Sharp Eleven Music

Saxophone
licks
unraveled
Conceptualizing 21 Jazz & Fusion Licks
From The Saxophone Greats

JORRE REYNDERS
 ARTIST STUDIES

Copyright © 2021 Jorre Reynders.

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 ARTIST STUDIES
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK

This book is intended to give you insights into "why" certain lines are just cooler, more appealing, hipper, ... than
others. Everybody has their own taste of course, and the selection might strongly differ from one person to the
next. But the absolute majority of players seldom can explain in depth what it is that attracts them to certain
phrases over others. We want to help you with that by explaining a selection of our own. Hopefully you can use
this same mindset to evaluate your own selected phrases, so you can really start to shape your own creative
process.

This is why it really shouldn't matter in which key the phrases are. The most important thing is that you can grab
the idea and get to the core of it. If you are able to do that, the sky is the limit on how to apply it into your own
improvisations, or perhaps even compositions.

By dissecting phrases like this, you learn about yourself. You will start to see patterns in the kind of phrases you
prefer. You'll learn to conceptualize those patterns. You'll turn them into your own creative output in return,
which we consider the ultimate goal.

If you want to go pro as an artist, this is an essential attribute to your identity. We learn language, and then we
learn to apply it, so we can express our own ideas and view of the world.

So please practice and diggest slowly. It's no fastfood.

 ARTIST STUDIES
INDEX

FEATURED ARTISTS AND TUNES

Phil Woods Willow Weep For Me 21

Walkin' 24
Cannonball Adderley Stars Fell On Alabama 26
Bob Reynolds Outlier 28
David Sanborn Rocks 30
Sonny Stitt There Is No Greater Love 32
Eric Marienthal Body And Soul 34
Spain 36
Beneath The Mask 38
Benny Carter I Can't Get Started 41
Johhny Griffin Blue N Boogie 43
Paul Desmond Blue Rondo A La Turk I 46
Blue Rondo A La Turk II 49
Blue Rondo A La Turk III 51
Michael Brecker Purple Lagoon I 54
Purple Lagoon II 57
Leo P Moanin' 59
Gerald Albright Soul With A Capital S 61
James Carter Pick Up The Pieces 63
Marc Russo Homecoming 65
Lou Donaldson Grits And Gravy 68

+3 Bonus Licks Donkey Dance I 70

by the Author Donkey Dance II 71
Donkey Dance III 72

Appendix: There Is No Greater Love 74

Lick in all keys

Walkin' Lick in all keys 76

 ARTIST STUDIES
INTRODUCTION

Welcome to Artist Studies!

Over the years we've heard, notated and analysed so many cool lines.
Here are some of our favorites and some of the ones we think you will get a lot out of.

First we'll have an overview of the most common melodic and harmonic figures that are used;
then we go over and scrutinize the lines, picking apart the concepts that are used;
and finally we've worked out a couple of the licks through all keys and over different chords.

Every line is first presented without analysis in context of the initial chords, so you can absorb the line
intuitively. Then it gets deconstructed to the bone.

All the sheet music comes from a transcription which is written in the transposing key for that particular
instrument. Alto sax and baritone sax is notated in Eb, tenor and soprano sax in Bb. You can find it specified in
the title of every lick.

TERMINOLOGY

In order to keep everything somewhat clean and concise while analysing, I used some shorthands for certain
terms. They are explained in the next chapter

EN Enclosure
CEN Chromatic Enclosure
CA Chromatic Approach
CPT Chromatic Passing Tone
AN Approach Note
US Upper Structure
UST Upper Structure Triad
LST Lower Structure Triad
OD Octave Displacement
CS Constant Structure
 ARTIST STUDIES
MELODIC EMBELLISHMENT

Passing Tones
Passing Tones.
As the name says, they're there to pass from one chord tone to another chord tone. They're not points of rests.

This is probably easiest to see if we take a scalar passage:

1 3 5

1 3 5

Passing Tone Passing Tone

Let's apply it to the same structural notes again. Remember, these are your target notes. ORIGINAL

Structural notes (all chord tones): b3 5 3 3

anticipation b7 resolving to 3
EMBELLISHMENT

Passing Tone Passing Tone

 ARTIST STUDIES
MELODIC EMBELLISHMENT

Upper Neighbour Note

Instead of passing stepwise from one chord tone to another, an Upper Neighbour Note will return to the original
chord tone it came from.

1 3 5

1 1 3 3 5

Upper Neighbour
Upper Neighbour

ORIGINAL

Structural notes (all chord tones): b3 b3 3 3

EMBELLISHMENT

Upper Neighbour
Upper Neighbour
 ARTIST STUDIES
MELODIC EMBELLISHMENT

Lower Neighbour Note

Of course the same exists as a Lower Neighbour Note. These often occur as Chromatic Neighbout Notes, making
them also function as Chromatic Approach Notes (which will be discussed later on).

1 3 5

1 1 3 3 5

Lower Neighbour
Lower Neighbour

ORIGINAL

Structural notes (all chord tones): b3 b3 3 3

EMBELLISHMENT

Lower Neighbour Lower Neighbour

 ARTIST STUDIES
MELODIC EMBELLISHMENT

Escape Tone
An Escape Tone or Echappée, as it's also called, skips to a non-chord tone and then resolves by step in the
opposite direction to the target note.

1 3 5

1 3 5

Escape Tone
Escape Tone

ORIGINAL

Structural notes (all chord tones): 5 1 3 b7

EMBELLISHMENT

Escape Tone Escape Tone

 ARTIST STUDIES
MELODIC EMBELLISHMENT

Chromatic Approach
Chromatic Approach notes can work by step like passing tones or with leaps as leading tones.
As the name suggests, they resolve chromatically by half step into the target note.

1 3 5

1 3 5

Chromatic Approach
Chromatic Approach

ORIGINAL

Structural notes (all chord tones): 5 1 3 3

EMBELLISHMENT

Chromatic Approach Chromatic Approach

 ARTIST STUDIES
MELODIC EMBELLISHMENT

Double Chromatic Approach

Double Chromatic Approach is a slight extension of Chromatic Approach where you have 2 chromatic notes in a
row.

