VARIATIONS ON II-V-I
Extract from Pentatonic & Hexatonic Scales in Jazz, Jason Lyon 2007
www.opus28.co.uk/jazzarticles.html
NOW THAT weve tackled the basic II-V-Is, it would be useful to gain some
pentatonic experience with other possible reharmonisations of this common
harmonic building block. Obviously, unless you play insane quadruple time
lines, you arent going to be able to fully express each and every pentatonic
scale. Exercise deliberate choices, and look for common tones and possible
sequences between each chord there are limitless possibilities. Its fun.
With all of these substitutions, you can specifically agree to play them in
advance with the rest of the band or substitute them on the fly. Sometimes the
rhythm section will hear and follow what you are doing, sometimes not
(sometimes they will hear and choose not to follow). Depending on what
happens, what you play will sound more or less outside or bitonal as long
as you resolve convincingly at decisive points, it will all work.
Note also that these building blocks are used in different ways, depending on
how and why you arrive on the I chord. In the course of a tune the most
predominant use is motion around the harmony towards the I chord, which
in an overwhelming number of cases occurs halfway through the segment:
eg:
|| Dm7 | G7 | C | (A7) ||
They are also used in an inverted way, most importantly at the end of a tune,
as turnarounds:
eg:
|| C (A7) | Dm7 G7 ||
Most popular tunes end with the tonic on the first beat of the second from last
bar, or in longer forms the fourth from last bar. As far as the tunesmith is
concerned, the game is over and the final resolution arrived at. However, if
youre going to play around the sequence again, as jazz players do, you need
to impel the harmony back towards the top of the tune, which often begins on
a I chord. It doesnt always,* but when it does, use of this kind of musical cell
performs that function very well, by keeping the harmony in motion without
moving permanently away from the home tonality and leading naturally back
to the I. By the way, a lot of sheet music doesnt bother with chords after the
A little tip if the first chord in the tune isnt a I, youll very rarely go wrong by playing the V chord
that leads to that chord, but as a 7+11. For instance, on Stella by Starlight in Bb, play a B7+11 going to
the opening E.
Extract from Pentatonics & Hexatonics in Jazz, Jason Lyon 2006-7
www.opus28.co.uk/jazzarticles.html, [email protected]
arrival at the final tonic. It is simply assumed that you, as player, arranger or
improviser, will handle the turnaround as you see fit.
Dont forget that any of the following options can also work with minor II-Vs
and/or minor Is.
a) Modal generalisations
|| Dm7 | / | C |
|| G7 | / | C |
/ ||
/ ||
The first of these, if we ignore the role of the bass, weve already covered as a
sus reharmonisation. It has a relatively modern sound, because it avoids the
traditional sound of a V resolving to I, focusing instead on parallel diatonic
sideslipping motion. A very quick and easy way to dust off and modernise IIV-Is is simply to strip out the dominant chords in this manner.
The second modal generalisation is a little more old-fashioned V-I is the
really important motion in any of these figures, addition of the II came later to
add more detail. Actually, you could even just regard the entire four-bar cell
as being in C and play accordingly, using your ear to guide you.
b) Tritone substitutions
|| Abm7 | Db7 | C | / ||
|| Db7 | / | C | / ||
Db7 and G7 share the same tritone and can substitute for each other. Add the
ii in front of this different V and you have the full tritone substitution.
c) Back-door substitution
|| Fm7 | Bb7 | C |
/ ||
This is a reharmonisation thats been around for many years and is known in
some circles as the back door, presumably because it sort of sneaks up on
the tonic from behind. The bVII7 chord was historically used as a bluesy
approach chord to I, bebop added its relative II. This became institutionalised
in a lot of standard songs as well as specially written jazz tunes. Actually, if
you look at the strong chord tones, youll find this reharmonisation looks
suspiciously like a minor II-V leading to a major I in this example, the chord
tones of Fm7-Bb7b9 coincide closely with D-G7b9.
Extract from Pentatonics & Hexatonics in Jazz, Jason Lyon 2006-7
www.opus28.co.uk/jazzarticles.html, [email protected]
d) Combination diatonic and tritone substitution
|| Dm7 G7 | Abm7 Db7 |
|| Dm7 Abm7 | Db7 G7 |
C
C
|
|
/
/
||
||
The second variation, which sandwiches the tritone sub into the standard IIV, is particularly effective. Also try them out with the Dm7 and/or Abm7 as
dominants.
