Harmonizing techniques [1]

Bill Frisell’s rendition of Monk’s ‘Crepuscule with Nellie’ showcases some of his preferred techniques and how to combine them – a lot of music in a couple of bars. 

The first melody phrase is harmonized in 6ths, a wide interval, followed by a b2 cluster [end of bar 1: 5th / b5th of Eb7]. Then, a fill with a major pentatonic sound. All this variety in one! melodic phrase guarantees contrasting, interesting sounds.

Switching from one harmonization technique to another – from one voicing technique to another during one melodic phrase – is an arranging technique common in big band music. Quite a different setting than solo guitar! This approach shows a way how one can copy or emulate common playing practices of other instruments to create intriguing sounds.

Not sure how to fully explain the voicing at the end of bar two – according to that official music theory textbook 😉

Without the D natural on top it would be an example of an incomplete Eb7(b9) leading to the following harmony Ab∆. One could also argue that it’s an inversion of D∆, which resolves to Ab, down a tritone, which would be a common passing chord. Still more common if it would be a dominant chord.

In the end every transcription and every conceptualization should lead to an analysis that is informed by “active listening[= ‘hörende Analyse’, from “Jazz Harmony” by Frank Sikora ]. I hope the term is an ample approximation to convey this specific idea in English: it’s not about forcing music into a given music theory framework but building a theory around the actual, perceived sound that proves to be beneficial to organize one’s own musical tool box.

With this choice of pitch combination I have to go with the sound and state that, to me, right now, it indeed sounds like a resolving dominant [Asus/add3], the common chromatic resolution to the tonic a half-step below, though not with the official bII7#11 color.

I gotta listen back tomorrow – maybe there’s something that offers another explanation for this voicing. Definitely resolves nicely to Ab7 with 13 as top note.

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