Hardest bestest jazz songs. Old rare stuff. The hardest to appreciate jazz. U know it gets better people stop listening I want to know the best. So i can show my son the top of the jazz mountain.
Psst.. Don't tell anyone, the secret dominant scale is just the major bepop scale starting from the third degree. So if you play C maior/diminished, everthing is already embedded: C6 vs G7b9, Am7 vs E7b9. But please don't tell anyone🤫
I’ve been playing Donna Lee since the late ‘80s and can say that this is a very generous lesson. A really great player gave me a similar tip back then and I took it to heart. Actually, all of Bird’s tunes are goldmines - not just Donna Lee - but it is one of the bestest! Cheers
While Donna Lee is great for bebop and swing styles, there are many great pieces that teach us so much. The key, as you said, is internalizing the music. Memorize it, try and understand it, break it down into pieces, sing it, play it in different styles, tempos, and instruments. Also, intangibles like mood and emotion.. Think of yourself as an actor... What story, stories, is the piece trying to tell. Sometimes it takes years, even after learning the notes perfectly. Rhythm and what is idiomatic to your instrument. Personally I am a big fan of classical pieces. (Bach) for what they can teach us, although they are a bit difficult to decipher. Just learning a few of Bach's composition has been very helpful over the years.
@@ejtonefan for example, in Bach, bar 5 of the second cello suite prelude; or bar 8 of the first piano prelude in C major. Just in response to your question.
(Your implication, that major 7th chords were not the most common statement of a tonal center in the 1700s, is of course correct-just that the numerous examples show that Bach and others had that sound in their language.)
"Everything we need is already right here in front of us. It always has been. It was left to us by the masters. All we have to do is investigate". Hats off to u bro'. Investigation: 9/10ths of creativity...♨️
I've been playing Donna Lee, and trying to master it, for years now. Similar to Giant steps, or the Bach cello suites, Donna Lee is like a cut precious gem, revealing new and beautiful reflections of the world around it every time one touches it. Thanks for this wonderful video, Adam. And I also thought that was an A-flat instead of an A-natural. (Timestamp 20:50)
I'm so glad you said Donna Lee. I'm learning it bit by bit on piano right now, the intervals, tritones, dissonants et al are all there. I think it is a be bop masterpiece, and hard to believe this comes from about 70+ years ago.
Thinking all those modes and different exotic scales.. can be terrifying at fast tempos .. do the simple minor conversion of a dom 7th chord up a 5th or 1/2 step F# Mel min. (for #9 b9 ) . : F7 = C Melodic Min. / Bb7 = F Melodic Min. ..you still get the character of the chord plus up 1/2 step gives altered notes.Pat Martino has perfected this technique and he is super melodic. ....you are right ! practically everything you need to know about be-bop is in that tune!
For F7 : playing a melodic minor scale up a 5th from the root of F7 (C) actually gives you F Lydian Dominant, the 4th mode of C Melodic Minor. Side slipping up a half step (F#) gives you the following intervals relative of F7 = b9, #9, 11, 5, 5#, b7, major 7. That Major 7 down to b7 (the up a 1/2 step sub = F#) reminds me a little of the Dom7 bebop scale, so it's kind of like a super Locrian bebop scale or alt scale with the dom7 bebop scale chromatic note made by the major 7. ..So many different ways to look at the same thing in music, which is cool but also complexing at times.
Thanks, man…just….thanks! Put the piano aside for a while, for a few obvious reasons, and I’m just getting back into a daily practice routine. Your vibe and motivation and encouragement are very much appreciated. Peace.
Okay. So what a lot of folk miss on this tune is that the first phrase is a two beat displacement. Ever thought that it's odd that the melody starts on beat three? That's because it's displaced from beat one. The harmony is much more straightforward if you analyze it from this non-displaced perspective. In that context, the Ab chord is just the major scale with a chromatic passing tone between the sixth and fifth; the F7 is from the half/whole diminished; and the Bb7 is mixolydian using a D half diminished arpeggio. I think it makes much more sense when you look at it like that.
GREAT BREAKDOWN!! you are right. The masters left it ALL. It is such a wonderful gift to have you break it all down slowly. Also - you might want to point out that a tune like Donna Lee has a 'fundamental Inner Tune" --- at least this is how I hear it. When you hear the inner tune - which is actually not a complicated tune, then you can hear how the 'twists and turns' that Charlie articulates - Miuch like Shakespeare, explaining in poetry what he just said in prose, act as a 'super articulation of the inner melody. Yet essentially the inner melody is the fundamental key to the whole song. So BIRD, writes a tune while simultaneously taking us all around the block into a deeper understanding of the tune -- a BEBOP musical journey. (all this before he even solos !!!) Do you have a class that talks about this inner tune thing?
Hi Adam - just want to give you a big shout out for these lessons - recent find on my part and I play guitar and can still consume these and they are great! and the enthusiasm is equally enjoyable - keep on! and Thank you.
from Japan What a great lesson！I didn't think I could play Donna Lee,but now I can fairly well . Thanks.This is the best RUclips lesson in the history😎
Yes. Also very close to the C Phrygian Flat 4 (3rd mode of Ab Harmonic Major); George Russell would relate that to the Db Lydian Diminished (Db Melodic Minor + 4). Same notes, Only difference is that theses scales do not contain the note F; whereas the Barry Harris Ab Major 6th Diminished scale does. Not surprisingly, F i s the tonic target it resolves to in the case of the C7--->F. Really cool stuff.
Thank you, Sir! I have only listened to 5:05 minutes of your video thus far. I have been playing "at" Donna Lee since college and the Bb harmonic scale since High School. I have never thought of playing the over the F7 chord. I had to stop the video and sit down at my piano in my studio and try it out. I will definitely watch the remainder of your video. Cheers, ap
Although your lessons are way above my level of ability at present, the content and the way you explain it helps to strengthen my musical understanding and inspires me to push on. Thank you!
I think much more in terms of triads and arpeggios (and whatever passing or chromatic tones between them), but I must admit it is easier for me to target the "secret dom7 scale" tones by playing off a "blues scale" built on the 7th degree of the current Dom 7. F7 - play Eb blues scale gives you the 7th, root, b9, #9, 3rd, 4/11, 5th, b13 of that F7.
@ Sean Cushnie: If you're anything like I was years ago - and I am a bassist & guitarist, too, who started on bass just as you have - learning Charlie Parker tunes on guitar will challenge you to think about bebop and jazz differently, and the nature of how to play guitar differently. 'Bird tunes don't lay naturally on guitar in standard tuning, for the most part, at least that's my take on it - so you have to learn ways of finessing that. And since many of his tunes move out at pretty quick tempos, you'll have to learn that, too, at least if you want to play the head (melody) like he did. And then there's the solos.... Bottom line is that modern jazz is not a form of music centered around guitar; if anything it is centered around horns and horn players. So as I see it, the challenge is to make your guitar playing more horn-like.
@@seancushnie974 - Years ago, when jazz guitar great Wes Montgomery was asked about his practice habits, he humorously-quipped "I just open up the guitar case every once in a while and throw in a piece of meat!" and he was totally correct! The guitar is a total beast, a real monster to be tamed, and you have to be willing to pay the price to do it. If you want to play jazz at a high level on the instrument, you have to be damned near a virtuoso. I didn't say that; I think Mark Whitfield did or maybe Bobby Broom. In other words, hang tough.
