I always thought these were drop 2 voicings.

Reader,

You know that iconic opening A section in Bag’s Groove from The Oscar Peterson Trio's Night Train album that goes like this?

From the beginning, the melody is played in unison octaves. Both hands are playing the exact same notes. But that’s not the case when we come back around to the second half:

The melody has moved up a 4th, but don't worry about that. Just take notice that the right and left hand are no longer playing in unison. They are in 10ths.

Now pause for a second, and go watch to the recording. Specifically, listen for how Oscar fills in these 10ths with chords. Think for yourself… how would you voice chords in this situation, keeping that 10th on the outside of the voicing?

My instinct was to think of this like traditional block chord. That's where you voice the notes close together, and double the melody on the bottom. But, if you want to get that 10th sound, you need to use a variation of the block chord called “drop 2” where you drop the alto voice down to the bottom of the voicing:

These Drop-2 voicings are a staple for Oscar. He plays them all over the place. And for all of my career — at least up until just this week — I thought that’s exactly what Oscar was playing.

But no, it turns out I was wrong. Actually, this is what he plays:

Quartals! These are modern voicings formed by stacking perfect 4ths from the top down.

This is pretty eye opening to me. I know my quartal voicings, in fact there’s a whole lesson on them in my Jazz-Fundamentals course about them, but I typically play them as 5-note voicings. I’ve just never realized that a 4-note quartal voicing results in a 10th, just like the drop-2’s do. 🤯

It’s a really compelling idea, and I can’t wait to put this into my playing. So that’s what I’m working on this week.

Happy Practicing,

Josh