In plain words
Barry passed on endings the way he passed on lines. In a Hague class he played an Art Tatum ending, then a Bud Powell ending, adding that this was what he used to do. At a 2008 clinic in Spain he showed how a song had been ended and said that when a song ends like that, we should know how to do it; Monk, he added, did a song like this. Monk once recognised Barry’s playing from the way he ended a song.
Practising the sixth diminished scales28:0428:39A Monk ending and other small devices0:000:33Jazz theory, part 7: Monk and Stella by Starlight1:07
Endings were also something to invent. Barry said you take a little simple chord and make something up from the chords you know, and he tried several on the spot. He remembered a Detroit pianist, Will Davis, who used to end songs with a movement like the one in Giant Steps.
Practising the sixth diminished scales28:3929:1629:56Giant Steps in the piano class13:3014:04
Introductions too. Barry complained that young pianists play funny little introductions and don’t know how to make one. He asked a student for a pretty intro in C to What’s New while feeling the six, played an intro in A♭ to show that a C minor chord there belongs to A♭ major, and said he thought Bud Powell had made a whole introduction out of the scale in thirds. He made up the introduction to The Sidewinder himself.
Interview: Detroit, Bud Powell and the shuffle15:53Student performances and coaching14:23The C minor seventh in All the Things You Are3:244:00Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished2:563:30Interview: Bird, Hawkins, Monk and New York23:30
One diminished chord makes a ready-made intro. In a B♭ blues Barry singled out the diminished a half step above the II (he called it E diminished; it is the same chord as D♭ diminished, the ♭III diminished of B♭): it takes you to the II and also back to the I. Alan Kingstone quotes Barry’s rule that the flat three diminished goes to the one and to the two, and turns it into an intro.
Practising the blues with the horns, part 19:1410:57jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris: My AHA moment regarding chords and comping ¶256jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris: My AHA moment regarding chords and comping ¶262
Step by step
An intro from the ♭III diminished (Alan Kingstone, after Barry): from C6, move two inner notes down a half step to get the diminished, again to get D minor 7 (F6), then back up through the diminished to C6. Play it in rhythm, in place of the usual cycle.
C6 (bottom to top)- A
- E
- G
- C
C°7 = E♭°7, the ♭III diminished- A
- E♭
- G♭
- C
Dm7 (= F6)- A
- D
- F
- C
E♭°7- A
- E♭
- G♭
- C
C6- A
- E
- G
- C
jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris: My AHA moment regarding chords and comping ¶256jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris: My AHA moment regarding chords and comping ¶258jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris: My AHA moment regarding chords and comping ¶259jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris: My AHA moment regarding chords and comping ¶260jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris: My AHA moment regarding chords and comping ¶261jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris: My AHA moment regarding chords and comping ¶262jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris: My AHA moment regarding chords and comping ¶263
How he said to practise it
In Barry’s words
Each one plays from the moment he says it. Every other moment he teaches it is listed below.
This is Bud Powell ending. That’s what I used to do... You take a little simple chord like this, and you make up something.
That’s the way he ended the song. So, if he ended the song like this, if we did a song like that, then we really should know how to do it.
They have funny little introductions... They don’t know how to do that.
I made up the introduction to... Sidewinder, and that was used as a commercial.
Where this comes from
Everything above is drawn from these. Open any one to check it.
Every moment he teaches it12 moments in 12 recordings
Each time opens the transcript there; the video plays when you are online.
Practising the sixth diminished scales
- 28:39
Plays a Bud Powell ending after a Tatum one (Tatum is named in the old captions only); take a simple chord and make something up.
A Monk ending and other small devices
- 0:00
Spain 2008: shows how a song was ended; we should know how to do it; Monk did one like this.
Endings, part 1: the Art Tatum way
- 0:03
Spain 2008, an ending ‘in Art Tatum’s way’ (uploader’s note): E♭, D, then all black keys.
Endings, part 2: the Bud Powell way
- 0:00
Spain 2008, an ending ‘in Bud Powell’s way’ (uploader’s note); he did it wrong but liked it.
An ending for Like Someone in Love
- 0:01
Spain 2008: an ending for Like Someone in Love (from the title).
Jazz theory, part 7: Monk and Stella by Starlight
- 1:07
Monk heard him play and knew it was Barry from the way he ended the song.
Giant Steps in the piano class
- 13:30
Detroit pianist Will Davis used to end songs with the Giant Steps kind of movement.
Interview: Detroit, Bud Powell and the shuffle
- 15:53
Young pianists play funny little introductions and don’t know how to do them.