I still remember the sense of personal victory I felt when I first really played the melody of that tune. Jaco's take inspired me years before, and even after getting it down in a preliminary sense, it is endlessly instructive :)
Amazing! The way I think about what to play over Secondary dominant chords in the simplest way possible (the least dissonant) is to take the parent scale they are in and only change the 3rd and 7th of the respective chord so that they form a dom7 chord. This gives you these scale possibilities (starting from the root of the chord): I7 = Mixolydian, II7 = Mixolydian, III7 = Phrygian Dominant, IV7 = Lydian Dominant, V7 = Mixolydian, VI7 = Mixolydian b6, VII7 = ?
The Secret Dominant Scale appears to be the 5th mode of the Bebop Harmonic Minor Scale. Bebop Harmonic Minor = 1-2-b3-4-5-b6-b7-7 & the 5th mode of Bebop Harmonic = 1-b2-b3-3-4-5-b6-b7. Though modes of Bebop scales aren't usually talked about much from what I've seen anyway.
Congratulations Arthur!!! That’s wonderful! I will miss you and your RUclips lessons, but I have a lifetime of practicing what you’ve shared= your book and all the members stuff. Best regards Bruce
I agree with you. All sorts of scales, lines chromatic neighbors. Lately I've been learning in all twelve keys, which has really opened up some fingering puzzles for me to figure out and get smooth in all keys. On tenor g flat concert is taking some time. I'll get it. Playing the lines forward and backward helps too.
I am so under the average player enthusiast its beyond ridiculous; thats my disclaimer. I like this because it shows an argument to what i've heard about modern music (classical and jazz in general) being "dissonant" and sort of un or non-resolved patterns that philosophically / spiritually lead to, &/or come from, chaos. This proves there really is beauty and form in the genre.
Thanks for some great ideas! The secret dominant scale can also be seen as two major triads a half step apart with one chromatic note thrown in. It's easier (for me anyway) to implement in a solo thinking about it like this, because I keep the actual chord being played in mind and I don't need to process as much information. You can also extend the idea from here because if you repeat the same again up a whole step you get into dimishished scale material.
I got an ad for alcohol and it had a really nice beat right after you said lets listen to it I was like I wonder where he is going with this not what I expected. So funny.
The early point you make about the harmonic minor is important. This came from the Swing Era especially on songs like Sweet Georgia Brown and I've Found a New Baby. Back in the old days, it ws common to teach a 2-5-1 as - play Cm over the Dm-G7, and play C major on the C major.
I’ve played preformed Donna Lee more than any other jazz song. I learned the head in 2 octaves. The upper octave was figured out by me and Sid Jacobs at MI. We used economy picking and were able to play it at blistering speeds.
There are many that believe Miles wrote this, including Miles. Having played these tunes for many years, it seems to me that there is some language that is not typical of Bird, although his vocab was huge. In fact the chromatics in the first lick sound more like Miles than Bird.
It's based on Ice Freezes Red , trumpet solo. The melody is based 80% on Fat Girl's solo. Miles wrote Donna Lee based on Fats crib. Miles could Not play this!! Each take is slower and slower until he does ok. Listen to Fats play Donna Lee live Metro nome All Stars broadcast. Fats is King of long phrases. Played a lot with Maggie.
@@ebjazz Not so fast. Check out "Tiny's Con," written by drummer/composer/arranger Tiny Kahn, and recorded by clarinetist Aaron Sachs in June 1946, almost a year before Bird recorded "Donna Lee." There's a definite similarity between the two tunes. ruclips.net/video/fayt31lQiDI/видео.html
@@davidjordan5175 Also search out 'Tiny's Con' recorded on June 8, 1946 by Aaron Sachs And The Manor Re Bops (Aaron Sachs, clarinet; Terry Gibbs, vibes; Gene DiNovi, piano; Clyde Lombardi, bass; Tiny Kahn, drums).
Thank you for this! I spend a lot of years playing sitar. Much to the chagrin of my traditionalist acquaintances, I often experimented with non-raga based music. I used the head for Donna Lee as an exercise on sitar. It was,,, well,,, you get the idea! LOL! You have inspired me to work on the piece again!
Music is mainly a sequence of harmony with melody. All you need is melody as there are many backtrack handouts there for you to practice and use. Melody could be complex but a drone helps a lot to understand dissonance or ornamentations
Nice work, Adam and one of the only accurate transcriptions of the head I've come across (not just the A natural but also the correct contour of the arpeggios). Another way of approaching the 'secret dominant' scale is to treat it as the relative major 6th diminished as defined by Barry Harris: Db, Eb, F, Gb, Ab, (A), Bb, C - the Bb harmonic minor scale and Db major scales, Bbm7 and Db6 chords and their related altered dominants, F7b9 and Ab7b9 all in one package!
My pops was raised in Detroit, played trumpet, and was a young bebop kid before hard bop revolution era and frequently played with Charles McPherson when they both lived in NYC during that '70s period and I used to go with my pops quite frequently to his gigs, the majority of which were clubs down in the West Village and to my recollection I never heard them play Donna Lee. Now, when my father co-lead a quintet with Charlie Rouse, I heard them play Donna Lee once and that was during the early mid '80s in Sweet Basil's. Of course it was required learning because Bird's music (and/or Miles with Bird) was required learning and performing for those cats in the mid 1950s, but it wasn't a tune that I ever heard performed live to my memory, but I was between 5 and 16 years old, so maybe they did play it when I wasn't there. When Jaco Pastorius' debut album came out, his version reignited interest in Donna Lee. I'm thinking one of the reason why that tune wasn't performed that often was because it was originally in Ab and maybe that key was not favored a lot bebop purist cats since blues and other bebop tunes or adaptations of standards tunes were played in F, Bb, C, maybe (?) and for me, Ab was a real pain in the butt to walk over when I was learning. But, I think this video is a really good idea and I'm going to check it out because one can always learn, as I am not a jazz player.
Seeing the music and listening makes one realize the immediate connections to the etudes of Chopin. I am more a devotee of the melodious tunes of Davis and Coltrane, the bebop of Parker being more technically profuse but somewhat less accessible than the birth of cool. I have always been fascinated with Coltrane's veneration for Roger's, "My Favorite Things." Without research and off the top, I believe a Tokyo live recording, sadly one of his last, had an 18 minute upright bass solo improvisation into the number which must have ended up in toto being well over thirty minutes. I know that theoretically Coltrane's Favorite Things may have been technically wanting, but what an improvisational masterpiece.
awh man, nothing is theoretically wanting in coltrane's recording. check out some info on the math behind his circle of fifths drawing he was a complete visionary for modern theory. coltrane just had a much more abstract aspect of theory to focus on.
An alternative way to see the "secret" dominant scale is in terms of Barry Harris's family: in the case of F7 it's a Ab7 mixo (dom7 scale a min3 above), with added b9 (A). This has the advantage of being able to use half-step rules, the arpeggios on 3,5,7 and so on while keeping important notes on the beat, better than thinking in Bb harm min I think. Also the switch from Ab maj to Ab7 is a lot easier than to Bb harm min imho. In fact it's the backdoor dominant scale (VII7=Ab7) with added note of Bb maj (I). The same pitch collection can also be used over A dim chord (rootless F7b9), especially if it resolves to Bb maj.
I don't have enough words to thank you for this invaluable lesson! I'll work hard to afford the money to have regular lessons with you! You are an awesome teacher! Thank you from Brazil!