Trying a different tack, how about this turnaround:
|| C A7 | Ab7 G7 ||
The I, VI and V chords of a straightforward I VI, II V are unaltered, the Ab is a
tritone sub of D, and its chord quality has been altered to dominant. This
progression is not a million miles away from a classic structure often used in
R&B:
|| C Bb7 | Ab7 G7 ||
Which is the foundation of tunes like Hit The Road Jack and Bemsha Swing.
e) Combination diatonic and backdoor
|| Dm7 G7 | Fm7 Bb7 |
|| Dm7 Fm7 | Bb7 G7 |
C
C
|
|
/
/
||
||
The second, sandwiched, variation is very effective.
f) Tadd Dameron turnaround
|| C Eb7 | Ab Db7 ||
Okay, this substitution was a favourite of a lot of the beboppers, but Tadd
Dameron made a lot of formal use of it in compositions. The Ab-Db section is
a tritone sub, and the Eb is a simple V7 chord leading to the Ab. Put another
way, the Eb is a tritone sub of A7, the VI chord.
The Ab chord which in a strict tritone sub context should be a minor 7 chord
has been changed to a major 7th. In traditional functional harmony (which
Extract from Pentatonics & Hexatonics in Jazz, Jason Lyon 2006-7
www.opus28.co.uk/jazzarticles.html,
[email protected] includes these substitutions) the most important thing is generally the root
movement. You have a deal of flexibility to change chord qualities in fact,
the minor 7th is often changed to a dominant in all of these progressions, and
the effect is to infuse the harmony with a bluesy sound. Which is natural,
when you consider that the basic chord quality used over a blues is the
dominant. By the way, the Eb7 is occasionally switched to Ebm7 and the Db7
is just as often played as a 7#11.
For a more modern sound, try playing this progression with all the chord
qualities altered to major 7th:
|| C Eb | Ab Db ||
This is a very clear example of how the root movement is the most important
point in a progression. Using parallel structures in the chord qualities
compensates for the fact that you have moved away from traditional
modulation logic the 3rd and 7th of a minor chord in transition to the 3rd and
7th of a dominant chord.
A signature sound of the Tadd Dameron, or bebop, turnaround is that the use
of a major 7th on the bVI implies a temporary modulation down a major 3rd.
The next reharmonisation takes this modulation principle and extends it to its
logical extreme, exploding the possibilities of popular song harmony wide
open.
g) Coltrane matrix
|| Dm7 Eb7 | Ab B7 | E G7 |
C ||
This involves key centres moving down by major thirds C to Ab to E to C.
Its a much feared substitution, but its harmonic derivation is really quite
straightforward and understanding the way it is derived is the key to playing
over it convincingly.
We begin with four bars moving key centres by major 3rds. This divides the
octave into equal parts, which makes it a logical way of moving away from
and back towards the home key:
|| C | Ab | E | C ||
Now we add the dominant 7th that leads to each key centre. We insert it into
the second half of the preceding bar:
Extract from Pentatonics & Hexatonics in Jazz, Jason Lyon 2006-7
www.opus28.co.uk/jazzarticles.html,
[email protected] || C Eb7 |> Ab B7 |> E G7 |> C ||
The final step in modifying the structure so that it can be played as a
substitution for this:
|| Dm7 | G7 | C |
/ ||
is to reinstate the first chord of the original progression to satisfy the aesthetic
need to start inside, move away and return inside:
|| Dm7 Eb7 | Ab B7 | E G7 |
C ||
This reharmonisation is a great way to modernise standard II-Vs on the fly,
but presents two particular difficulties for players used to improvising over
II-V-Is.
First, although the dominant 7ths are logically moving towards their usual I
destination, they are unusually related to the I chord they are leaving. That is,
we are used to B7-E and G7-C (over the barline), but not Ab-B7 and E-G7
(during the bar). We have to put a lot of work into mastering this motion a
good way to start is to analyse and devise figures involving the common
tones between the chords. Pentatonics can help here.
Second, the original progression reaches the home chord at the start of bar 3.
The reharmonisation doesnt get there until the start of bar four, which
requires us to rethink the way we phrase towards the home point.
By the way, the classic Coltrane matrix involves moving downwards by major
thirds. We could just as well move upwards:
|| C (or Dm7) B7 | E Eb7 | Ab G7 |
||
This provides some interesting semitonal motion from chord to chord.
Just to remind you, any of the above formulae can be adjusted for use in
minor. The most challenging possibility is probably to use the Coltrane
formula in minor:
|| D Eb7alt | Ab B7alt | E G7alt |
C ||
Extract from Pentatonics & Hexatonics in Jazz, Jason Lyon 2006-7
www.opus28.co.uk/jazzarticles.html,
[email protected]