1 3 5

1 3 5

Chromatic Approach Double Chromatic Approach

ORIGINAL

Structural notes (all chord tones): b3 5 3 3

EMBELLISHMENT

Double Chromatic Approach Double Chromatic Approach

 ARTIST STUDIES
MELODIC EMBELLISHMENT

Enclosure
Enclosures work like double approach notes. The general rule of thumb is that the target note is approached:
chromatic from below and diatonic from above, however, if it is also approached by a half tone from above, it is
called a chromatic enclosure.

1 3 5

1 3 5

Enclosure Enclosure Enclosure

ORIGINAL

Structural notes (all chord tones): b3 3 3 1

EMBELLISHMENT

Enclosure
Enclosure Enclosure
 ARTIST STUDIES
MELODIC EMBELLISHMENT

Enclosure + Chromatic Approach = Bebop

If we combine Enclosures with Chromatic Approaches we get what's idiomatic for bebop playing.

5
1

5
3

ORIGINAL

Structural notes (all chord tones): 1 3 3 1

EMBELLISHMENT
 ARTIST STUDIES
HARMONIC EMBELLISHMENT

At this point we come to a couple of harmonic devices we can use in order to imply a different harmony over the
given chord changes. These are used very often and they will create a lot of color and movement in a line.

Upper Structure
You may have noticed I used this in one of the examples of the previous page

Upper Structure ENC + CA of 3rd Upper Structure ENC + CA of 3rd

As you can see, we get an Upper Structure by playing a triad or 7th chord arpeggio starting 3rd, 5th or 7th of our
original chord.
So in this case I play an FMaj7 arpeggio over Dm7 and a Bm7b5 over G7.
Both these upper structures start on the 3rd of the original chord. This is also by far the most frequently used.

ENC + CA = Enclosure + Chromatic Approach

 ARTIST STUDIES
HARMONIC EMBELLISHMENT

Lower Structure
A Lower Structure is the same principle as an Upper Structure, but here we're limited to starting only a 3rd
below the root.

This is actually simply a matter of using the relative minor, just like we can do with pentatonic scales.

In both Upper Structures and Lower Structures, we can either use a triad or a 7th chord.
Sometimes it even occurs that the 3rds keep on stacking, so that you end up on the 13th in relation the original
underlying chord.
 ARTIST STUDIES
HARMONIC EMBELLISHMENT

Tritone Substitution
Tritone Substitutions are very common and very effective, both in comping as in soloing.

Because they originate from the diminished scale, they're usually used with dominant chords/arpeggios, but you
can experiment with other chord qualities as well.

In traditional jazz harmony they are used mostly on dominant 7th chords. Here they have a clear and strong
relation. Notice how the guide tones - which are the most defining notes of a chord, the third and the seventh -
are the same, which makes that the chords are perfectly exchangable.

The guidetones to C7= E and Bb

The guidtones to F#7= A# (or Bb) and E

 ARTIST STUDIES
HARMONIC EMBELLISHMENT

Diminished Relations
As mentioned on the previous page, the tritone substitution comes from the diminished scale.

This means that we can actually use 2 other chords as substitutes as well.
In C those would be the Eb and A.
If we add the F# in there you can see the roots are all spaced a minor 3rd apart and form the notes of a
diminished chord.
ARTIST STUDIES
PHIL WOODS - WILLOW WEEP FOR ME (ALTO)
 ARTIST STUDIES
PHIL WOODS - WILLOW WEEP FOR ME (ALTO)

This first lick by Phil Woods on Alto sax is a pretty complex one to begin with. But I figured that in the beginning
of the book, your brain is still fresh! It looks more intimidating than it actually is: it's a nice little bebop pattern
that gets modulated and superimposed on the chords. Note that the line is in 3/4 and the pattern is 3 beats
long, so a full bar here. It doesn't mean that you can use it only in a 3/4 setting though, it might be really nice to
implement on a 4/4 tune, because it will rhythmically displace itself. This is the only 3/4 lick in this book.

To understand what the concept is, let's look at the superimposed chords that Phil implies through his lines,
which are notated in a different font beneath the full brackets. The chord that is played in a vamp, - much alike
"All Blues" (and it's in the same key), is E7.

But Phil starts his first line with the 1, 2 ,3 and 5th note from Bb, suggesting a very clear Bb chord. Let's call it
a triad, as there is no info about a 7th in this motif. So, what's the relation to E7 you might wonder? It's a tritone
away, so a tritone substitution. All the notes from that Bb motif fit in E7, but most of them are tensions. The Bb
(or A#) is the #11, the C is the #5, the D is the b7 and the F the b9. The last two notes of the motif that follow
are merely a chromatic enclosure to the next chord. In this case, we see he resolves his tritone substitute chord
as a dominant V chord, Bb, to what would be its relative I , Eb.

1 2 3 5
This is what we call a "secondary dominant", every chord can be introduced by its 5th up dominant. In this case
we don't actually see it literally to be a dominant 7th chord, because he doesn't use a 7 in the motif, but
nonetheless it has the same function.
 ARTIST STUDIES
PHIL WOODS - WILLOW WEEP FOR ME (ALTO)

Then we get the exact same motif starting on Eb. Again he resolves that Eb to it's relative I-chord assuming Eb
has the V7 function. When Eb is the Vth step degree, it would resolve to Ab, or G#. And this is what happens, but
with a small twist this time: he continues to adapt the motif to G# minor due to the use of B instead of C, see
that difference? C would make it a major chord, but the B makes it minor this time.

Now the last two notes - still functioning as a chromatic enclosure - also happen a half step lower than in the
original motif. This makes it resolve to C, so it's not a secondary dominant this time. We can place this motif on
the C chord, - which arrived with a small variation in the second note being a half step higher -, in context of the
E7 chords as "modal interchange", a bVI chord. This one is borrowed from the parallel minor (Em) on the bVIth
step degree. Did Phil Woods really consciously think all this theory at this point in the complete phrase? Most
probably not, although at one point he would have to have practiced the motif and the secondary dominant
relations, and also most probably his starting point on the tritone substitute. Conceptually at least.