This a very cool lesson. For years I struggled with plying half/whole dim over the dominant. everyone shreds diminished on the dominant chord. It start to sound “too out for too long” and I struggled making dim sound good. Also it’s become too…almost cliché. So first I made a b9 arpeggio and then added #9. I use the dominant mode of harmonic minor or from melodic minor depending on the melody/vibe. I play slow and half-whole diminished can work but these other options sound better to me in some situations. Like on a dom 7#9#5 the half/whole doesn’t have the #5 but the altered scale from melodic minor does…I think. Everyone plays half-whole over the V on autumn leaves but the dormant mode from harmonic minor sounds better to me or using the arpeggio….like dom 7 arpeggio and add the b9 and even #9 does sound good to me. Great lesson man!
Miles Davis actually definitely wrote “Donna Lee” @OpenStudio (compare it his other tunes of the time like “Sippin’ At Bells”- very similar, it is like a bebop ‘étude’. It was also highly influenced by Fats Navarro’s solo on the tune “Ice Freezes Red”)
Agree. The numbers on the famous Miles-led Savoy session (all formally credited to him) have a straight-ahead quality of simply blowing through the changes in an extremely creative harmonic way (for example, Half Nelson/Lady Bird which is a materpiece by any standard). Bird's Savoy compositions are far more melodic and (for the most part) involve the most distinctive and memorable phrasing units that one can recall after a single hearing (e.g. Billie's Bounce, Now's The Time, Parker's Mood). Only the most talented ears can recall the "melody" of Donna Lee after a single listen.
Yes, Miles wrote it. Even Parker confirmed that. When Gil Evans approached him to ask for a lead sheet because he wanted to arrange it for Claude Thornhill’s orchestra, Parker told him “go ask Miles, it’s his tune”. And that’s how Miles and Evans met. Miles said yes, on the condition Evans would share with him his score for his “Robin’s Nest” arrangement for Thornhill’s orchestra.
Donna Lee was written by Miles Davis. That takes nothing away from your wonderful video. "Although for generations “Donna Lee” has been credited to Charlie Parker, it was actually a Miles Davis composition based on the chord changes to “Indiana.” The authorship of the tune came to light when Gil Evans (who later arranged some of Davis’ most successful albums) sought permission from Parker to arrange the song for Claude Thornhill’s Orchestra. Parker referred him to Davis who gave Evans the go-ahead. This information is confirmed by several sources including Brian Priestley’s Chasin’ the Bird: The Life and Legacy of Charlie Parker and Stephanie Stein Crease’s Gil Evans: Out of the Cool. In Milestones: The Music and Times of Miles Davis author J. K. Chambers relates a comment by Med Flory, a saxophonist who arranged a lot of Parker material for the group Supersax. His comments, made during a blindfold test at Down Beat, came before Evans’ discovery. When Flory heard “Donna Lee” he said, “It doesn’t sound like a Parker chart. It sounds like Miles wrote it.” Priestley goes on to say, “The fact that its opening idea has been described as deriving from a Fats Navarro solo (on Ice Freezes Red, a version of the same chord sequence) at least underlines that this is much more of a trumpeter’s phrase than a saxophonist’s, especially played at this pitch.” In Priestley’s notes at the end of the book he offers an explanation for the confusion of authorship. “James Patrick demonstrated (notes to Savoy S5J5500) that Charlie’s contracts usually provided for the record company to purchase rights to all the original compositions he recorded. Thus, if one happened to be written by a sideman, it was still likely to be credited to the bandleader.”
Really, IS it scholarly consensus that Miles wrote Donna Lee? I don't know many scholars who would support that claim. I mean, all signs point to him being full of hot air. It's very typical of Parker's style, even more so when you consider that it was written off the changes of another tune, something he did a lot. Something Miles did a lot was claim credit for songs he didn't write, like Blue in Green, etc. All the evidence for Miles writing it is his word, and his word isn't worth much.Havic5 06:25, 15 July 2007 (UTC). Source: Wikipedia, discussion.
@@carlosschvartzman8374 “Donna Lee” was first recorded by the Charlie Parker All-Stars on May 8, 1947, with Charlie Parker on alto sax, Miles Davis on trumpet, Bud Powell on piano, Tommy Potter on bass and Max Roach on drums. While Charlie Parker was originally credited as the composer, his contracts usually called “for the record company to purchase rights to all the original compositions he recorded. Thus, if one happened to be written by a sideman, it was still likely to be credited to the bandleader.” In 1947 Gil Evans called Charlie Parker for permission to arrange the song for the Claude Thornhill Orchestra and was referred to Davis, who gave permission. This is, therefore, Davis’ first recorded composition. Based on chord changes to the song “Indiana” by James Hanley, this A-flat major composition features extremely rapid successions of four-note groups over each change with rising and falling arpeggios.
The key to playing mode V of Bb harm. min over the F7 in measure 2 is making sure that the note "Bb" resolves logically to the "A" (as, of course, Parker does in the head.)
The scale in bar 31. 3 flat 9 1 7 going in sequence is magic. I played that scale a million times over 30 years but never understood it. Until one day I was studying D. Lee and boom, there it was.
I love this. I grew up on Lee Konitz/Lennie Tristano/Warne Marsh. As much as I love their extrapolation on Pres, Roy Eldridge, Fats, Bud, Bird, I feel Lennie never got fully on top of bebop (he had his views). Lennie had his one remarkable melodic thing going. But your video has helped me.
So the secret dominant scale is the Bb harmonic minor scale with the addition of the #9 note of the current F7 chord, which you are nevertheless naming as Ab instead of G#, so you've nominally turned it into a minor third, which is the enharmonic equivalent but theoretically different. Got it!
thank you for this. he kept saying "sharp 9" and i didnt know what he was talking about. Isn't the Bb harmonic minor scale with a sharp 9 just the Bb natural minor scale?
@@stephenbellotti2036 it's the Bb harmonic minor scale with the addition of an Ab, which ends up being the #9 on the F7 chord. So, Bb C Db Eb F Gb Ab A
@@stephenbellotti2036he’s using bothe the Ab and A natural. Scale nomenclature caa add be a bit heady. ( theory) I just look at all as available notes to pick from over different chords
Love it - thanks for the lesson and PDF! Learned the head and most of the solos on this recording for my May Parker study. Having this tutorial to pick out a couple of the major concepts at play is going to help immensely with building my own improvisations next.
I remember as a young pianist I once played that “secret dominant scale” and thought I invented it lol. Then I heard bird on this exact recording and felt really bad for the next few weeks
What is being implied on the F7 (I believe) is the HW diminished scale, more so than the relative harmonic minor. Also the linear harmonic rhythm is different than the chords as commonly written on beat 1 for the first 4 bars. The F7 doesn't begin until beat 3 of the second bar and the Bb7 doesn't begin until beat 3 of the third bar.
Thanks! Love the name you gave to that scale - "secret dominant". I've been playing and teaching that scale for years as one of the best things to play over a dominant of a minor chord, but have been surprised that no one mentions it in any jazz theory book. I finally found it in Dan Greenblatt's excellent "Minor is Major" (he calls it "Harmonic Bebop"). I love how it has the same notes as the relative major's "major bebop scale" (or Barry Harris's dim 6th scale).
I always called it an “octatonic harmonic minor”, because of an addition of major 6th. So, the scale of octatonic Bb harmonic minor would actually have (in notation) both 6ths :minor 6 Gb, and major 6 G#. That directly results in F7(#9) dominant, with G# being that sharp 9 in F7. That’s how Miles Davis treated it, so did Oscar Peterson, John Coltrane etc.
@6:11, you are missing the E natural to make your line flow...all your downbeats (chord tones) are landing in the wrong spots on that line... maybe you could factor in that maj. 7th semitone (i.e E nat. on a F7 - which is part of the normal descending bebop dominant scale), as well as the fact some of these scales are different going up relative to down. e.g. this line (with the added maj. 7th) is really only ever played descending. cheers, keep up the good work!
