CompingSmall chords, simple sounds, rhythmic upbeats

If you know all the big chords, Barry says, the small chords are already in your hands, yet many players cannot rip off simple small-chord playing because they never learned the little things. Most important is learning to play a sixth chord for a major chord; there is nothing wrong with that sound. He illustrated with We’ll Be Together Again, a song he says everyone should know.

Small chords, not big ones1:402:132:49

In a workshop Barry had the players play a chord on the tonic of B-flat major and the two chords that follow it; some could not play those chords down by half steps and faked it. He asked who would notice that the first chord is made of two triads, then had them play a D minor triad and its next inversion, starting from the fifth.

The 1998 workshop, part 145:2746:3747:1249:56

Following Schoenberg, Barry names the voices of a four-note chord like a choir: soprano is 1, alto 2, tenor 3, bass 4. On a C diminished seventh, try drop 2, drop 3, drop 2 and 4, and even drop 2 and 3. Run each voicing up from the bottom, one note at a time, and you can make up a whole song with it. He says this is why jazz is the continuation of classical theory.

Jazz theory, part 2: drop voicings5:316:077:107:54

You play with your family first, Barry says. For a C seven he puts the E-flat triad above it (E-flat is in C’s minor-third family), then adds E natural right next to the E-flat. The E is what makes it sound like a dominant; without it you hear a minor seventh. Then let the voices move and resolve to F major.

Jazz theory, part 3, with score9:169:5010:30

Two sixth chords work against E-flat major: E-flat six, on the tonic, and B-flat six, on the fifth. The B-flat six gives the major seventh and the ninth; the E-flat six gives the sixth and the tonic. For pretty chords, play one and add a single note from the other; adding a C struck Barry as almost unbelievably pretty. He adds that Bud Powell went further, using other sixes such as F six against the chord. You have to know the scale.

Two sixth chords against a major key0:040:382:203:59

While a pianist was comping on Misty, Barry stopped the playing: he wanted a plain D minor, not the augmented-ninth sound players habitually add to it. In a D minor you may put the E next to the F, but otherwise keep it simple. He also asked for an A7 with B-flat and E-flat added. The message is to choose each chord sound deliberately instead of reaching for the same altered voicing every time.

Feeling the ‘and’5:205:56

A pretty trick: play two tritones together, for example C, F, F-sharp, B, then move into the sus sound. Barry stresses that you must know the scale, not just the shape. To practise, move only the top and bottom voices, and also try it from the diminished.

The C7♭5 scale in drop 2, and a tritone trick0:000:421:241:59

The pianist and the drummer need a real connection. In one conversation, the memory came up of Jimmy Lovelace in class always wanting to make sure he could see Barry when everyone gathered round the piano, and Barry agreed that was true; the point was the connection between the piano player and the drummer.

Jazz theory, part 3: four dominants from one diminished8:02

Asked how Bud Powell could stretch the time without slowing it down, Barry said a lot of that depends on the rhythm section being there. He recalled Monk telling him, in one of his real sober moods, that it would be nice to play with a rhythm section and not have to worry about time, so he could just go on and play. Some players may have the knack of floating above whatever is going on, but sometimes you really wish for that kind of support.

Interview: Bud Powell and teaching singers9:019:39

When a drummer answered a phrase with a figure of his own, Barry praised it. Sometimes a phrase invites a reaction, and responding is what you are supposed to do: one player’s hit, on or off the beat, can spark the next player’s idea. He wanted the band to think of the music as players setting each other off, rather than as separate prepared parts.

Feeling the ‘and’16:4217:1717:51

Barry joked at length that the one drum figure he could not stand was an accent on beat four by itself, which he called the Philly Joe thing, while calling Philly Joe Jones a dear friend. He playfully blamed it for bringing back his worst memories and asked drummers not to play it around him. If the drummer hits the ‘and’ of two before that four, he will go along with it, because that is a salsa figure; it is the lone four he objects to.

The lone accent on four1:402:17Feeling the ‘and’11:5713:11

On a blues head, Barry asked the drummer to use brushes and start the melody on the hi-hat instead of going straight to the ride cymbal. That makes a clear distinction between the melody and the moment someone starts to solo. Drummers should learn to play around on the hi-hat with little figures at increasing speeds, and have that kind of thing down pat.

Passport: teaching a blues by ear8:2210:3011:06