Next, you can see he goes from C to Fm, another V (C) to resolve to I (Fm) relation. Here he goes back to the
original idea of the relationship between the chords, that one would pressume the only non-related chords, G#m
to C, was a small glitch. But the shape and structure of the phrase is so dominant, that it doesn't really stand
out as something completely else.

You can copy and practice the complete line. But I would try to single out that 3 beat motif and work your way
through the motif by the cycle of fourths up, which is basically that secondary dominant relation. You can also
use the minor version as he did on the G#m and do the same, although it won't give an as strong effect leading
into the next one. It won't sound "dominant" because that's only for major chords, which have that leading tone
in it (the major 3rd), leading into the next chord. We would call it for the minor version rather "constant
structure".

To hear this motif in context by Phil Woods, look out for the live version of Willow Weep For Me on "Night Music"
in duo with David Sanborn. This is a video currently up on Youtube on time of publication. And of course, there
will always be the full transcription version by Sharp Eleven Music anyways.
ARTIST STUDIES
PHIL WOODS - WALKIN' (ALTO)
 ARTIST STUDIES
PHIL WOODS - WALKIN' (ALTO)

Here is a second one by Phil Woods on Alto sax, this time from "Walkin'" with Quincy Jones. It's a blues, and the
chords in the first bar are a secondary II-V setting up the real II-V-I progression in the last 4 bars of a blues
form. It's the same recipe as the one before: a clear motif which he modulates and superimposes on the chords.
But this time in a different way.

Look at the chords I added beneath the line to understand the basic structure of the motif. It starts on 4 and
goes via a chromatic passing tone to b3 5 2 and again a chromatic passing tone to land on our pressumed 1 . It's
a minor motif, where we have some chromaticism on the offbeat, but the notes on the downbeats of every 8th
note are inside a Fm structure. Those target notes destilated are 4 b3 2 1.

target notes: 4 b3 2 1

There is one more note to it, which would be the b6 on Fm, that C# (or Db), but this one is always heavily
ghosted at that place in the motif so I'll neglect it for analyses purposes. Next he moves that complete motif
half a step lower to Em, which is very much inside the key, only a bit earlier than the usual position (which you
can see in the next bar, on the upper chords, those are the original chords being played by the rhythm section).

Then he makes partly a surprise move: we keep the exact motif but instead of moving half a step lower, this
time we go a tritone down to Bbm! How does this make sense on top of the Em you might wonder? Remember
that the Em version of the motif was slightly ahead of the actual Em in the rhythm section. What would follow
next is an A7 chord (not on this graphic, as it's in the next bar), so if we continue the idea of anticipation which
we saw before, the Bbm might have been thought rather on top of the A7. And this makes more sense, as Bbm
has all the tensions which would be in an A7 alt. chord. The Bb is the b9, C the #9, Db/C# the major 3rd, and F is
the #5 (or b13).

A very cool bebop pattern to learn in all keys! There is an excercise for this in the last chapter.
 ARTIST STUDIES
CANNONBALL ADDERELY - STARS FELL ON ALABAMA (ALTO)
 ARTIST STUDIES
CANNONBALL ADDERELY - STARS FELL ON ALABAMA (ALTO)

One of the most tasty solo pick ups of all time! In my opinion at least, but I know I'm by far the only one with this
opinion. This is taken from the ballad "Stars Fell On Alabama", of which I transcribed the complete melody
interpretation by Cannonball, so we come out of a slow tempo and make the transition to a double time feel solo in
at the double barline. Please note that the 16ths in bar 22 equal the 8th notes in speed at bar 23. It's also
mentioned above the staff as the 8th note that equals a 4th note, which is of course the same thing.

Everything is quite self-explanatory if you look at the analysis around the notes. Basically, it's a very extended V7,
that D7 chord, with some chromatics and alterations, moving up to Eb7 for a brief moment and then back to D7(b9)
over the barline, well into the second bar of the start of the solo, where it finally finds resolution. So it's one
gigantic D7, with a delayed resolution into what would be Gmaj7, but the resolution comes so late (a full bar), that
it lands on the VI7 chord, E7.

That note he lands on, the B, is wisely chosen. It would fit perfectly on both Gmaj7 and E7, as a third and for the
latter as a fifth of the chordtones. So you can interpret it either way. Personally I think he wanted to resolve that
V7 (D7) clearly to the I chord, (Gmaj7), and he was just really late with the conclusion of his line.

But what makes this a super special and beautiful pick up lays more in the phrasing and timing of the line! He
matches the very delayed resolution in the melodic content by a very a laid back way of timing. He does that by
stretching the Eb and the A, which I both notated with a tenuto sign. He plays those two notes a bit longer and
stretches them into to next notes. It's ike he's freezing for a moment in the line, or technically speaking, two
moments. That's the real power of this great line, delayed content melodically and timingwise, which all finds its
way back into the second bar of the solo.
ARTIST STUDIES
BOB REYNOLDS - OUTLIER (TENOR)
 ARTIST STUDIES
BOB REYNOLDS - OUTLIER (TENOR)

Bob Reynolds plays a great long and funky line on tenor sax over the tune "Outlier",recorded live with Snarky
Puppy. He plays a D minor pentatonic/blues scale, which fits nice over the different major chords. This is being
played very legato, while still phrasing properly, resulting in a great floating feel of the line.

The main hook are the two first - and same - notes which get inflected with a gracenote from first below and
next above in the blues scale.

Then he goes through some blues scale lines, repeating the 2nd hook note (the G with a grace note which is the
blue note) in the second bar. The complete hook of both notes comes back as a conclusion at the 3rd beat of bar
31, this time double as fast (quarter notes become 8ths), and an octave lower.

