How was
I able to do this? To begin with, from early childhood I listened to and
loved both jazz and popular music even before I began training in
classical music and harp. Then I studied harmony and solfeggio (ear
training), whose disciplines helped me identify and learn the chord
changes of the great American standard popular songs. Equally important
but unteachable, I think I was given the gift of being able to convey the
jazz sound and color, and I am ever grateful for it. Without all those
ingredients I could not have survived in that group. With them, my fitting
in with these magnificent jazz musicians was not as unlikely as it could
have been.
Playing in a jazz group is
"faking" of the highest order. And yet, perhaps "faking" is a convenient
but erroneous term. What the musician actually is doing is creating: the endless colors of harmony
with substitute and altered chords, the rhythmic surprises of anticipation or suspension, the
give and take of rubato playing, the constant improvising on and away from
the melody. All are the subtle elements of jazz.
Substitute Chords
Harmonically, jazz requires intense
concentration and computation - "where have I been and where am I going?"
Knowing the songs and their harmonic changes so well has allowed me to use
substitute chords at will, which seem to invite themselves naturally as I
work through a standard tune. I don't believe in random or indiscriminate
chord replacements, but I have heard treatments wherein the harmonies of
almost every bar of a standard song were substituted, and the results were
beautifully acceptable. This can only be done by a discerning, thoughtful
and discriminating musician who is completely familiar with the
song.
I call this process
"trespassing" because we are, in a way, intruding on someone else's
property, even if we feel we could walk there blindfolded because we know
it so well. There should be an element of reverence in this trespassing,
which I hear in the orchestrations of really fine arrangers, many of whom
are or were excellent jazz instrumentalists who played the great
standards. The recordings and live performances of gifted and seasoned
jazz pianists reflect that reverence. I hope my versions do,
too.
The following is an example
of my trespassing in the tune "As Time Goes By" by Herman Huffeld. First
are his harmonies:
then those from my
arrangement of the same piece:
In these measures
from my arrangement of "Someone To Watch Over Me" by George and Ira
Gershwin, you can see that the harmonies and some rhythms are brand new
the second time around:
Less Is More
Since the very start of my own venturing into playing the standard
ballads with a jazz inflection, I have pursued the concept of "less is
more". I've found that what I want to say, how I convey my feeling for the
song, come more naturally when I use only the essential notes of a chord.
Widely spaced chords with altered intervals, i.e. flatted ninths (-9),
augmented ninths (+9), augmented elevenths (+11), and thirteenths (13),
though sparsely voiced, can have a sound beautifully lush in their
transparency.
Here are variations on the V-I and II-V-I cadence:
Sifting Out
When
I improvise or make an arrangement,
"sifting out" the unnecessary notes of a chord has first priority.
In the above examples the notes in ( ) would be sifted out. This
process elementally defines the chord and actually makes identifying it
easier whether you're hearing it or looking at it. I learned to "sift" by
studying four-part choral writing (SATB). The work was long and tedious,
but invaluable, and has been pursued by the earliest composers to the
present day. In four-part choral writing you see, vertically and
immediately, the pure structure of a chord. This study has been the
backbone of my improvising and arranging popular and jazz music for harp,
and I would urge anyone who is serious about playing this music on the
harp in a tasteful manner, in whatever personal style one ultimately
arrives, to consider undertaking this fundamental and timeless study.
Below are a few sifted measures from my version of "Like Someone in Love"
by Johnny Burke and Jimmy Van Heusen:
Written Arrangements
The very act of putting an arrangement down on paper
is, in itself, getting away from the concept of being a jazz musician. If
you are a true jazz player you don't rely upon an arrangement that is
always played with the same notes, but treat the song differently in some
way each time. The song comes off the top of your head (a "head
arrangement") and it often floats away, never again to appear identically
in your memory. For the many harpists who love jazz sounds but lack time,
training or courage to let themselves feel comfortable improvising on the
great old and new tunes, there are now numerous arrangements available. I
would encourage these harpists, though, to use the arrangements only as
guidelines in developing their own taste and special sound. That sound
will come to anyone who truly loves the music and wants to play it to her
best ability.
Developing your own style
In my formative
years, there was not the help that is available now for harpists through
workshops and the Lyon & Healy Harp Fests. Mine was a solitary
struggle just trying to learn and deal with all the standard ballads and
jazz tunes I had grown up with, and I had little time to adopt someone
else's style. Neither do I remember, nor do I recommend, trying to emulate
certain jazz players. As I believe I did, you, too, can arrive at your own
personal style through osmosis, absorbing into your consciousness and
memory the styles of the jazz artists you admire. I hope that eventually
you will find a place where you feel comfortable in calling upon your own
reservoir of color and creativity, playing from your own head,
experiencing your own uniqueness.
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