![]() ![]() When done well, this can create some of the grooviest licks there are – just listen to some John Coltrane and you’ll get the picture. ![]() The way that they often do so is through dissonance. Soloists are there because they want to stand out, they want to show off, they want to create interest. The use of the concept in jazz goes beyond just the simple harmonic ideas you see in the chord symbols. These colours, of course, vary dramatically across styles of writing, but to create the colours, dissonance had be used more freely. If one listens to this music, there are definite similarities between the additive harmonies used here and that of the chord progressions found in your favourite jazz standards.īut again, we ask ourselves: ‘Why?’ The answer is that all these composers, whether they be Debussy, Schoenberg, Gershwin or anyone in between, were all trying to create one thing: tonal colour. (The fact that it was very restricted indeed is another matter entirely.) Going even further back in time, one can think of impressionist composers such as Debussy who again used ideas that rejected traditional western harmony. Their use of dissonance stood out among early 20 th- Century composers for its almost unrestricted nature. The perhaps more commonly known classical examples of dissonance come from serialism, a genre popularised by composers such as Schoenberg, Webern and Berg. ‘But Josh’, I hear you ask, ‘Surely some of these ideas are just as common in later classical music?’ (And if you didn’t ask that, you’re going to get an answer anyway.) Of course, the clarity of these dissonances are different between jazz and early music – but that does not mean the thoughts behind them are not the same. ![]() Voice-leading plays a huge part in the formation of a correctly-working accompaniment and the dissonances still often follow the original rules of the 16 th Century – you can’t just add a note in willy-nilly and ‘jump around’. But these additions are not just used randomly and fleetingly – each are still used carefully and to great effect. Even in the early days of Dixieland with the likes of Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton, these enhanced chord changes can be heard. The additions of sixths and sevenths to common harmony provided a wider variety of opportunity for musical colour. In the early 20 th Century, when jazz was moving to the forefront of the popular music world, dissonance continued to be explored. Originally meaning the suspension and resolution of a non-consonant interval, dissonance is a concept that has been used from as early as the 16 th Century right up to the present day, in increasingly varied ways. Behind any interesting harmonic pattern, there is one feature that truly defines the style of a piece: dissonance. But why? What is it about these chords that makes us think of jazz? The answer to this question is in the essence of the chords themselves, their harmonic makeup, if you will. Hearing these chords would make many think immediately of jazz. I sit down at the piano and play two chords. ![]()
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