Student performances and coaching
- 14:23
Asks a student for a pretty intro in C to What’s New, thinking in six.
Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished
- 3:30
Asks whether Bud Powell didn’t make a whole introduction out of the scale in thirds; thinks he did.
The C minor seventh in All the Things You Are
- 3:24
Plays an intro in A♭ to show the C minor there belongs to A♭ major.
An introduction for Yesterdays
- 0:00
Almería 2014: an intro for Yesterdays (from the title; captions unusable).
In writing5 notes
What his interviews, his students’ class notes and other teachers’ articles add.
The workbook for Barry’s Workshop Video, Part 1 has, in its chapter on moveable chords, a section on ending a tune with movements on the sixth-diminished scale, followed by one carrying that ending through four keys.
Barry Harris (on video); Howard Rees (producer, The Barry Harris Workshop Video ¶18Barry Harris (on video); Howard Rees (producer, The Barry Harris Workshop Video ¶19
The Vocal Workshop workbook ends its harmony part with turnbacks in G and then turnbacks applied as endings: the stock turnback figures double as ways to close a tune.
Alan Kingstone gives the ♭III-diminished intro on the top four guitar strings: C6 as A E G C, the diminished as A E♭ G♭ C, then A D F C, and back. He suggests using it as an intro instead of the cycle, played rhythmically.
jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris: My AHA moment regarding chords and comping ¶258jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris: My AHA moment regarding chords and comping ¶262jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), Barry Harris: My AHA moment regarding chords and comping ¶263
Mark Stryker watched a 2000 class in which Barry built an eight-bar horn arrangement on Dizzy Gillespie’s old introduction to I Can’t Get Started: saxes on chords, trumpets on a melody, a tenor on a counter-melody inside.
Mark Stryker (Detroit Free Press), Professor of Bebop at 70: Native Detroiter Barry Harris Shares the Secrets of the Jazz Tradition with Students in New York ¶32Mark Stryker (Detroit Free Press), Professor of Bebop at 70: Native Detroiter Barry Harris Shares the Secrets of the Jazz Tradition with Students in New York ¶33
Vera Marijt built the intro to her own tune from Barry’s material: a root-third-seventh voicing moved up the scale and shifted up a minor third, settling in C and ending on an altered C7 into the first chord, F minor.
How other teachers explain it10 videos, 9 series episodes
Barry’s students, and their students, teaching it their way. A second opinion, not Barry.
- Introductions from scratch & Barry Harris movement applications
Introductions from scratch with Barry’s movements (from the title).
15 min On YouTube
- Stop Playing Weak Intros – Use These Barry Harris Chords Instead
Intros using Barry Harris chords (from the title).
11 min On YouTube
- create an intro with Barry Harris harmonic concepts
Creating an intro with Barry’s harmonic concepts (from the title).
10 min On YouTube
- Barry Harris Exercise Repurposed as Intro to “Someday My Prince Will Come”
A Barry exercise reused as an intro to Someday My Prince Will Come (from the title).
2 min On YouTube
- Barry Harris intro on “Somebody Loves Me” adapted for solo jazz guitar.
Barry’s intro on Somebody Loves Me, arranged for solo guitar (from the title).
2 min On YouTube
- Barry Harris Intro on The Tadd Walk
Barry’s intro on The Tadd Walk (from the title).
1 min On YouTube
- Barry Harris ending on The Chase
Barry’s ending on The Chase (from the title).
under 1 min On YouTube
- A Pretty Ending from the Blues for
A pretty ending from the blues, for guitar (from the title).
under 1 min On YouTube
- Pretty endings to using for
Endings for ballads with Barry’s harmony (from the title).
under 1 min On YouTube
- Movement 34: ending of Stella by Starlight
The ending of Stella by Starlight (from the title).
under 1 min On YouTube
In the teaching series
Episodes on this idea in the long series by other teachers. Each name opens that whole series in order.
Read further3 links
These open on the web.
Free to read
- researchcatalogue.net
— Vera Marijt’s thesis analyses the intro to her own tune, built from Barry’s root-third-seventh voicings moved up the scale.
- Howard Rees, Jazz Workshops
— The vocal workshop applies turnbacks as endings (paid).
Books and paid courses
- The Barry Harris Workshop Video (Part 1), Howard Rees / Jazz Workshop Productions: 4+ hours, 5 clinic segments + 102-112 page workbook (ABCs, scales on song forms, movable chords, rhythm section, vocalizing)
Barry himself (produced and transcribed by Howard Rees) — Barry’s moveable-chords session includes ending a tune with sixth-diminished movement (paid; contents free).