My take on the "secret scale": bottom tetrachord is the altered dominate; top is a minor tetrachord with 11 and 5, not whole-tone like altered dominate including a b5. Just goes to show that like Joe Abercrombie humorously quipped "the chromatic scale fits every dominate chord".
Ok. Great work and I appreciate the work it takes to do these vids. That said, I retract the previous post. You are right about what was played on that recording. However it's not what is played by most players and the books have a different transcription. Some differences: Bar 6, note 6 is a G nat, not an E nat. The chord becomes an Eb7+5 resolving to an Ab major. It's a bebop thing for sure and heightens the tension. Again in bar 8 notes 5 (Enat) & 6 (C) make that an Ab7+5. The choice of chords in the head would be up to the pianist and bassist. My guess is the RS was told it's on the changes of "Indiana" so that would be what they played. Bar 16, 4th note's an Eb. Bar 21, 4th note is an A natural in this recording but many such as Clifford Brown play an Ab . The C7 is setting up F minor, the key of the section to come. I have never seen a chart that has any of those above notes in it. I wonder why. Also if this is the first reading of the tune Bird and or Miles may have changed it in later recordings or shows taped by bootleggers or radio. The tune is a line (or contra-fact for any academics out there) on (Back Home Again in) Indiana. The F minor section, bars 21-27 is completely F minor in both tunes and is played that way by dyed in the wool beboppers. Also no one know for sure whether Bird or Miles wrote it. Maybe even Dizzy. Keep up the good work. Thanks.
Just a note: although Donna Lee has been traditionally credited to Bird, it seemingly was actually written by Miles (named after a woman bass player who was on the scene at the time). This makes a lot of sense to me in terms of Miles in that period being a serious student of the music, studying classical scores at Julliard in the day and playing with Bird at night, trying to decode that language. My theory is that Miles wrote it in exactly the spirit of what you're talking about, as a kind of bebop etude.
I'm a saxophone player. But I played trumpet a little so I could teach some students. I played Donna Lee on trumpet, and anyone who ever plays this head on the trumpet would tell you that it lays under 'trumpet' fingers very naturally. Not to mention that I lived next door to max Roach in the 80's, and he corroborated this fact.
I’ve heard a bunch of times that there’s some dispute, whether or not Charlie Parker actually wrote this one. I’ve heard some people say that Miles Davis wrote it. I have no idea whether there’s any truth to that or how they arrived at that conclusion.
On the 13th measure over a Bb7 if the 6th note isn't an Ab then the line ceases to be functional. You just can't keep hammering on the Major 7 over a dominant chord. Anyway by measure 14 I've changed that 13th chord to a Bbalt7 so Dimwt scale in 14. Works for me.
@@EllieMcEla Ooops, sorry, it's C#Harmonic Major on a F7! It's like a C# major scale but with a b6 (or a C# harmonic minor with a maj 3rd). An alternative from the usual scales (diminished, altered, phrygian#3...) on a dominant b9...
You wanna know how to play melodic on this tune? Learn an old tune called (Back Home Again In) INDIANA. The chords are EASY. Play on that first before you do the Donna Lee version, which is the Indiana chords but with Parker's melody and played twice as fast. See....people get hung up on Donna Lee because they think THE MELODY is THE TUNE...which it is. But the problem is folks think the chord changes are harder than what they really are (THEY'RE NOT!) and they gotta play licks like Charlie Parker (you don't need to do that). The end result is folks playing this like Charlie Parker or some like some uber be-bop dude and EVERYONE ENDS UP SOUNDING THE SAME. It's like folks are on a mission to outdo Charlie Parker every time they play. It's stupid. Wanna learn how to play on this tune? Learn to play Indiana and then you won't ever have to deal with with Bird's version ever. The hardest thing about Donna Lee IS THE MELODY. That's all. If you learn the melody and learn how to play it FAST (there are tricks on how to make that work), then you will be 'legit' in some circles (which is a load of crap, btw...). Otherwise, enjoy the easy like baby food changes on an old pop tune like Indiana. Do this and you won't be stigmatized like the rest of us on this stupid Donna Lee song. Keep up the good work, guys.
They both outline F7, with the passing tones used as leading tones (Gb to F, Ab to A, D to Eb, except for the Bb which he decides to keep from the key, a whole step from C). It’s an altered diminished scale. Regardless it’s an F7 arpeggio with leading tones. Voice leading.
Have a suggestion for a tune you'd like me to break down? Let me know - Adam
Time Remembered - Bill Evans
Hardest bestest jazz songs. Old rare stuff. The hardest to appreciate jazz. U know it gets better people stop listening I want to know the best. So i can show my son the top of the jazz mountain.
Stablemates please!
Bird was a genius period.
Bill Evans Very Early
Been working on Donna Lee for years. It’s become my life’s work because I’m a slow learner. Still love it.
Psst.. Don't tell anyone, the secret dominant scale is just the major bepop scale starting from the third degree. So if you play C maior/diminished, everthing is already embedded: C6 vs G7b9, Am7 vs E7b9. But please don't tell anyone🤫
My lips are sealed buddy
Bepop, berock, bemetal 🤭
I don't understand, explain please
@@sijanpun Phrygian bebop
Superb pedagogic style. I’ve taken so much from this.
I’ve been playing Donna Lee since the late ‘80s and can say that this is a very generous lesson. A really great player gave me a similar tip back then and I took it to heart. Actually, all of Bird’s tunes are goldmines - not just Donna Lee - but it is one of the bestest! Cheers
While Donna Lee is great for bebop and swing styles, there are many great pieces that teach us so much. The key, as you said, is internalizing the music. Memorize it, try and understand it, break it down into pieces, sing it, play it in different styles, tempos, and instruments. Also, intangibles like mood and emotion.. Think of yourself as an actor... What story, stories, is the piece trying to tell. Sometimes it takes years, even after learning the notes perfectly. Rhythm and what is idiomatic to your instrument. Personally I am a big fan of classical pieces. (Bach) for what they can teach us, although they are a bit difficult to decipher. Just learning a few of Bach's composition has been very helpful over the years.
Early Classical? Where are the major 7 chords necessary in jazz?
@@ejtonefan for example, in Bach, bar 5 of the second cello suite prelude; or bar 8 of the first piano prelude in C major. Just in response to your question.
(Your implication, that major 7th chords were not the most common statement of a tonal center in the 1700s, is of course correct-just that the numerous examples show that Bach and others had that sound in their language.)
There is sooooooo much Bach in Bird!!!!
@@gabrielbotsford791 I THOUGHT it tasted funny!!
"Everything we need is already right here in front of us. It always has been. It was left to us by the masters. All we have to do is investigate". Hats off to u bro'. Investigation: 9/10ths of creativity...♨️
yeah, it's right there on the instrument. funny how right after saying that inspiring statement he's like, here's all this other shit you need
I've been playing Donna Lee, and trying to master it, for years now. Similar to Giant steps, or the Bach cello suites, Donna Lee is like a cut precious gem, revealing new and beautiful reflections of the world around it every time one touches it. Thanks for this wonderful video, Adam. And I also thought that was an A-flat instead of an A-natural. (Timestamp 20:50)
I'm so glad you said Donna Lee. I'm learning it bit by bit on piano right now, the intervals, tritones, dissonants et al are all there. I think it is a be bop masterpiece, and hard to believe this comes from about 70+ years ago.
