Color

This is a preview of the educational program A Jazz Improvisation Almanac which is under development for the Outside Shore Music Online School. Feel free to browse this preview and learn what you can from it. For a more completed product, though, check out the original freely browsable jazz textbook, A Jazz Improvisation Primer.

While the Chord/Scale Chart suggests the most appropriate scale to use for each chord type, sometimes the most appropriate scale is not the best choice. Music would be rather uninteresting if everyone always played the same notes. There is considerable room for creativity in choosing a scale that provides an unexpected color for a given chord. This section discusses some of the factors that you may wish to consider in choosing scales.

The key concept here is that each chord and scale has a musical color associated with it. The scale suggested by the chart as being most appropriate for a given chord reinforces the color of that chord. For example, a minor seventh chord has a particular color, and the dorian mode reinforces that color:

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The other scales associated with minor seventh chords in the chart introduce musical colors that do more than simply reinforce the original color; they complement it. For instance, the phrygian mode does not clash with the minor seventh chord, but the lowered second degree of the scale introduces a new color of its own:

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Chords such as major sixth and seventh chords, minor seventh chords, and unaltered dominant seventh chords, have relatively simple colors, and are associated with relatively simple scales such as the modes of the major scale. You may choose to honor these in your improvisation, or you may embellish them with the richer colors associated with the more complex scales. In an arrangement where the chords are specified as simple seventh chords with no alterations, it is up to you as an improvisor to enhance the coloring by choosing more complex scales from time to time. For example, consider the following progression:

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Here are the expected scales, according to the chart:

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Here is another version that uses more colorful scales:

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Alternate scales should not be chosen randomly. There are some general rules of thumb to consider in evaluating the colors of the more complex scales. These alterations fall into two basic categories: ones that enhance stability, and ones that increase tension.

A scale with a raised fourth degree tends to be more stable than one with a natural fourth. George Russell theorizes that this is because the raised fourth acts as a leading tone to the fifth degree, which itself acts as a dominant and leads back to the original root:

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Whereas the natural fourth anticipates the tendency of the chord to resolve upward by fourth:

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Whatever the theory, it has been my observation that indeed, dominant seventh chords with raised elevenths are less inclined to resolve upward by fourth, as dominant seventh chords normally would. Whenever a dominant seventh chord appears in a situation where it does not resolve as expected, it may make sense then to use the lydian dominant scale, rather than the plain mixolydian mode or any of the other scales that tend to enhance the tendency to resolve upward by fourth. For example, in the progression Cmaj7-F7-Em7, the expected scales according to the chart would be C major, F mixolydian, and E dorian:

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Since the F7 does not resolve to a Bb chord as expected, the lydian dominant scale is a good choice to use in this situation:

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Major seventh chords have no special need to resolve and can always benefit from the additional color provided by the lydian mode:

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The raised ninth in a dominant seventh chord can also serve to increase stability, since it sounds like a minor or blue third:

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For this reason, a scale that contains this pitch is an especially good choice to use over a dominant seventh chord that is functioning as a tonic in a blues progression. For example, in an F blues progression, an F7 chord that does not immediately resolve upward by fourth to a Bb chord can be treated as an F7#9 chord. This is why the blues scale is often used in this situation:

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While any scale with a raised ninth can be used in this manner, the lowered ninth should be treated with care, as it is a particularly powerful dissonance that works to destroy the stability created by the raised ninth or raised fourth. For example, the HW diminished scale is not normally considered a good choice to use over a tonic dominant seventh chord in a blues progression:

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Raised fifths and lowered ninths generally serve to increase tension, and in particular, they reinforce the tendency for the chord to resolve upward by fourth. Whenever you see a chord that it is resolving upward by fourth, you can reinforce this motion by selecting a scale that includes a raised fifth or lowered ninth. For example, in the progression G7-Cmaj7, the expected scales, according to the chart, would be G mixolydian and C major. Here is a typical line one might play using these scales:

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Since the resolution here is upward by fourth, you can provide additional tension and release by using a scale such as the G altered scale for the G7 chord. The following line is similar to the one above, but it uses G altered rather than G mixolydian over the G7 chord:

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If a minor seventh chord resolves upward by fourth, you can reinforce the resolution by using a scale normally associated with a dominant seventh chord instead of a scale normally associated with a minor seventh chord. For example, in the progression Am7-Dm7, the expected scales, according to the chart, would be A dorian and D dorian. Here is a typical line that uses these scales:

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The motion can be reinforced by using a A mixolydian or A HW diminished scale instead of A dorian. Here how the above line would sound using the A HW diminished scale:

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Recall that chords in modal music do not function as they do in tonal music. Arrangers use chord symbols in modal music to suggest particular scales. Therefore, one would normally choose the scale that most clearly conveys the sound of the given chord. However, you are always free to experiment with using different colors.

You may wish to introduce an unexpected color in order to create tension. Given a series of measures of a sinlge major seventh chord, for instance, you may wish to create some tension by deliberately selecting a scale that does not relate to the chord at all. Often, selecting a scale of the same quality but on a different root is particularly effective. For example, Ab major over a Cmaj7 chord:

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When you select the scale a half step above or below, this is called side-stepping, and it is a common device. But any other root can be used. More tension is generated the further the root is removed from the original on the circle of fifths. The scale a half step away is almost half way around the circle, and therefore it creates a great deal of tension:

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Copyright 2000 Outside Shore Music
Authored by Marc Sabatella

Color