Check it out with the audio to hear how these rather simple tools really help to build melodies, also with the
more basic kind of scales. "Outlier" by Snarky Puppy can be heard and seen in a video on Youtube. It's the solo
where Bob burns so hard, his earphones fall of but he keeps soloing!
ARTIST STUDIES
DAVID SANBORN - ROCKS (ALTO)
 ARTIST STUDIES
DAVID SANBORN - ROCKS (ALTO)

David Sanborn is widely known as probably on of the most influential alto saxophonist on Pop and R'nB
saxophone. But he surely knows the bebop idiom as well!

This is taken from a solo on a 70's Brecker Brothers recording, the tune called "Rocks". He trades fours with
Michael Brecker (just imagine...) and after a couple of funky blues licks, he comes in with this amazing Parker-
like bebop lick!

The vamp is build on a D7sus4 chord, but clearly Sanborn goes for a D minor dorian sound here. Starting on an
upper structure of this Dm, he outlines what is basically an Fmaj7 which descents in something that resembles
the beginning of the "Donna Lee" melody, although it's not quite completely it.

There is a hint of a G7 bebop scale in the 3rd beat, but furthermore it's all about using chromatic passing tones
targetting all the diatonic notes in D minor. The fact that he ends on the E, gives is a beautiful slightly open
ending.

Also check out the audio to hear the phrasing. David really put in the effort of studying bebop and the
corresponding way of articulation! Lot's of halftonguing that shapes the line here.
 ARTIST STUDIES
SONNY STITT - THERE IS NO GREATER LOVE (ALTO)
 ARTIST STUDIES
SONNY STITT - THERE IS NO GREATER LOVE (ALTO)

Is this Sonny Stitt, or Johann Sebastian Bach you might wonder while looking at - and perhaps playing - this line.
But yes, it's the great Sonny Stitt on alto sax here!

It's a great sequence, where Stitt uses an ascending D# diminshed 7 arpeggio, which resolves a half tone lower
onto the B, which is the fifth of Em, our aimed at chord. But why does this diminished chord resolve so well into
our I chord, the Em?

We can see this D# diminshed 7 as an upper structure of the V7 chord of Em, namely B7. If you would add a b9 to
that and omit the root, you end up with an upper structure that is D# diminshed.

on the left, a B7(b9).

Thus, in a way, every dim.7 chord represents a V7, and the Em triad a very clear I chord. So you hear a V-I-V-I |
V-I-V-I in a quick succesion.

The pattern recipe is: Diminshed 7 arpeggio up, resolve to a half tone lower into the Em triad, which then
descends. This triad down looks down for the nearest note of the D#dim.7 arpeggio which goes back up etc. etc.

And voila, there you have a beautiful counterpoint-like sequence! A simple idea that gets repeated through the
inversions of the chords.

This one is such a great and beautiful line, if worked it out through all keys which is added in the last chapter.
ARTIST STUDIES
ERIC MARIENTHAL - BODY AND SOUL (ALTO)
 ARTIST STUDIES
ERIC MARIENTHAL - BODY AND SOUL (ALTO)

A simple concept to a complex sound. This is a great little "hack" from Eric Marienthal, to outline some beautiful
tensions on a dominant 7 chord!

You see that if you want that beautiful colourof a dominant 7 with tensions, in a clear structure, you can use a
half tone higher minor plus the "Coltrane" pattern. The pattern which John Coltrane made famous when outlining
his solo on "Giant Steps", consisted mainly of the 1 2 3 5 of the chords. This is the smart choice, because as a
monophone instrument, you can't play a chord. But through the smart note choice here, all these notes outline
the sound of any chord. You never can go wrong with 1 3 5 (the triad) + a very neutral 2 (or 9).

Here we have an F7, and we use as earlier described a half tone up F# minor chord. To outline this Eric uses the 1
2 b3 (it's minor of course) and 5 of F#m. The order of the notes is here mixed up more, but the note choice stays
smart. He finally makes that F#, which is the b9 on F7, resolve to F on the Bbmaj7 chord. Tension and relieve.

On the actual performance of this tune, the band does actually substitute the F7 chord by it's tritone away, the
B7. This makes it sound more inside to the band, but nonetheless this is an eye opening substitution, and will
work as good on the F7, because of the smart choice of notes. I used a traditional II-V-I with the F7 instead of
the B7, because it's a much more used context and it makes it more applicable.

This is from a live "Body And Soul" live performance by Eric Marienthal on Alto sax with the Bobby Shew Quartet,
which is to be found on Youtube under the title "Amazing Saxophone Solo - Eric Marienthal", at the time of
writing.
ARTIST STUDIES
ERIC MARIENTHAL - SPAIN (ALTO)
 ARTIST STUDIES
ERIC MARIENTHAL - SPAIN (ALTO)

We all know great sounding patterns, and then some great II-V-I 's maybe. But when you can combine these two,
you just hit the jackpot! That's what Eric Marienthal did here as a perfect example, in a live solo on Chick
Corea's "Spain", from the Chick Corea Elektric Band dvd "Live At Montreux" in 2004.

First of all, it looks rhythmically hard, but listening to the rhythm will put it more into context. It's a very lyrical
way of delivering the pattern. Secondly notice it's a II-V-I towards B major and it goes pretty high in terms of
range, so I'll add a transposed version to C in a bit.

The pattern takes one complete bar, and starts on the B which is a chordtone, namely the seven of C#m7.

Now, the concept of the pattern. It's actually one big enclosure. Notice how I pointed every SECOND note as the
target note, the first one is the A#. We precede every target note by one note diatonically higher (B to A#). Next,
we take the note half a step lower (chromatically, as opposed to diatonically) and go back to the target note
once more. This is a very clear example of an enclosure.

Mostly enclosures happen much within a bebop context, which is most of the times in (fast) eight note lines.
Here it's much more spread to the core of the enclosure itself as a main idea, rather than a little approach for a
target note.

He takes that patttern concept and goes up on diatonic step every bar, to conclude on the F#, which is the 5th of
B major.