Thinking all those modes and different exotic scales.. can be terrifying at fast tempos .. do the simple minor conversion of a dom 7th chord up a 5th or 1/2 step F# Mel min. (for #9 b9 ) . : F7 = C Melodic Min. / Bb7 = F Melodic Min. ..you still get the character of the chord plus up 1/2 step gives altered notes.Pat Martino has perfected this technique and he is super melodic. ....you are right ! practically everything you need to know about be-bop is in that tune!
do you have videos on these techniques. coming from sheet music i can read and play but i yearn to understand what's being played
@@sprenzy7936 Here you go … slow it down ruclips.net/video/Bw8kKAKla_A/видео.html
For F7 : playing a melodic minor scale up a 5th from the root of F7 (C) actually gives you F Lydian Dominant, the 4th mode of C Melodic Minor. Side slipping up a half step (F#) gives you the following intervals relative of F7 = b9, #9, 11, 5, 5#, b7, major 7. That Major 7 down to b7 (the up a 1/2 step sub = F#) reminds me a little of the Dom7 bebop scale, so it's kind of like a super Locrian bebop scale or alt scale with the dom7 bebop scale chromatic note made by the major 7. ..So many different ways to look at the same thing in music, which is cool but also complexing at times.
Because the greats don't think when they play... thinking is for practice.
Thanks, man…just….thanks! Put the piano aside for a while, for a few obvious reasons, and I’m just getting back into a daily practice routine. Your vibe and motivation and encouragement are very much appreciated. Peace.
Okay. So what a lot of folk miss on this tune is that the first phrase is a two beat displacement. Ever thought that it's odd that the melody starts on beat three? That's because it's displaced from beat one. The harmony is much more straightforward if you analyze it from this non-displaced perspective. In that context, the Ab chord is just the major scale with a chromatic passing tone between the sixth and fifth; the F7 is from the half/whole diminished; and the Bb7 is mixolydian using a D half diminished arpeggio. I think it makes much more sense when you look at it like that.
GREAT BREAKDOWN!! you are right. The masters left it ALL. It is such a wonderful gift to have you break it all down slowly. Also - you might want to point out that a tune like Donna Lee has a 'fundamental Inner Tune" --- at least this is how I hear it. When you hear the inner tune - which is actually not a complicated tune, then you can hear how the 'twists and turns' that Charlie articulates - Miuch like Shakespeare, explaining in poetry what he just said in prose, act as a 'super articulation of the inner melody. Yet essentially the inner melody is the fundamental key to the whole song. So BIRD, writes a tune while simultaneously taking us all around the block into a deeper understanding of the tune -- a BEBOP musical journey. (all this before he even solos !!!) Do you have a class that talks about this inner tune thing?
Hi Adam - just want to give you a big shout out for these lessons - recent find on my part and I play guitar and can still consume these and they are great! and the enthusiasm is equally enjoyable - keep on! and Thank you.
from Japan
What a great lesson！I didn't think I could play Donna Lee,but now I can fairly well . Thanks.This is the best RUclips lesson in the history😎
Always used to say that the head to DL was like a three year jazz theory course. Still incorporating ideas from DL. Thanks for exploring this.
You can see this scale as the 3rd mode of “Barry Harris diminished scale”, so for a C7, a Ab major with its added b13
Great find!!
Yes. Also very close to the C Phrygian Flat 4 (3rd mode of Ab Harmonic Major); George Russell would relate that to the Db Lydian Diminished (Db Melodic Minor + 4). Same notes, Only difference is that theses scales do not contain the note F; whereas the Barry Harris Ab Major 6th Diminished scale does. Not surprisingly, F i s the tonic target it resolves to in the case of the C7--->F. Really cool stuff.
Thank you Florent!! Now I can wrap my head around this “secret scale!”
I believe this scale was created for this reason, to integrate the III7
Thank you, Sir! I have only listened to 5:05 minutes of your video thus far. I have been playing "at" Donna Lee since college and the Bb harmonic scale since High School. I have never thought of playing the over the F7 chord. I had to stop the video and sit down at my piano in my studio and try it out. I will definitely watch the remainder of your video. Cheers, ap
Although your lessons are way above my level of ability at present, the content and the way you explain it helps to strengthen my musical understanding and inspires me to push on. Thank you!
I love that this happens to sit in a pretty good place for my singing voice, scatting it is a lot of fun. It's a great sight reading exercise as well.
I think much more in terms of triads and arpeggios (and whatever passing or chromatic tones between them), but I must admit it is easier for me to target the "secret dom7 scale" tones by playing off a "blues scale" built on the 7th degree of the current Dom 7.
F7 - play Eb blues scale gives you the 7th, root, b9, #9, 3rd, 4/11, 5th, b13 of that F7.
Love this channel. As a bassist, and now playing guitar, this is a little outside my ability, but I get most of it and it’s very educational
@ Sean Cushnie: If you're anything like I was years ago - and I am a bassist & guitarist, too, who started on bass just as you have - learning Charlie Parker tunes on guitar will challenge you to think about bebop and jazz differently, and the nature of how to play guitar differently. 'Bird tunes don't lay naturally on guitar in standard tuning, for the most part, at least that's my take on it - so you have to learn ways of finessing that. And since many of his tunes move out at pretty quick tempos, you'll have to learn that, too, at least if you want to play the head (melody) like he did. And then there's the solos....
Bottom line is that modern jazz is not a form of music centered around guitar; if anything it is centered around horns and horn players. So as I see it, the challenge is to make your guitar playing more horn-like.
@@GeorgiaBoy1961 thank you for your inspiring reply. I will dig in deeper
@@seancushnie974 - Years ago, when jazz guitar great Wes Montgomery was asked about his practice habits, he humorously-quipped "I just open up the guitar case every once in a while and throw in a piece of meat!" and he was totally correct! The guitar is a total beast, a real monster to be tamed, and you have to be willing to pay the price to do it. If you want to play jazz at a high level on the instrument, you have to be damned near a virtuoso. I didn't say that; I think Mark Whitfield did or maybe Bobby Broom. In other words, hang tough.
I've yet (years later still) to finish getting Donna Lee under my piano fingers fully. This just motivated my weekend plans.
I still remember the sense of personal victory I felt when I first really played the melody of that tune. Jaco's take inspired me years before, and even after getting it down in a preliminary sense, it is endlessly instructive :)
@@davepuxley7387 agreed because then go and learn it in all 12 keys. There is tremendous learning when practicing in other keys for one song.
@@justin.johnson still working on that! I totally agree
Amazing!
The way I think about what to play over Secondary dominant chords in the simplest way possible (the least dissonant) is to take the parent scale they are in and only change the 3rd and 7th of the respective chord so that they form a dom7 chord. This gives you these scale possibilities (starting from the root of the chord): I7 = Mixolydian, II7 = Mixolydian, III7 = Phrygian Dominant, IV7 = Lydian Dominant, V7 = Mixolydian, VI7 = Mixolydian b6, VII7 = ?
I just had to learn this song for our jazz band “final” at school this past semester! So. Many. Notes.
The Secret Dominant Scale appears to be the 5th mode of the Bebop Harmonic Minor Scale. Bebop Harmonic Minor = 1-2-b3-4-5-b6-b7-7 & the 5th mode of Bebop Harmonic = 1-b2-b3-3-4-5-b6-b7. Though modes of Bebop scales aren't usually talked about much from what I've seen anyway.
Congratulations Arthur!!! That’s wonderful! I will miss you and your RUclips lessons, but I have a lifetime of practicing what you’ve shared= your book and all the members stuff.
Best regards
Bruce
Sorry sent to wrong instructor. But I do learn from what to do on open studio. So thank you.
