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Reader,
To really, truly understand the fundamentals of improvisation, you must spend a lot of time transcribing Chet Baker. His solo’s are not typically virtuosic, or even “outside.” They perfectly outline the chord changes.
Today's 2-5-1
Each week, I share 2 transcribed phrases, 5 ideas observed from 1 featured jazz recording. This week, our recording comes from Chet Baker on the tune Tangerine.
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Tangerine / Chet Baker
This is the 4th track on She Was Too Good To Me, recorded with Bob James, Steve Gadd, Ron Carter in 1974.
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- Every single phrase in this solo is singable — probably because Chet is an amazing singer himself and that influences his playing.
- His lines outline the changes absolutely perfectly, really leaning into that 3-5-7-9 jazz arpeggio sound.
- Chet establishes very clear motif’s throughout, which he repeats to create familiarity, but this occasionally lands in unusual places, which makes your ear perk up.
- For example, at 1:38, Chet plays a motif based on a 4th down. From Bb down to F. Then immediately follows up with that motif up a step, from C down to G. But, this G lands on an Ab7 chord, which is the major 7th. It sounds hip, not wrong, because the motif legitimized it.
- It happens again in the final bars of Chet’s solo, 2:08, where he ends his line on a B natural, over F7. That’s a #11, which is a rather outside sound for Chet.
Last year, my friend Dr. Bob invited me on his Jazz Piano Skills podcast to talk about this solo in depth. If you enjoy this solo, you might enjoy our podcast interview here:
https://www.jazzpianoskillspodcast.com/chet-baker-tangerine/
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Josh Walsh
Say hi 👋🏻 on YouTube or Threads.
Or, just reply to this email.
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Submit a Recording - Have a suggestion for a track I should include in a future 2-5-1? Send it over by replying to this email. |
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When you're ready, here are ways we could work together:
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