If this all sounds hard to follow in the B major key, look again at the fourth paragraph and see if you can follow
it in C below.
 ARTIST STUDIES
ERIC MARIENTHAL - BENEATH THE MASK (SOPRANO)
 ARTIST STUDIES
ERIC MARIENTHAL - BENEATH THE MASK (SOPRANO)

In this soprano saxophone solo, Eric plays mostly F# minor blues scale. And then, all of a sudden, you get this
mindblowing line... Check out this tune "Beneath The Mask" by The Chick Corea Elektric Band, it doesn't get any
funkier!

You see he establishes the F# blues/pentatonic scale firmly in the beginning of this line. And then bar two is
complete anarchy! The first note still belongs to the first bar, but then we get a descending Edim.7 arpeggio,
introduced by a chromatic approach note. We get a first colour with the G natural, which is the b9 colour on a
F#7. He uses this G natural as glue to continue in what is a clear C triad, which is a tritone substitute on F#7.

This is already really hip in a melodic sense, but what makes that part of the lick really stand out, is that the
second bar on beat 3 and 4, we get a lot of big interval skips! The triad drops a 6th from the root to the third of
the triad.

The big sudden intervals in the line.

On the 4th note of the third beat this time the C functions as a pivot note to come out of the C triad and change
to a new concept once more: the G minor pentatonic. Again, not scalewise, but with some skips. Certainly that
ascending C to Bb which is a b7 interval stands out.
 ARTIST STUDIES
ERIC MARIENTHAL - BENEATH THE MASK (SOPRANO)

We continue the Gm pentatonic scale over a F#7 for quite some beats, which is some real outside playing! Some
notes of that pentatonic fit in the way of a tension, like the G (b9) or C (#11), but the F has really no explanation
other than being part of this very solid framework the pentatonic scale is on itself. That's why it does work.

The last eight notes of the lick can be seen as both Gm pentatonic and Dm pentatonic, it fits both scales. It
overlaps because we now use only 4 notes, which fit over both scales just mentioned. It doesn't matter how you
see it, but the fact that it has two options, makes clear that it is factually a very open sound to end the line
with. But still outside our F#7 chord.

It's a great lick on so many levels! Even with one factor of these concepts - like say, play half a tone higher
pentatonics for a crazy outside sound with a solid framework - you have plenty to work with!
ARTIST STUDIES
BENNY CARTER - I CAN'T GET STARTED (ALTO)
 ARTIST STUDIES
BENNY CARTER - I CAN'T GET STARTED (ALTO)

Benny Carter is a legend. And this complete ballad version of "I Can't Get Started" transcribed from a video performance
live in Londen in 1966 is some proof of that!

This pattern is taken from his open cadenza at the end, and he plays a diminshed scale pattern with 1 b2 3 5 on every
chord tone of a Cdim7. Every chord tone of this Cdim7 you'll see at every downbeat, as it's a pattern of 4 sixtheenth notes.

Only the second beat doesn't perfectly fit in the idea, there the second note is the b3 of the diminshed scale.

Here is the diminished scale (or also called the half tone whole tone scale and the octatonic scale... what's in a name) for
your convenience.
ARTIST STUDIES
JOHHNY GRIFFIN - BLUE N BOOGIE (TENOR)
 ARTIST STUDIES
JOHHNY GRIFFIN - BLUE N BOOGIE (TENOR)

Here we have a normal II-V-I at the last 4 bars of a G blues, for tenor saxophone in Bb. At the last bar we get an
extra V (the D7) as a turnaround back to a new chorus that starts on a G7.

What we can see here conceptually by Johnny Griffin is a very effective way to create tension by pentatonics!
The start of the line - the complete first bar - consists of a G pentatonic scale over a Am7 chord. Technically it
uses that blue note, the A# in this case, but for the sake of analysis, let's see it as an A natural as it's not a focal
note. On the contrary, it's rather ghosted.

Take a look at the structure of that first phrase from beat 2 untill the end of the bar.

G pentatonic

And now, look at the next bar, what is played on the D7

Ab pentatonic

Indeed, it goes up a half tone in pentatonics! But the fun parts is that he goes DOWN in inversion of the Ab
pentatonic. See how that's a countermovement? The pentatonic goes up half a step to Ab, which is the tritone
substitution on our D7, the line keeps its shape BUT goes down. Whereas the line in G penta started on the 3rd
of the scale (the B), the line in Ab penta starts on the 2 of the scale (the Bb).
 ARTIST STUDIES
JOHNNY GRIFFIN - BLUE N BOOGIE (TENOR)

Absolute genius! The pentatonic and the shape of the line keep intact, it goes up half a step in pentatonics, but
the line descends in a countermovement. Just brilliant!

You can see he also gets rhythmically wound up by adding another note which makes it into a triplet (previous
graphic), and he continues to do some rhythmic accelerations in the next bar as well, as you see at the first beat
and the 3rd and 4th.

Firstly, notice how he extends the D7 with the Ab tritone substitute idea over the I chords, G7. So not only does
he add to the tension with the rhythmic acceleration, he sustains the tension harmonically as well. A few extra
notes of a Ab7#11 get added with the F#/Gb, which is the b7. The D and the F are respectively the #11 and 13.
Also, if you look at the last note of the second bar plus the first beat of the third bar, you see a D triad. He really
plays with both D7 and it's tritone substitute Ab7 in so many subtle ways in such a short space.

Ending he does with establishing the D7 again for the turnaround, starting at beat 4 of the third bar into bar four
of this lick.

Listen to the audio, I think you might find it sounds as jawdropping as it looks. It is in collaboration with the
great guitarist Wes Montgomery on his album "Full House".
 ARTIST STUDIES
PAUL DESMOND - BLUE RONDO A LA TURK I (ALTO)
 ARTIST STUDIES
PAUL DESMOND - BLUE RONDO A LA TURK I (ALTO)

So we've arrived at a different conceptual approach to improvisation, Paul Desmond. I've chosen three phrases
from the same solo at the same place in the chordprogression, to give you an idea how he creates long melodic
phrases over the course of a complete solo.

