1 START WITH THE FINEST INGREDIENTS

Today, were cooking up an in-depth look at JPs improvised chord-melody arrangement

of the Duke Ellington classic, Satin Doll, culled from 1974s Portraits of Duke
Ellington, a trio date featuring bassist Ray Brown and drummer Bobby Durham. Lets
start with a typical fakebook-style lead sheet containing the melody and chord
symbols, as shown in Ex. 1. Scan the chords and youll discover that the tune mainly
comprises a bunch of IIm7-V7 progressions (the most common harmonic movement in
jazz), some of which resolve to a I chord, and some that dont. Begin by exploring the
melody and harmony in two-bar segments, keeping in mind that since the guitar is a
transposing instrument, the melody should be played one octave higher than written.
This also allows plenty of room to voice chords below the melody. To construct the
entire 32-bar, A-A-B-A song form, follow the repeat signs, first and second endings,
and D.C. al fine indicator at the end of the B section, which simply means to go back to
bar 1 and finish the final A section at the fine mark in bar 8. Now, lets see how Pass
sets the whole thing up.

Pass was a man of a million intros, and his short, fourbar chord-melody passage that
prefaces Satin Doll is a true gem. Take your time sussing the opening rhythmic motif
of Ex. 2 (a wise practice when learning new material), and then get to work on the first
four Dm-based voicings in bar 1. (Tip: Play it over a G bass, and then transpose these
moves to all keys.) With the exception of Cmaj7, all of the chords and single notes in
bar 2 are derived from the third-position G13 voicing played on beat one. The Cmaj7
kicks off a passage of five descending parallel maj7 voicings that covers bar 3 and
ends up back where it started. Finally, three chromatic, minor-tenth intervals applied
to a dragged quarter-note triplet outline F#m, Fm, and Em, leading to our final
destination: a hip A7#5#9 (or Db13) voicing nailed on the and of beat three. Swing it
hard, and then...

Immediately following his intro, Pass launches a beautiful, eight-bar, chordmelody take
on the songs first A section. The Dm7- G13 IIm-V moves in the first two bars of Ex. 3
are designed around a stock, fifth-position Dm7 and the G13 voicing used in the intro,
though here Pass adds a cool suspension to the latter in bar 1. The next two bars
feature the same progression played a whole step higher (Em7- A13), but check out
how Pass reverses the locations of the A13 and A13sus4 chords in bar 3, and
introduces a new A9#5 voicing in bar 4. Pass ignores the Am9 in bar 5 by harmonizing
the melody with D9-based voicings only, but in bar 6, he slides into its half-step-lower
counterpart (Abm9) followed by Db9 and Db13, as dictated by the Bb and Ab melody
notes. (Tip: The whole measure is a hip, flat-five substitute for G7, the V chord.) We
resolve to an anticipated, quartal I chord, which in turn, begins the twobar, C6/9-F9E7#9-A13 turnaround in bars 7 and 8. To complete the second A section, simply repeat
the first six bars, and then leave the last two measures open as we...

As with dozens of jazz standards in the bebop tradition, measures 15-16 and 31-32 in a
32-bar, A-A-B-A form are often reserved for a cappella solo flights, and Passs entrance
to the bridge provides a textbook example. Commencing with a two-bar, single-note,
solo turnaround, Ex. 4 notates the final two bars (15-16) from the second A section,
plus the remainder of the eight-bar B section, or bridge. Pass continues his single-note
strategy as he deftly runs the changes in bars 3 through 6, virtually ignoring the
melody, and then snaps back into chord-melody mode, using a combination of three-,
four-, and five-note voicings interspersed with single notes for the remaining four
measures of the bridge. This is perfection in motion, so study it well. Next, we
complete the form and...

Pass final A section chordmelody (bars 25-30 of the 32-bar form) essentially repeats
bars 1-6 from Ex. 3 with two exceptions: The cool run shown in Ex. 5a replaces bar 2
(Recognize those voicings from the intro in Ex. 2?), and the equally swinging fill in Ex.

5b subs for bar 4. Put it all together and youre ready to...

