I totally like the keeping it simple and IMO it gets even SIMPLER. The history of this sound is important. In early trad jazz music, and Tin Pan Alley music, Louis Armstrong's hot fives era for example, the iv - I cadence was a popular thing to use that evoked a nostalgic and wistful feeling. There were a lot of blues tunes that also used a progression for IV - iv - I - Tishomingo Blues comes to mind (although not a blues it has that language) as well as Take a Picture of the Moon which goes I-iv-I at the end of every A section. When Parker led everyone into Bebop language the ii-V-I gained even more strength and popularity as cadence to define a key. My understanding is that the backdoor turnaround is just turning a iv into a ii-V so they could get more harmonic motion in there! Coming at this from another direction: (way less simple but stay with me) negative harmony. In the key of C the "negative" of the V chord can be voiced as F-6. That minor cadence has just as much pull to the root as the dominant has. Comparing that sound to tensions on a dominant chord we have the 7th, b9, (the natural 4 - oddly), and the 5th. Add Eb (the 7th of F-) and you get the b13 along for the ride as well. My point in all of this - the backdoor turnaround has a specific vibe that comes from the minor plagal cadence - the negative side of dominant harmony - this is why it is called the BACKDOOR turnaround - its coming from the sub-dominant direction. IMO just play F-7 for the whole bar and there are some juicy tensions in there already. You don't necessarily even need to add any color notes to the Bb7 chord. That chord was just a interposed thing anyway to give a different root motion to the idea. Certain tensions (like the #11 - E on that Bb7) don't really work at all. F-7(13) for the whole bar. Simple. gets the job done. Defines the sound that the composer probably intended.
Your videos are leveling up my playing after years of staying relatively stagnant. Practicing and enjoying improvising more than ever now. Thank you so much and Happy New Year!
Hello and thx for this video. For me, th Backdoor 251 is simply using the 4-7 chords from the parallel scale and keeping the 1 chord from the original tonality but maybe I am wrong!
Hi Dave.. great content as usual…… just thought you should be aware that RUclips had unsubscribed me from your channel without my knowledge. this could be happening to a great many of your subscribers. In my case, I hadn’t had any notifications or seen any of your stuff for months, so I went to make sure notifications were on but found that I didn’t show as subscribed. Not sure what you can do about this, but thought you should be aware of what RUclips are doing.
Whoa - i’ll look into it. This is the first i’ve heard about something like this, and i really hope it doesn’t become a big problem - thanks for letting me know
Yes, @Ilya-hl8jx ! Both ! @JensLarsen is correct *and @DavePollack is correct in this ! (Read on for why!) 1) If we consider that some exemplary improvisers “reduce” (simplify) the thinking: some improvisers do not think of both chords of a ii -V but instead they reduce a ii - V to only thinking about the ii while “ignoring” the V (Pat Martino, et al.) … while other improvisers “ignore” the ii and only think about the V (Joe Pass, et al.). If we consider this, then we see that Jens Larsen is “considering” the ii of backdoor ii - V as the minor iv chord of the target/resolution 1 chord. Also in this, we can see that the bVII (of the target 1 chord) is also the V of the backdoor ii - V. Also, consider that the pitches *during a backdoor ii -V are fundamentally derived from the minor iv of the target 1 chord *Also, David Pollack is correct in “thinking” the backdoor ii - V *is also the ii- V from a target 1 major chord that lies a minor third above the actual resolution 1 chord of the backdoor ii - V in the song. Is this a lot to think about ? Yep ! That is why … (see #2 re: David Pollack) 2) also, note that David Pollack explicitly states that his/this video is a quick & cursory simplification and is in no way intended to be an exhaustive summary of backdoor ii - V and the harmonic, melodic, improvisational techniques & aesthetics. Mr. Pollack is offering us an alternative and “simpler” way of thinking and navigating the backdoor ii - V that alleviates the possible serpentine/rabbit hole/confusion of my #1 explication ! I hope this helps ! New Year’s hug 🫂 for all -Dr D
I have looked at a few videos on backdoor concept and all are explained and presented differently. If we have a 2, 5, 1, in Dm G7 CM7, am I right in also suggesting we can also replace 2 chord with 4, and replace 5 chord with flattened 7th of 1? So in this case, backdoor of Dm, G7, CM7 is Fm, Bb7, CM7.
Get the free PDF: ►www.davepollack.com/backdoor251
Thanks,your explanations are perfect.🎯🎯🎯🎯
I appreciate that! 🙏
I totally like the keeping it simple and IMO it gets even SIMPLER. The history of this sound is important. In early trad jazz music, and Tin Pan Alley music, Louis Armstrong's hot fives era for example, the iv - I cadence was a popular thing to use that evoked a nostalgic and wistful feeling. There were a lot of blues tunes that also used a progression for IV - iv - I - Tishomingo Blues comes to mind (although not a blues it has that language) as well as Take a Picture of the Moon which goes I-iv-I at the end of every A section.