It's on a D blues for alto saxophone, these are the first 4 bars, technically speaking all these bars are a D7 chord,
but we'll see some inventive ways to create beautiful sequential playing by superimposing chords.

If you look down, you see a version stripped from the embellishments and two different lines representing two
parts of the same sequence, happening on two levels like a question and answer between the two.
 ARTIST STUDIES
PAUL DESMOND - BLUE RONDO A LA TURK I (ALTO)

The only side note is that two places have small sequential variations, but still the same target note. And that is
exactly the strenght of Desmond, variate enough on the sequences so it doesn't sound like a mechanical
excercise.
Target note

variation by enclosure

Target note

It sounds really easy to the ear, but as you might have noticed, from a D7 perspective we have quite some notes
outside the D mixolydian mode. So let's look again at the chords I suggest, beneath the staff, which are in a
different font for clarity.

You see that if you work your way back from the 5th bar with the G7, it's a II-V towards that G7 chord with the
chords Am7 and D7 . And before that It's the relative II-V to Am7, ... and so on. It's a sequential II-V chain up
until the second bar of the chorus. Where have we seen that before?

Charlie Parker on "Blues for Alice", or "Parker changes" as they get referred to. Where Parker would use them to
connect mostly arpeggio's, Desmond uses it as a perfect vehicle to be more sequential on what would otherwise
be a static D7 chord.

Notice how he lands perfectly with his sequence on the third of both the minor 7 chord and the dominant 7.
 ARTIST STUDIES
PAUL DESMOND - BLUE RONDO A LA TURK II (ALTO)
 ARTIST STUDIES
PAUL DESMOND - BLUE RONDO A LA TURK II (ALTO)

This second example is a different sequence, although it descends similarly in diatonic steps starting also on the
third of D, the F#. This time there is a "chromatic pivot" point where the target note gets lowered by a half step
and then immediately goes back to the target note followed by one more note diatonically up.

He ends the phrase by introducing the following part of the sequence step lower through an enclosure. But again
to mix up a bit within the sequence, he turns around the enclosure by foregoing the target note (the E) first
one up + one down. See example below.

And the next time it's an opposite enclosure: target note (D) gets approached from one note down + one up.
See below again.

There is one more enclosure that keeps the shape on the E7. Finally he ends with an upper structure on the D7
chord, adding a b9 that leads extra into G7. Same idea as the previous lick, they both use an upper structure
arpeggio of D7, only now it is rhythmically faster with the triplets, and the b9 adds a bit of extra melodic spice.
 ARTIST STUDIES
PAUL DESMOND - BLUE RONDO A LA TURK III (ALTO)
 ARTIST STUDIES
PAUL DESMOND - BLUE RONDO A LA TURK III (ALTO)

This last beautiful sequence is just like a melody and... it actually IS an excisting melody!

So why would you put an excisting melody here, this book is for hip, supersonic licks right? Yes of course, but
nonetheless we see the amazing capacity of Desmond to keep a musical idea in mind and elaborate on it over
such a wide space. Perhaps this melody was the initial creative inspiration for the previous two licks as well? Or
this came to mind because of the first idea... Well, chicken or the egg, but what is certain, that basic descending
pattern of these target notes do work!

We can see over the course of the three licks, overall this is the general melody you hear if you strip it to the
core melody notes.

Only at this third lick, it is kind of a compressed version where these target notes end one bar early. Still, you
can impose the same Parker changes on this, only here we have such few notes that I didn't want it to look more
complex than it should, so I stripped it too to its core harmonically.

Oh yes, and you've probably been wondering by now, "what's that bloody melody he's referring to all this time".
Well, Dave Brubeck recognized it on the spot, as you can see by that "Yeah" he shouted, which is notated in the
transcription. Let me deliver it in the form of a meme on the next page.
 ARTIST STUDIES
PAUL DESMOND - BLUE RONDO A LA TURK III (ALTO)

The tune Paul Desmond referred to is "Every Street's a Boulevard In Old New York", as sung by Jerry Lewis and
Dean Martin in the movie "Living It Up".

The melody is simple, yet so effective at picking out all the notes that perfectly imply the changes!
ARTIST STUDIES
MICHARL BRECKER - PURPLE LAGOON I (TENOR)
 ARTIST STUDIES
MICHARL BRECKER - PURPLE LAGOON I (TENOR)

After the sequential approach of a cool jazz saxophonist like Paul Desmond, I want to outline another very
effective improvisational concept: riffs with rhythmic displacement.

This is a Michael Brecker riff, straight out of a live concert album by Frank Zappa. Yes, that 's right, we go from
Cool Jazz to intense Jazz Rock! The tune "Purple Lagoon" is originally in 7/4, but we'll look at it from a 4/4
perspective, as that will be more practical applicable. It's from the album "Zappa Live In New York"

Brecker on tenor sax starts out with a fast 6 note motif, very much inside the chord of G7sus4. The first fourth
interval up and then a minor third down is the main shape you'll hear, the other notes are bit less of a melodic
importance and are just filling up the space to complete the 6 note pattern.

Using a group of 6 notes is rhythmically interesting when used as 16ths, because it creates a two over three
chross rhythm!

He repeats that 6 note motif for three times, and then there is an adaption to a G# minor pentatonic.

It's not af full chromatic modulation of the motif, as that didn't consist of a G minor pentatonic scale (more G
mixolydian), but it get's rather adapted to the nearest notes out of G# minor pentatonic. For an example, see
next page.
 ARTIST STUDIES
MICHAEL BRECKER - PURPLE LAGOON I (TENOR)

Look at the "motif adapted". The first interval is exactly half a tone up compared to the main motif, but the
following E goes a complete tone up to the F#. Both the following D and C rise again a half tone and the last note
is in both cases the same.

We can view this more as an adaption, or mutation, of the first motif than a real modulation. He obviously
wanted to do something rhythmical engaging AND throw harmonical surprises in there too.

Using half a tone higher pentatonic work great as a structural tool that is still tangible to the listener.