Bruce
I agree with you. All sorts of scales, lines chromatic neighbors. Lately I've been learning in all twelve keys, which has really opened up some fingering puzzles for me to figure out and get smooth in all keys. On tenor g flat concert is taking some time. I'll get it. Playing the lines forward and backward helps too.
I am so under the average player enthusiast its beyond ridiculous; thats my disclaimer. I like this because it shows an argument to what i've heard about modern music (classical and jazz in general) being "dissonant" and sort of un or non-resolved patterns that philosophically / spiritually lead to, &/or come from, chaos. This proves there really is beauty and form in the genre.
Thanks for some great ideas! The secret dominant scale can also be seen as two major triads a half step apart with one chromatic note thrown in. It's easier (for me anyway) to implement in a solo thinking about it like this, because I keep the actual chord being played in mind and I don't need to process as much information. You can also extend the idea from here because if you repeat the same again up a whole step you get into dimishished scale material.
I got an ad for alcohol and it had a really nice beat right after you said lets listen to it I was like I wonder where he is going with this not what I expected. So funny.
The early point you make about the harmonic minor is important. This came from the Swing Era especially on songs like Sweet Georgia Brown and I've Found a New Baby. Back in the old days, it ws common to teach a 2-5-1 as - play Cm over the Dm-G7, and play C major on the C major.
This is in depth teaching! Thank you Adam!
I’ve played preformed Donna Lee more than any other jazz song. I learned the head in 2 octaves. The upper octave was figured out by me and Sid Jacobs at MI. We used economy picking and were able to play it at blistering speeds.
There are many that believe Miles wrote this, including Miles. Having played these tunes for many years, it seems to me that there is some language that is not typical of Bird, although his vocab was huge. In fact the chromatics in the first lick sound more like Miles than Bird.
It's based on Ice Freezes Red , trumpet solo. The melody is based 80% on Fat Girl's solo. Miles wrote Donna Lee based on Fats crib. Miles could Not play this!! Each take is slower and slower until he does ok. Listen to Fats play Donna Lee live Metro nome All Stars broadcast. Fats is King of long phrases. Played a lot with Maggie.
@@davidjordan5175 Wow! Thanks for the tip. Seems right to me.
@@ebjazz Not so fast. Check out "Tiny's Con," written by drummer/composer/arranger Tiny Kahn, and recorded by clarinetist Aaron Sachs in June 1946, almost a year before Bird recorded "Donna Lee." There's a definite similarity between the two tunes. ruclips.net/video/fayt31lQiDI/видео.html
I agree with you. Parker's writing is more about rhythm surprises than long linear phrases.
@@davidjordan5175 Also search out 'Tiny's Con' recorded on June 8, 1946 by Aaron Sachs And The Manor Re Bops (Aaron Sachs, clarinet; Terry Gibbs, vibes; Gene DiNovi, piano; Clyde Lombardi, bass; Tiny Kahn, drums).
This melody is perfect for sight reading and learning to read. Thanks so much for this tutorial!
Thank you for this!
I spend a lot of years playing sitar. Much to the chagrin of my traditionalist acquaintances, I often experimented with non-raga based music. I used the head for Donna Lee as an exercise on sitar. It was,,, well,,, you get the idea! LOL!
You have inspired me to work on the piece again!
Such a valuable lesson! I learned so much as a listener (don't play the sax).
My two music buddies challenged me to learn this. So I’m off to the woodshed! Great work!
Music is mainly a sequence of harmony with melody. All you need is melody as there are many backtrack handouts there for you to practice and use. Melody could be complex but a drone helps a lot to understand dissonance or ornamentations
What’s a drone. Single chord?
Fair enough, that WAS a great lesson; subscribed !
This is so useful - thank you. Please 'complete' the set and do similar for diminished and chromatics! Thanks again!
Cool I was waiting for you guys to post this session I've been looking for it
I’m back home again in Indiana! Russel Webster here always said remember the melody- one can start there
Nice work, Adam and one of the only accurate transcriptions of the head I've come across (not just the A natural but also the correct contour of the arpeggios). Another way of approaching the 'secret dominant' scale is to treat it as the relative major 6th diminished as defined by Barry Harris: Db, Eb, F, Gb, Ab, (A), Bb, C - the Bb harmonic minor scale and Db major scales, Bbm7 and Db6 chords and their related altered dominants, F7b9 and Ab7b9 all in one package!
My pops was raised in Detroit, played trumpet, and was a young bebop kid before hard bop revolution era and frequently played with Charles McPherson when they both lived in NYC during that '70s period and I used to go with my pops quite frequently to his gigs, the majority of which were clubs down in the West Village and to my recollection I never heard them play Donna Lee. Now, when my father co-lead a quintet with Charlie Rouse, I heard them play Donna Lee once and that was during the early mid '80s in Sweet Basil's. Of course it was required learning because Bird's music (and/or Miles with Bird) was required learning and performing for those cats in the mid 1950s, but it wasn't a tune that I ever heard performed live to my memory, but I was between 5 and 16 years old, so maybe they did play it when I wasn't there. When Jaco Pastorius' debut album came out, his version reignited interest in Donna Lee. I'm thinking one of the reason why that tune wasn't performed that often was because it was originally in Ab and maybe that key was not favored a lot bebop purist cats since blues and other bebop tunes or adaptations of standards tunes were played in F, Bb, C, maybe (?) and for me, Ab was a real pain in the butt to walk over when I was learning. But, I think this video is a really good idea and I'm going to check it out because one can always learn, as I am not a jazz player.
Melody from scales,that's my eternal journey!
so Niice..an intelligent comment section and, great session/lesson/analysis/presentation ! thank you
Seeing the music and listening makes one realize the immediate connections to the etudes of Chopin. I am more a devotee of the melodious tunes of Davis and Coltrane, the bebop of Parker being more technically profuse but somewhat less accessible than the birth of cool. I have always been fascinated with Coltrane's veneration for Roger's, "My Favorite Things." Without research and off the top, I believe a Tokyo live recording, sadly one of his last, had an 18 minute upright bass solo improvisation into the number which must have ended up in toto being well over thirty minutes. I know that theoretically Coltrane's Favorite Things may have been technically wanting, but what an improvisational masterpiece.
awh man, nothing is theoretically wanting in coltrane's recording. check out some info on the math behind his circle of fifths drawing he was a complete visionary for modern theory. coltrane just had a much more abstract aspect of theory to focus on.
There's that one chromatic part that makes me think of the Conan Show theme. Love it!
Charlie Parker was a big fan of the Conan theme song.
It's interesting to watch people make technical sense of things that just come naturally to me.
Sarcasm, love it.
…said Charles Parker!
One of the best lessons that I’ve ever 😮
That secret dominant works beautifully on the V in a minor blues. Thanks for the tip.
An alternative way to see the "secret" dominant scale is in terms of Barry Harris's family: in the case of F7 it's a Ab7 mixo (dom7 scale a min3 above), with added b9 (A). This has the advantage of being able to use half-step rules, the arpeggios on 3,5,7 and so on while keeping important notes on the beat, better than thinking in Bb harm min I think. Also the switch from Ab maj to Ab7 is a lot easier than to Bb harm min imho. In fact it's the backdoor dominant scale (VII7=Ab7) with added note of Bb maj (I). The same pitch collection can also be used over A dim chord (rootless F7b9), especially if it resolves to Bb maj.
I don't have enough words to thank you for this invaluable lesson! I'll work hard to afford the money to have regular lessons with you! You are an awesome teacher!
Thank you from Brazil!