Pass kicks off the eightbar solo excerpt in Ex. 6 with another two-bar a cappella pickup
la Charlie Parker, before easing into the A-section changes, first with some relaxed,
bluesy, eighth-note lines (bars 3-8), and then accelerating into sixteenthnotes in bars 9
and 10. Check out how his signature neighbor tones surround each C chord tone in bar
9, and how his sax-y sixteenths nail the Em7-A7 IIm-V in bar 10. The fact that Pass
winged this arrangement, plus the rest of the tune, is nothing short of mind blowing.
(Tip: My full-song transcription is available in Guitar Standards [Hal Leonard].) And this
was only one performancePass reinvented it night after night! So there you have it: A
family recipe for an old favorite cooked up by a master chef. Got room for dessert?
Good! I hope you...

Y
ou can tell how much Joe Pass loved the blues simply by observing how greatly the
genre informed his repertoire. Thematic records aside, nearly every Pass album
featured one or more blues tunes, both covers and originals. Were all familiar with the
standard, 12-bar, C-blues progression illustrated in Ex. 7, but getting a grip on Pass
substitutions (inspired by Pasta Blues, a Pass original from Virtuoso 3) provides a
fresh slant that includes a IIm-V move (Gm7-C7) into the IV chord (F7) inserted into bar
4, a #IVdim7 (F#dim7) added to bar 6, a minor IIIm7b5-VI7 (Ebm7b5- A7) into a
diatonic IIm-V (Dm7-G7) in bars 8-10, and a I-VI-IIm-V (C7-A7-Dm7-G7) turnaround in
bars 11 and 12. These subs are common devices found in many jazz blues tunes, so be

sure to learn them in all keys. Once youve got em hard-wired, consider yourself
prepped and ready to...

When it came to playing solo blues, Pass typically switched between three basic
strategies: sparse chord-melody accompaniment and walking bass fragments with
emphasis on singlenote melodies, denser chord-melody passages, and exclusively
single-note lines. The next trio of examples illustrates how he might handle bars 1-4.
Ex. 8a features a simple blues melody line

punctuated with both chordal stabs and walking bass bits to imply a full band
arrangement, while Ex. 8b drops the walking bass notes and thins out the chord
voicings in favor of some single-note solo improv. Highlights in the latter include the
opening C13-based moves embellished with a bluesy b3#9 (Eb), and the Charlie
Parker-isms that abound in bars 2-4. Ex. 8c takes flight with even more Bird-like
phrasing, particularly evident in those hammered-

and-pulled sixteenth- note triplets in bars 1 and 3, the F# diminished arpeggio used to
create altered tension against the IV chord (F7) in bar 2, and the ultra-cool IIm-V lick in
bar 4. Feel the love? Lets spice things up and...

Shifting into a denser chordmelody mode, Ex. 9a begins with a half-step pickup (not
unlike Ex. 8as) into bars 5-8. The stretchy F7 voicing in bar 1 gets applied to a
bigband- style rhythmic motif and is contrasted with an eighth-note triplet bass run on
beat four. The F9 voicing in bar 2 gets the same rhythm treatment, but check out how
the triplet on beat four jumps to the upper register and functions as a pickup to the
chromatic sixths and could-be-Albert-King lick in bar 3. Bar 4 features Passs flat-five
sub of Bb7 for Em7, plus some altered A7 action as we head for the

Dm7 target. Taking it further out, Ex. 9bs ascending and descending triplets outline
chromatic major and diminished triads over the same four-bar progression. The key
words here are momentum and target. Want it even spicier? No problemo.

Well wrap up our study and the remaifinder of the progression with a pair of
turnarounds designed for bars 9 - 12. The four-bar passage shown in Ex. 10a begins
with a measure of D9- and D13-based single-notes and block chords, implying a
dominant II chord, and then shifts to a condensed Dm7-G13 IIm-V run in bar 2. More
Bird moves inhabit bar 3, and in this case, we save our garlic (in the form of broken G
and C# octaves ascending in enharmonic flat fifths) for the last measure. Need more?
Get a whiff of Ex. 10b, which utilizes a valuable

jazz shortcut for creating pungent melodic tension. Check out how the alternating 13th
and 9th chords that begin halfway through bar 1 on Bb and descend in minor thirds
through G, E, and Db create tons of altered V-chord (G7) flavors with a minimum
amount of effort. (Tip: This works with both chords and single-note lines.) Finally, we
resolve to an almost ragtime-y, pianistic turnaround in bars 3 and 4 (think Tatum), and
were back to the top. You can combine four bars each of Examples 8, 9, and 10 to
form a slew of 12-bar solo blues choruses, or just pick out the bits you like best and
use them on the bandstand. Pastas ready, so buon appetito!