Check out this insane solo, which is full of other great riffs and rhythmicall playing, while being harmonically
very adventurous too!

Up next, another strong concept by Michael Brecker on the same tune.

ARTIST STUDIES
MICHAEL BRECKER - PURPLE LAGOON II (TENOR)
 ARTIST STUDIES
MICHAEL BRECKER - PURPLE LAGOON II (TENOR)

Here we have a hip outside pattern that you can use on every dominant 7 chord starting from the root.

We all know Michael Brecker was hugely influenced by Coltrane, and we see here how he used the famous "Giant
Steps" pattern in reverse, 5 3 2 1.

Next he plays the same pattern, only modulated a full tone lower, in F. And next in Eb, Db, B, A and again G.
That's the whole tone scale on which he played that pattern, on every step along the way.

The whole tone scale works well because most notes are inside the mixolydian scale (G, A, B and F), and the two
that aren't, are tensions. The Eb is the #5, and the Db (or C#) is the #11. So this would be certainly a Sharp
Eleven Music approved scale!

Only on the two last beats he slowed a bit down into a triplet omitting one note of the initial motif.
ARTIST STUDIES
LEO P - MOANIN' (BARITONE)
 ARTIST STUDIES
LEO P - MOANIN' (BARITONE)

Here is a lick played by Leo P on baritone saxophone in Eb transposition. It's from a pretty viral concert where a
pink Leo P plays a superb rendition of the Charles Mingus classic "Moanin'", live on the BBC Proms in 2017 while
tap dancing. Not kidding here!

This phrase is actually one big turnaround at the end of the bridge towards Dm, which is our key here. Where the
line starts we are technically speaking still on our -IV7, Gm7, but the phrase itself suggests Leo did already start
a lenghty turnaround aiming at the Dm chord.

The concept is straight forward: a succesion of diminshed triads descending in half tones. We get a rhythmic
displacement because of the groupings of three eight notes which is called a "four over three" crossrhythm.

To keep it rhythmically fresh he mixes the three eight note pair up with groupings of two as well.

What is really cool, is that with that long descend by half tones, he magically lands on the two triads that are
the actual turnaround chords. The Bb triad can be seen as an upper structure of the Em7b5, but better is to
listen to the original bass riff of the tune, and you'll notice that it's kinda exactly that low note on bari that
makes the whole tune as popular as it is.
 ARTIST STUDIES
GREALD ALBRIGHT -SOUL WITH A CAPITAL "S" (ALTO)
 ARTIST STUDIES
GREALD ALBRIGHT -SOUL WITH A CAPITAL "S" (ALTO)

Here we've come to the king of big sudden skips into the altissimo, as well as rhythmically mesmerizing
patterns, Gerald Albright!

I've notated the fingering to get the overtone on middle B, which is the low B. Some people find it hard and jump
unwantingly to the F#, a fifth above, which is the second overtone. if that happens, aim low with the air and
pretend you're yawning. This should help.

The rhythmic content on that B is so mixed up that there isn't a clear pattern to outline. Only at the beginning it
seems to be organised in a "five over four" crossrhythm, with groupings of 3 and 2, as notated above.

The altissimo's, well, that's just skill I'm afraid. No shortcuts there. But you might want to practice the
altissimo's by playing for example a middle G (with octave key) and jump to the octave higher altisimo G in a
steady tempo. This can be a slow tempo, but use a metronome. Then go up diatonically or chromatically to
practice these kind of skips. Try to force the altissimo by mouthpositioning, rather than moving the jaw.

Enjoy this lick that seems to be a Maceo Parker on steroids. It can be a cool show off on B minor funky tunes.

It's transcribed from a live version of "Soul With A Capital S" with the Cannonball Band, it's played pretty early
in the solo.
ARTIST STUDIES
JAMES CARTER - PICK UP THE PIECES (TENOR)
 ARTIST STUDIES
JAMES CARTER - PICK UP THE PIECES (TENOR)

James Carter is just something else. He uses so many aspects of the saxophone's technical abilities, it's insane!
This is a line from a famous solo, where he sits in with the Phil Collins Big Band conducted by Quincy Jones, live
at Montreux in 1998. It's on the live album "A Hot Night In Paris" by the Phil Collins Big Band (and yes, this
wasn't technically recorded in Paris) but you can see it with video on Youtube too.

He starts with a fun G minor pentatonic where he plays with some false fingerings.

Next up you can see that in the third bar of this line, he starts using all kind of different shades of a G chord
sound in a quick succesion. All have their relation to the G7sus4 vamp that Pick Up The Pieces consists of.

The A triad is an upper structure with the tensions 9, #11 and 13. Then he refers
to a G minor major arpeggio. The third and fourth beat he keeps the minor sound, but it outlines more of a
dorian sound with that E natural. Then follows some more of a partly blues scale,

He concludes the line on a beautiful open sound by suggesting a Dm9. Notice how the first part is a D minor
pentatonic which ends on the 9, if you view it from this Dm9 perspective at least. If you would play piano, the
Dm9 chord would be a great voicing to outline that G7sus4 chord. It summarizes that sus7 sound + the 9 and the
13 are incuded as tensions. Just gorgeous!

G7sus4
Dm9
ARTIST STUDIES
MARC RUSSO - HOMECOMING (ALTO)
 ARTIST STUDIES
MARC RUSSO - HOMECOMING (ALTO)

Homecoming is a great Yellowjackets tune that makes its way through many chord changes and mini
modulations. One of those brief changes of key we see in the alto saxophone solo by Marc Russo, which is taken
from a live concert performance at Pori 1988. It can be found on Youtube.

The first two bars are played really percussive, Marc Russo presses pretty hard down the keys here to add to the
percussive sound. The way that it helps the articulation, is that by pressing down your fingers more firmly, the
air inside the saxophone get small airboosts. Both false fingerings in bar two are an overtone of low C, and
especially on those, he really smacks down that right hand.

But its the next motif, Motif II in the analysis above, that really makes this a piece of genius in how to connect
two different key centers.

