings of the Miles Davis Quintet 1965–68. New York: Oxford University
Press.
2012 »Ordered Step Motives in Jazz Standards«. Journal of Jazz Studies 8/2, pp. 114–136.

(b) Sound carriers

H ANCOCK, Herbie
1968 Speak Like a Child. Blue Note BST 84279.
THE HI-LO’S
1957 And Suddenly It’s the Hi-Lo’s. Columbia 952.
1957 Ring around Rosie. Phillips BBL 7156.
1958 Love Nest. Columbia CS 8057.
1958 And All That Jazz. Columbia CS 8077.

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(c) Websites

http://www.amoeba.com/live-shows/detail-2383#cat-most_recent_shows/page-1
http://jazztimes.com/articles/76522-herbie-hancock-remembers-clare-fischer
https://phaidra.kug.ac.at

Zusammenfassung

Der Pianist Herbie Hancock bezeichnet in Bezug auf die Entwicklung seiner eigenen
harmonischen Ausdruckspalette den Komponisten, Arrangeur und Pianisten Clare
Fischer als wichtigen Einfluss. Hancocks frühe Beschäftigung mit Fischers Arrange-
ments für die Vokalgruppe The Hi-Lo’s kommt, nach eigenen Aussagen, besonders
auf dem Album Speak Like a Child zum Ausdruck. Eine eingehende Analyse der
Musik dieses Albums im Vergleich zu Fischers repräsentativem A-cappella-Arran-
gement der Komposition »Tenderly« ergibt folgende gemeinsame Charakteristika:
– hohes Ausmaß an vertikalen Dissonanzen durch die Hinzunahme von kleinen
Sekunden, großen Septimen und erniedrigten Nonen innerhalb der Akkord-
strukturen
– konstante Akkordstrukturen im Abstand kleiner Terzen, basierend auf dem Ma-
terial einer verminderten Skala
– chromatisch verschobene Intervallstrukturen (Quarten, große bzw. kleine Se-
kunden)
– erwartete Auflösungen von Dissonanzen resultieren in der Erzeugung neuer Dis-
sonanzen
– lange, chromatisch fallende Linien in den mittleren und unteren Stimmen
– ökonomische Stimmführung mit hoher chromatischer Auflösungstendenz
Trotz der überraschend hohen Dichte an Übereinstimmungen lassen sich jedoch
nur bedingte Rückschlüsse auf die tatsächliche Einflussnahme zur Verwendung ein-
zelner musikalischer Strukturen und Techniken ziehen. So kann beispielweise nicht
ausgeschlossen werden, dass Hancock von den Quarten-Strukturen in der Musik
anderer bekannter Improvisatoren und Komponisten wie Bud Powell, Horace Silver,
Duke Ellington, Claude Debussy und Maurice Ravel beeinflusst wurde. Dennoch
repräsentiert diese Studie ein Fallbeispiel für überraschende Parallelen zwischen der
Popularmusik der 1950er Jahre und dem modernen Jazz der 1960er Jahre und er-
gänzt bisherige Analysen von Fischers und Hancocks Musik.

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