This a very cool lesson. For years I struggled with plying half/whole dim
over the dominant. everyone shreds diminished on the dominant chord. It start to sound “too out for too long” and I struggled making dim sound good. Also it’s become too…almost cliché. So first I made a b9 arpeggio and then added #9. I use the dominant mode of harmonic minor or from melodic minor depending on the melody/vibe. I play slow and half-whole diminished can work but these other options sound better to me in some
situations. Like on a dom 7#9#5 the half/whole doesn’t have the #5 but the altered scale from melodic minor does…I think. Everyone plays half-whole over the V on autumn leaves but the dormant mode from harmonic minor sounds better to me or using the arpeggio….like dom 7 arpeggio and add the b9 and even #9 does sound good to me. Great lesson man!
I love this channel. Thank you Adam.
You didn't have to do the *whole thing* again, but we appreciate it!
You are my favorite teacher on piano right now, dude. This was super awesome
A favorite teacher of mine as well and I play guitar and trombone.
I love the A natural that you pointed out in the other video about the Real Book. You're right, it's SO much better this way.
"CONFIRMATION" - the perfect Charlie Parker tune......
Extremely lucid lesson. You are amazing! Thank you!!!
Miles Davis actually definitely wrote “Donna Lee” @OpenStudio (compare it his other tunes of the time like “Sippin’ At Bells”- very similar, it is like a bebop ‘étude’. It was also highly influenced by Fats Navarro’s solo on the tune “Ice Freezes Red”)
Agree. The numbers on the famous Miles-led Savoy session (all formally credited to him) have a straight-ahead quality of simply blowing through the changes in an extremely creative harmonic way (for example, Half Nelson/Lady Bird which is a materpiece by any standard). Bird's Savoy compositions are far more melodic and (for the most part) involve the most distinctive and memorable phrasing units that one can recall after a single hearing (e.g. Billie's Bounce, Now's The Time, Parker's Mood). Only the most talented ears can recall the "melody" of Donna Lee after a single listen.
Yes, Miles wrote it. Even Parker confirmed that. When Gil Evans approached him to ask for a lead sheet because he wanted to arrange it for Claude Thornhill’s orchestra, Parker told him “go ask Miles, it’s his tune”. And that’s how Miles and Evans met. Miles said yes, on the condition Evans would share with him his score for his “Robin’s Nest” arrangement for Thornhill’s orchestra.
Donna Lee was written by Miles Davis. That takes nothing away from your wonderful video.
"Although for generations “Donna Lee” has been credited to Charlie Parker, it was actually a Miles Davis composition based on the chord changes to “Indiana.” The authorship of the tune came to light when Gil Evans (who later arranged some of Davis’ most successful albums) sought permission from Parker to arrange the song for Claude Thornhill’s Orchestra. Parker referred him to Davis who gave Evans the go-ahead.
This information is confirmed by several sources including Brian Priestley’s Chasin’ the Bird: The Life and Legacy of Charlie Parker and Stephanie Stein Crease’s Gil Evans: Out of the Cool. In Milestones: The Music and Times of Miles Davis author J. K. Chambers relates a comment by Med Flory, a saxophonist who arranged a lot of Parker material for the group Supersax. His comments, made during a blindfold test at Down Beat, came before Evans’ discovery. When Flory heard “Donna Lee” he said, “It doesn’t sound like a Parker chart. It sounds like Miles wrote it.”
Priestley goes on to say, “The fact that its opening idea has been described as deriving from a Fats Navarro solo (on Ice Freezes Red, a version of the same chord sequence) at least underlines that this is much more of a trumpeter’s phrase than a saxophonist’s, especially played at this pitch.” In Priestley’s notes at the end of the book he offers an explanation for the confusion of authorship. “James Patrick demonstrated (notes to Savoy S5J5500) that Charlie’s contracts usually provided for the record company to purchase rights to all the original compositions he recorded. Thus, if one happened to be written by a sideman, it was still likely to be credited to the bandleader.”
That’s interesting because Miles put his name on Bill Evans’ songs all the time.
Really, IS it scholarly consensus that Miles wrote Donna Lee? I don't know many scholars who would support that claim. I mean, all signs point to him being full of hot air. It's very typical of Parker's style, even more so when you consider that it was written off the changes of another tune, something he did a lot. Something Miles did a lot was claim credit for songs he didn't write, like Blue in Green, etc. All the evidence for Miles writing it is his word, and his word isn't worth much.Havic5 06:25, 15 July 2007 (UTC). Source: Wikipedia, discussion.
@@carlosschvartzman8374 “Donna Lee” was first recorded by the Charlie Parker All-Stars on May 8, 1947, with Charlie Parker on alto sax, Miles Davis on trumpet, Bud Powell on piano, Tommy Potter on bass and Max Roach on drums. While Charlie Parker was originally credited as the composer, his contracts usually called “for the record company to purchase rights to all the original compositions he recorded. Thus, if one happened to be written by a sideman, it was still likely to be credited to the bandleader.” In 1947 Gil Evans called Charlie Parker for permission to arrange the song for the Claude Thornhill Orchestra and was referred to Davis, who gave permission. This is, therefore, Davis’ first recorded composition. Based on chord changes to the song “Indiana” by James Hanley, this A-flat major composition features extremely rapid successions of four-note groups over each change with rising and falling arpeggios.
My only reservation is the absence of a minor 2-5-1.
@@robcrtr798 You MAY play a ii∅, V7b9 when staying at Fm for a while, back and forth.
The key to playing mode V of Bb harm. min over the F7 in measure 2 is making sure that the note "Bb" resolves logically to the "A" (as, of course, Parker does in the head.)
Learned Guthrie govans version ten years ago, still know it, and still had trouble analyzing the theory. This video made it a lot easier. Thanks!
Thanks for putting it back up,Open Studio !
magic thanks
The scale in bar 31. 3 flat 9 1 7 going in sequence is magic. I played that scale a million times over 30 years but never understood it. Until one day I was studying D. Lee and boom, there it was.
I love this. I grew up on Lee Konitz/Lennie Tristano/Warne Marsh. As much as I love their extrapolation on Pres, Roy Eldridge, Fats, Bud, Bird, I feel Lennie never got fully on top of bebop (he had his views). Lennie had his one remarkable melodic thing going. But your video has helped me.
Dude you are awesome! Thx So much!
So the secret dominant scale is the Bb harmonic minor scale with the addition of the #9 note of the current F7 chord, which you are nevertheless naming as Ab instead of G#, so you've nominally turned it into a minor third, which is the enharmonic equivalent but theoretically different. Got it!
thank you for this. he kept saying "sharp 9" and i didnt know what he was talking about. Isn't the Bb harmonic minor scale with a sharp 9 just the Bb natural minor scale?
Also called Bb Bebop harmonic minor scale (see wikipedia) . F7 is the 5th mode of Bb.
@@stephenbellotti2036 it's the Bb harmonic minor scale with the addition of an Ab, which ends up being the #9 on the F7 chord. So, Bb C Db Eb F Gb Ab A
@@stephenbellotti2036 Yeah it took me a minute, too.
@@stephenbellotti2036he’s using bothe the Ab and A natural. Scale nomenclature caa add be a bit heady. ( theory) I just look at all as available notes to pick from over different chords
Love it - thanks for the lesson and PDF! Learned the head and most of the solos on this recording for my May Parker study. Having this tutorial to pick out a couple of the major concepts at play is going to help immensely with building my own improvisations next.
you are such great teacher. thanks
Great lesson man! I'm saxophonist and will be amazing exercise! Donna Lee always is! Thank you!