3 2 1 2 3 4 3

You can see that the motif consists of the 3,2,1,2,3,4,3 of the G major scale we are still in at this point. This last
3 lands technically already in our new key, which is E, so it's a pivot note that both excists in G (3), and in E (5).
 ARTIST STUDIES
MARC RUSSO - HOMECOMING (ALTO)

Then he takes almost a complete bar before reestablishing the motif by using the exact same notes and adapting
those notes to our new key signature. What first was: B A G A B C B, becomes: B A G# A B C# B

The notes mutated along with the new key! This another way to use a phrase in a different key. We can copy it
and move every interval accordingly so the third becomes the third in the new key and so on... OR we keep the
same notes, and adjust it to the key signature.

Try it whenever you encounter it. It naturally works very well when you get these kind of minor third relation
modulations, because of a nice balance between common notes and also a few different notes it mostly
generates. A rhythm change might be a good one to use this. Use a phrase on the A part, and use the same notes
in the bridge, but then adapt accordingly to the chords there.

But it might work best in minor third relation modulations, like here from G to E. If you would need to adapt all
the notes, the cohesion could get lost. But if you don't need to adapt notes because let's say the motif is just
three notes, and none of them are the changing notes between the keys, the effect won't come out as well either.
ARTIST STUDIES
LOU DONALDSON - GRITS AND GRAVY (ALTO)
 ARTIST STUDIES
LOU DONALDSON - GRITS AND GRAVY (ALTO)

We've come to the last lick, at least the last lick by the famous saxophonists hero's, because I have a few bonus
ones from my own after this as well. But let's look at a saxophonist that blends his Blues roots so well with
Bebop, Lou Donaldson.

This is from a solo on a very slow and a bit dragging blues, which a great and hugely devoted student of mine
notified me of. A huge thanks to Cy Schmidt for turning this solo to my attention! It's a masterpiece in blues
lines, while still harmonically very adventurous.

The lick is on a II-V-I and it's a blues, which means that our "I" in this case is dominant 7. He starts of with a
beautiful lyrical line on Am7. It hits almost all the notes of the scale, excepts our b6, the F.

The next line is in complete contrast with the former, here he plays a fast descending pattern within Ab
pentatonic. The Ab is the tritone away from D7, which means it's a tritone substitution.

Notice how all the notes from this Ab pentatonic are tensions on the D7. Bb=b13, Ab/G#=#11, F=#9, Eb=b9
And again, when you go outside but you use one of the strongest recognisable scales which that pentatonic scale
is, you provide some of the best frameworks for your crazy ideas.
 ARTIST STUDIES
BONUS LICK I (ALTO)

Here are a few licks that all share the same concept: the diminished scale (half tone whole tone).
These licks are all from the same solo I played on the tune "Donkey Dance", which is the title track of the Sharp
Eleven Electric Band's first album. You can find the full album on Youtube or any major streaming service. The
solo is at the end of the tune, on a - for alto sax - C7 vamp.

Firstly, here is the scale again, which was discussed before already, at the Benny Carter lick.

And with this in mind, here is the actual lick.

At the start of the solo, the bass and drums keep the groove pretty open. There I filled it with little, sparse
phrases to add to the open feel and right at the last bar before the groove takes of I played this phrase. I
thought it does have some "donkeyness" to it.

It's basically the diminished arpeggio of Cdim7 on every downbeat, which drops a major seventh interval. This
creates a very abrupt feel, certainly in combination with the sixteenth note + dotted eight note rhythm. For me it
kinda ressembled what I would think a donkey sounds like.

You can practice it of course also in an eight note line. But this rhythm gives it even more of an abstract sound
if you think it wasn't weird enough on its own.

It's roughly Michael Brecker based, although I could not pinpoint an exact solo reference to it. But Brecker uses
a lot of diminshed scale based lines and patterns in his playing, that migh be the general link.
 ARTIST STUDIES
BONUS LICK II (ALTO)

Ok, next up is a little pattern based phrase through that diminished scale. It has again on every downbeat a
chordtone of the Cdim7 arpeggio, this time descending.

The pattern is as follows: one whole step down, then a major third down, and again one whole step down. Then
you repeat that phrase on the next chordtone down.

You can see there is a bit of an unusual rhythm added to that, and you get a pretty hip sound!
 ARTIST STUDIES
BONUS LICK II (ALTO)

Finally, a last example of a diminshed phrase. It can be found towards the end of the saxophone solo, where the
band is really hot and we're about to hit the last section with really harsh chords (on which the soloing
continues for 8 more bars to the end).

The pattern has again a chordtone of the Cdim7 on every downbeat, in the first bar at least. It goes half a tone
up and comes down back to the first note, then descends a whole tone which connects to our next chordtone and
the pattern repeats.

The last bar has a some enclosures and you can find a descending Eb triad in there too. It helps if you think of
the D# enharmonically, so Eb, to find that triad. That's a part of the magic and attraction of the diminished
scale. It's symmetrical and you can find many different symmetrical patterns within.

I'll leave you with a little thought on this, if you want to explore it more.

Take the Cdim7 arpeggio, which is used so much on every downbeat in the three bonus licks here. Play a major
triad on every chordtone of that arpeggio. If you try that, you'll notice they all fit within that diminished scale,
or whole tone half tone scale. Now, what is even more cool is that you can do that also one oevery chordtone
with the respective minor triad. Check it out! It all works.

Here is the scale once more, the arpeggio would be: C - Eb - F# - A

 ARTIST ANALYSIS
SONNY STITT'S BACH PATTERN

Here is Sonny Stitt's lick transposed to all keys.

ARTIST ANALYSIS
SONNY STITT'S BACH PATTERN
 ARTIST ANALYSIS
PHIL WOODS MINOR BEBOP LICK

The Phil Woods bebop lick transposed to all keys.

 ARTIST ANALYSIS
PHIL WOODS MINOR BEBOP LICK

And here we see it superimposed on a major7(#11) chord.