When Parker led everyone into Bebop language the ii-V-I gained even more strength and popularity as cadence to define a key. My understanding is that the backdoor turnaround is just turning a iv into a ii-V so they could get more harmonic motion in there!
Coming at this from another direction: (way less simple but stay with me) negative harmony. In the key of C the "negative" of the V chord can be voiced as F-6. That minor cadence has just as much pull to the root as the dominant has. Comparing that sound to tensions on a dominant chord we have the 7th, b9, (the natural 4 - oddly), and the 5th. Add Eb (the 7th of F-) and you get the b13 along for the ride as well.
My point in all of this - the backdoor turnaround has a specific vibe that comes from the minor plagal cadence - the negative side of dominant harmony - this is why it is called the BACKDOOR turnaround - its coming from the sub-dominant direction.
IMO just play F-7 for the whole bar and there are some juicy tensions in there already. You don't necessarily even need to add any color notes to the Bb7 chord. That chord was just a interposed thing anyway to give a different root motion to the idea. Certain tensions (like the #11 - E on that Bb7) don't really work at all.
F-7(13) for the whole bar. Simple. gets the job done. Defines the sound that the composer probably intended.
Agree. Just transposing a line up a m3rd and then resolving is a bit too much of an exercise. Much easier to think minor 2-5, resolving to major 1.
Your videos are leveling up my playing after years of staying relatively stagnant. Practicing and enjoying improvising more than ever now. Thank you so much and Happy New Year!
Thanks so much for the kind words! I'm so glad you're enjoying them 🙏
Hello and thx for this video.
For me, th Backdoor 251 is simply using the 4-7 chords from the parallel scale and keeping the 1 chord from the original tonality but maybe I am wrong!
Good n clear well done
Hi Dave.. great content as usual…… just thought you should be aware that RUclips had unsubscribed me from your channel without my knowledge. this could be happening to a great many of your subscribers. In my case, I hadn’t had any notifications or seen any of your stuff for months, so I went to make sure notifications were on but found that I didn’t show as subscribed.
Not sure what you can do about this, but thought you should be aware of what RUclips are doing.
Whoa - i’ll look into it. This is the first i’ve heard about something like this, and i really hope it doesn’t become a big problem - thanks for letting me know
Jens Larsen says that bVII is substitute for iv
II-V relation
Yes, @Ilya-hl8jx !
Both !
@JensLarsen is correct
*and @DavePollack
is correct in this ! (Read on for why!)
1) If we consider that some exemplary improvisers “reduce” (simplify) the thinking: some improvisers do not think of both chords of a ii -V but instead they reduce a ii - V to only thinking about the ii while “ignoring” the V (Pat Martino, et al.) … while other improvisers “ignore” the ii and only think about the V (Joe Pass, et al.). If we consider this, then we see that Jens Larsen is “considering” the ii of backdoor ii - V as the minor iv chord of the target/resolution 1 chord. Also in this, we can see that the bVII (of the target 1 chord) is also the V of the backdoor ii - V. Also, consider that the pitches *during a backdoor ii -V are fundamentally derived from the minor iv of the target 1 chord
*Also, David Pollack is correct in “thinking” the backdoor ii - V
*is also the ii- V from a target 1 major chord that lies a minor third above the actual resolution 1 chord of the backdoor ii - V in the song.
Is this a lot to think about ?
Yep !
That is why … (see #2 re: David Pollack)
2) also, note that David Pollack explicitly states that his/this video is a quick & cursory simplification and is in no way intended to be an exhaustive summary of backdoor ii - V and the harmonic, melodic, improvisational techniques & aesthetics.
Mr. Pollack is offering us an alternative and “simpler” way of thinking and navigating the backdoor ii - V that alleviates the possible serpentine/rabbit hole/confusion of my #1 explication !
I hope this helps !
New Year’s hug 🫂 for all
-Dr D
Thanks Dave 🔥
You’re welcome!
Great explanation. Thanks! 😺
🙏
very nice: simple but workable!
That’s how i like to teach!
Best educator on the internet!!!!!
🙏
I have looked at a few videos on backdoor concept and all are explained and presented differently.
If we have a 2, 5, 1, in Dm G7 CM7, am I right in also suggesting we can also replace 2 chord with 4, and replace 5 chord with flattened 7th of 1?
So in this case, backdoor of Dm, G7, CM7 is Fm, Bb7, CM7.
Yes you got it!
First!
Second!
then you shall be last in the kingdom of heaven
😂
Sorry but I’m first. And as a middle aged white man on the internet, I’m never wrong.