Here is the response I got from Dr. Gratz:
Reed Gratz
to me
show details 6:10 AM (3 hours ago)
Can't remember my log in...
How about this:
C Maj7 - Eb Maj 7 – Ab Maj7 – Db Maj 7
is the turnaround (the last bar of the tune – turning around to the first bar for solos) one sees in most versions of Tadd Dameron’s Lady Bird (Real Book, 5th edition, maybe better known as the “regular” Real Book).
Tadd used the chord root relationships that composers have been using since equal-temperament, particularly since J. S. Bach – that is, secondary V chords. Tadd made the chords major 7ths rather than V7 but the roots work the same way – down by perfect 5th.
The turnaround is a good opportunity to improvise vertically, that is, play in C, then think in Eb major or Lydian, then Ab major or Lydian, then Db major or Lydian. In each case the raised fourth (if you’re thinking in Lydian) adds some nice spice because it is ‘replaced’ in the next chord when it moves down by ½ step to the new root. (ex. #4 = A in the Eb chord, moves down by ½ step to become the root of the Ab chord).
From the early 20th century American songwriters were using the major 7 chord extensively (then adding 9th, 11th, and 13th as the decades went by), but still thinking in the root relationships that Bach (and others) had established. In 19th century music one analyzes a progression like this (probably using just the triad or adding the dominant 7 to the chord) as:
I – V7/bVI (remember, the bVI is the normal root for the Augmented 6th chord!) – V7/bII (remember, the bII is the normal root for Neapolitan chord) – Neapolitan – then to the I chord in the first bar.
C Maj7 - Eb Maj 7 – Ab Maj7 – Db Maj 7
The version recorded by Miles Davis goes: C Maj7 - Eb7 – Ab Maj7 – G7(#5)
(Bb min7 for CMaj 7 on the repeat)
is the version recorded by Miles Davis. See the New Real Book I for that. It’s pretty much the same but uses that V7/bVI (the Eb7) instead of Eb Maj 7. One can think major or Lydian b7 over that chord. It ends with G7(#5) – a tri-tone substitution for the Db Maj 7 chord. Everything behaves the same way and resolves to the C at the top of the tune.
I’ve mentioned the vertical approach there, playing over each chord, but one can also blow over them in a horizontal fashion – that is, just stay in C and play, letting the nice chord changes color that with chromatic tone. In other words, let the harmony do the work while you play in the “home” key.
Keep in mind the beboppers were still, for the most part, using all of the harmonic language that Bach, Chopin, Debussy and others before them had put together, but now were adding extensions to the chords and improvising more chromatically over those chords.
It’s just 6am. Too many words here – I haven’t had any coffee yet.
Reed
some youtube music?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ig7QcB9gmEE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exF1O6dnreE
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