Voicings about:reader?url=http://www.melmartin.com/html_pages/Articles/vo...

melmartin.com

Voicings
8-10 minutes

Sonny Rollins once said "the answers are in the piano." Dizzy
Gillespie worked from the piano and had gotten much of his
harmonic theory from Thelonious Monk. Tom Harrell can play fine
piano as can many other well known instrumentalists. I have
always been heavily influenced and even a little envious of
pianists because they could always harmonize their lines and
make sense out of mine. I have done more transcribing of
pianists than saxophonists. The study of harmony needs to be
done at the keyboard and then transferred to the primary
instrument. I have spoken in previous columns about the
importance of ear training, transcription, dictation and the general
concepts of hearing. The single largest question I get from
students is "how do I play 'over' the chord changes?" The answer
includes all of the above disciplines. Most importantly, the player
needs to understand that music is not necessarily about
superimposing one concept over another but that it is a singular
concept, particularly for the listener, that requires total integration
of all elements. Harmonic structures are constantly being
improvised just as rhythmic and melodic structures are in any
given solo. The area where many players seem to not grasp this

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concept is in the area of voicings. This is also a study in

arranging and orchestration. The player needs to understand just
how his instrument fits in with other instruments and how
approaching harmonic detail will affect his overall sound. This is
not just a fortuitous occurrence. It must be thoroughly studied
and understood. To study the music of Art Tatum, Thelonious
Monk, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Chic Corea
and so many others is to gain insight into their harmonic
processes. This is why they sound the way they sound. To study
the scores of Gil Evans, Bartok, Benny Carter, Beethoven,
Mozart and all other great composer/orchestrators is to gain even
further insight into deep musical thought. This is what separates
great musicians from merely great players.
Since keyboardists have already covered a lot of this information
to simply learn their instrument, I will direct this to all other
instruments. The first thing that players need to address is the
use of triads. The triad is the building block of all harmony. When
studying an instrument, working with arpeggios is standard
practice. This involves running triads, dominant and minor
seventh chords, diminished and augmented and, eventually,
extended chords. As instrumental practice, this is usually done
mechanically, without absorbing the structure. In order to
improvise, the mind and the fingers require constant
communication with each other. The best approach is to not read
out of practice books but to improvise different inversions.
Inversions take place in all chords but starting on different notes
of the chord. If I'm working on simple triads, I would practice

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them, major and minor, as arpeggios (up and down the

instrument using all inversions in all keys) and as separate
inversions (using the same inversion for each chord in all keys.)
It is necessary to thoroughly understand this approach as you
are doing it. There are ways of utilizing triads in extended
harmony that involve slash chords which are shortcuts to playing
extended intervals such as a triad over a bass tone or triad over
a seventh chord. Whole systems of harmonic navigation can be
developed this way. What the player is dealing with are sounds.
A triad is a basic voicing. The only other voicing that is more
basic is sounding two notes together or basic intervals. A triad
can be voiced in it's basic inversions; root, third, fifth - third, fifth,
root - fifth -root - third. Or it can be opened to a wider voicing;
root, tenth (third), fifth - third, root, fifth, third, root. All of these
sounds need to be practiced on the instrument in an arpeggiated
fashion until the fingers and mind are well co-ordinated with the
sounds. This same process needs to take place with seventh,
ninth, eleventh and thirteenth chords in all of their permutations.

A great source for further understanding the significance of

voicings is to study books on arranging and jazz piano. Arranging
books by Russ Garcia and Nelson Riddle are enormously helpful
in stimulating the mind to understand how voicings can make
instruments sound good together. They require that the aspiring
arranger use his imagination to hear in advance what
instruments will sound like when assigned the notes of a specific
voicing. This can only come with dedicated practice and listening
experience. This type of approach can open the mind of the

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improviser to utilize more than just licks and scales in their solos.
It also helps the soloist to recognize more quickly what the piano
player is doing in terms of voicing. The operative word here is
quickly. While improvising, there isn't time to stop and try and
figure these things out on the spot. That is for study and practice.
I always used to hang out with good piano players because they
could show me the way they approached their voicings which
gave me the kind of information I needed in order to construct a
harmonically informed solo. Two excellent books for this type of
study are The Jazz Piano Book and The Jazz Theory Book by
Mark Levine published by Sher Music. Mark is a

fine, modern, thinking player and has been able to codify his
approach very well for others to work with. Of course, there are
more ways to skin a cat, so to speak, so it's wise to study the
transcriptions of the great piano players. Even better is to do
some transcribing yourself.
Once you have opened this door, you will be able to advance to
transferring these concepts to your individual instrument. Learn
to explore the music that you are going to deal with. Find out
what sounds and voicings are attractive and learn to incorporate
these into your soloing on a particular tune. Take a specific
voicing and turn it into an arpeggiated exercise. (See examples)
If for no other reason, to get the sound of the voicing under your
fingers and hear what it sounds like on your instrument. In no
way am I suggesting that you should mindlessly run these
arpeggios as you might run a lick. They have to be incorporated

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into your playing in appropriate places and at appropriate times.

Joe Henderson utilizes these arpeggios to underline his
harmonic points of interest. Coleman Hawkins used arpeggios of
all colors and stripes as an essential fabric of his improvisations.

The next step is to learn to go from one voicing to another in real

time. This takes a true understanding of how a progression
functions. Harmony is functional. It is not static. This is how a
players like Sonny Rollins and George Coleman can improvise
lines that are constantly setting up cues that the harmony is in
flux. This is usually done with the different configurations of the
dominant seventh chord but applies to any chord as well. These
players are also very adept in implying alternate or substitute
progressions such as chromatic II-V's and deceptive cadences.
These types of things can be incorporated and involve a clear
idea of where one is heading as well as coming from. These
things can be practiced on any instrument. I've always had a
desire to play the saxophone, flute or clarinet with the clarity and
accuracy of a fine jazz pianist where notes are played with a
clear attack and in a way that "spells" the chords audibly. Of
course, a wind instrument can do expressive things that a pianist
cannot do so I've always looked for the best of both worlds. With
dedicated study and practice, you can develop a myriad of
approaches that are not rooted in your particular instrument but
come directly from your mind and ear.

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