I remember as a young pianist I once played that “secret dominant scale” and thought I invented it lol. Then I heard bird on this exact recording and felt really bad for the next few weeks
Youghta felt great friend
@@bremlquan DIG MY BROTHER 💕💯
barry harris chuckles...😅😅
HEY DUDE !!! i agree with the first guy - celebrate your inner connection to the masters!
always a great lesson
What is being implied on the F7 (I believe) is the HW diminished scale, more so than the relative harmonic minor. Also the linear harmonic rhythm is different than the chords as commonly written on beat 1 for the first 4 bars. The F7 doesn't begin until beat 3 of the second bar and the Bb7 doesn't begin until beat 3 of the third bar.
Thanks! Love the name you gave to that scale - "secret dominant". I've been playing and teaching that scale for years as one of the best things to play over a dominant of a minor chord, but have been surprised that no one mentions it in any jazz theory book. I finally found it in Dan Greenblatt's excellent "Minor is Major" (he calls it "Harmonic Bebop"). I love how it has the same notes as the relative major's "major bebop scale" (or Barry Harris's dim 6th scale).
Apparently it's listed in Mark Levine's The Drop 2 Book: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bebop_scale#Bebop_harmonic_minor_scale
I always called it an “octatonic harmonic minor”, because of an addition of major 6th. So, the scale of octatonic Bb harmonic minor would actually have (in notation) both 6ths :minor 6 Gb, and major 6 G#. That directly results in F7(#9) dominant, with G# being that sharp 9 in F7. That’s how Miles Davis treated it, so did Oscar Peterson, John Coltrane etc.
Major Bebop scale is identical. It also has both 6ths : minor 6 and major 6. So, it also is an octatonic scale.
@6:11, you are missing the E natural to make your line flow...all your downbeats (chord tones) are landing in the wrong spots on that line...
maybe you could factor in that maj. 7th semitone (i.e E nat. on a F7 - which is part of the normal descending bebop dominant scale), as well as the fact some of these scales are different going up relative to down. e.g. this line (with the added maj. 7th) is really only ever played descending. cheers, keep up the good work!
My take on the "secret scale": bottom tetrachord is the altered dominate; top is a minor tetrachord with 11 and 5, not whole-tone like altered dominate including a b5. Just goes to show that like Joe Abercrombie humorously quipped "the chromatic scale fits every dominate chord".
great lesson
Great lesson! This will keep me busy for quite a while. 👍
Ok. Great work and I appreciate the work it takes to do these vids.
That said,
I retract the previous post. You are right about what was played on that recording. However it's not what is played by most players and the books have a different transcription.
Some differences:
Bar 6, note 6 is a G nat, not an E nat. The chord becomes an Eb7+5 resolving to an Ab major. It's a bebop thing for sure and heightens the tension. Again in bar 8 notes 5 (Enat) & 6 (C) make that an Ab7+5. The choice of chords in the head would be up to the pianist and bassist. My guess is the RS was told it's on the changes of "Indiana" so that would be what they played.
Bar 16, 4th note's an Eb.
Bar 21, 4th note is an A natural in this recording but many such as Clifford Brown play an Ab . The C7 is setting up F minor, the key of the section to come.
I have never seen a chart that has any of those above notes in it. I wonder why. Also if this is the first reading of the tune Bird and or Miles may have changed it in later recordings or shows taped by bootleggers or radio.
The tune is a line (or contra-fact for any academics out there) on (Back Home Again in) Indiana. The F minor section, bars 21-27 is completely F minor in both tunes and is played that way by dyed in the wool beboppers. Also no one know for sure whether Bird or Miles wrote it. Maybe even Dizzy.
Keep up the good work.
Thanks.
Just a note: although Donna Lee has been traditionally credited to Bird, it seemingly was actually written by Miles (named after a woman bass player who was on the scene at the time). This makes a lot of sense to me in terms of Miles in that period being a serious student of the music, studying classical scores at Julliard in the day and playing with Bird at night, trying to decode that language. My theory is that Miles wrote it in exactly the spirit of what you're talking about, as a kind of bebop etude.
I'm a saxophone player. But I played trumpet a little so I could teach some students. I played Donna Lee on trumpet, and anyone who ever plays this head on the trumpet would tell you that it lays under 'trumpet' fingers very naturally. Not to mention that I lived next door to max Roach in the 80's, and he corroborated this fact.
I’ve heard a bunch of times that there’s some dispute, whether or not Charlie Parker actually wrote this one. I’ve heard some people say that Miles Davis wrote it. I have no idea whether there’s any truth to that or how they arrived at that conclusion.
I was just thinking, "Hey, that looks just like Adam Maness"!!
On the 13th measure over a Bb7 if the 6th note isn't an Ab then the line ceases to be functional. You just can't keep hammering on the Major 7 over a dominant chord. Anyway by measure 14 I've changed that 13th chord to a Bbalt7 so Dimwt scale in 14. Works for me.
Gracias!
Dude came straight from the skate park to cut this vid. Not even mad at that
Secret dominant scale on F7: C# Harmonic Major (rectified!)
wtf
@@EllieMcEla Ooops, sorry, it's C#Harmonic Major on a F7! It's like a C# major scale but with a b6 (or a C# harmonic minor with a maj 3rd). An alternative from the usual scales (diminished, altered, phrygian#3...) on a dominant b9...
Thanks master !
This dominant “harmonic #9” scale fits nicely Bb- and C& first chords of Cole Porter’s “I love you”
hey great job thanks alot
First time visiting, great lesson and Great video, and thanks!! Liked an subscribed!
You wanna know how to play melodic on this tune? Learn an old tune called (Back Home Again In) INDIANA. The chords are EASY. Play on that first before you do the Donna Lee version, which is the Indiana chords but with Parker's melody and played twice as fast. See....people get hung up on Donna Lee because they think THE MELODY is THE TUNE...which it is. But the problem is folks think the chord changes are harder than what they really are (THEY'RE NOT!) and they gotta play licks like Charlie Parker (you don't need to do that). The end result is folks playing this like Charlie Parker or some like some uber be-bop dude and EVERYONE ENDS UP SOUNDING THE SAME. It's like folks are on a mission to outdo Charlie Parker every time they play. It's stupid.
Wanna learn how to play on this tune? Learn to play Indiana and then you won't ever have to deal with with Bird's version ever. The hardest thing about Donna Lee IS THE MELODY. That's all. If you learn the melody and learn how to play it FAST (there are tricks on how to make that work), then you will be 'legit' in some circles (which is a load of crap, btw...).
Otherwise, enjoy the easy like baby food changes on an old pop tune like Indiana. Do this and you won't be stigmatized like the rest of us on this stupid Donna Lee song.
Keep up the good work, guys.
Not the first time I've heard this opinion. It's definitely a known opinion, but has some valid points.
I kinda hear it - ruclips.net/video/7wcgaRkHAWY/видео.html
Remember that Miles wrote "Donna Lee"- cut the fella some slack, Jack.
Your secret dominant scale seems to be a mix of Phrygian and Phrygian Dominant (depending on the tonality of the 3rd)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bebop_scale#Bebop_harmonic_minor_scale
Great stuff. Now part 2 would be the left hand comping... That would be awesome. PLease! ;-)
Bar 15 - a Honey Suckle Rose quote. 🎶
They both outline F7, with the passing tones used as leading tones (Gb to F, Ab to A, D to Eb, except for the Bb which he decides to keep from the key, a whole step from C). It’s an altered diminished scale. Regardless it’s an F7 arpeggio with leading tones. Voice leading.