Lesson 43

Notes to Lesson 43

Rhythm Changes. Interesting name, but what does it mean? If you're new to Jazz, chances are Rhythm Changes sounds like "Brain Surgery - 101", especially if Mickey's Course is your introduction. Mickey doesn't give any history nor does he elaborate on it, as if he believed that everyone knows exactly what it is.

Let me give you just a little history in a short paragraph, and you can be a surgeon, too. And you thought this was just a Jazz guitar course? In the 1930's, George Gershwin wrote one of his best known and best loved melodies, "I Got Rhythm". This tune, published in Bb, became popular, and musicians, especially Jazz musicians, all made sure it was in their repertoire. And George, and later his estate, reaped the royalties. Then Bebop evolved. A big part of that musical period was to improvise on well known hits, often with new melodies. To get around the royalty issue (read that as "avoid paying royalties and publish something that will allow them to collect their own royalties), Jazz groups utilized the harmony from "I Got Rhythm", and improvised their own melodies that had no resemblance of the original. Just as the 12-bar Blues harmonic structure is a must know for Jazz musicians, probably the second most commonly used harmonic structure is "Rhythm Changes". As Mickey points out, when a group of musicians get together, they almost always play Rhythm Changes in Bb. Probably the best known of the Rhythm Changes in the world is the "Theme from The Flintstones". My personal favorites are "Straighten Up and Fly Right" (actually done in Ab by the Nat Cole Trio, probably for Nat's vocal range), and Charley Christian's gem with the Benny Goodman Orchestra, "Seven Come Eleven".

Let's compare "I Got Rhythm" with some different views of Rhythm Changes I've collected over the years. "I Got Rhythm" actually is 34 measures with a two-measure "tag" at the end where the lyrics repeat "who could ask for anything more." Generally, in Rhythm Changes that tag is ignored and the tune just becomes 32 measures. To help us see these differences I've created a Bonus TEF "I Got Rhythm Variations - Bb.tef". This TEF has nine modules. Note that I've only "enabled" Modules 1 and 2. This is to get you started comparing each module with the melody module, or perhaps two harmony modules by only activating the desired modules. Here's a description of each of the modules:

Melody- A clarinet MIDI voice to play the unornamented original melody of I Got Rhythm. To be compatible with "Rhythm Changes" progressions, I've edited out the tag. That is to say, it's only 32 measures.
Sheet Music- This module has a guitar accompaniment that is based on chords taken from the published sheet music. For a minimum of distraction, I've used our generic "Chunk" rhythm in this and other modules unless noted. Note I used the chord suggestions from the chord diagrams printed over the lead sheet. Actually, if you find the suggested chord a little further up the neck, this isn't so boring (as Mickey describes typical standards' accompaniments.) Compare it with Joe Pass' suggestions in modules 5 and 6.
Sheet (Modified)- This module is based on Module 2 with simple substitutions (Maj7 for Maj, etc.).
Mickey's Chords- This module uses Mickey's chords from the chord chart in Lesson 43. I've attempted to phrase it as I've interpreted Mickey's rhythm in the chart.
Joe Pass' Chords1- This module (the 1st of 2) gives chords for Rhythm Changes suggested by Joe Pass. Note in both of Joe's examples how Joe is using some pretty basic chords, triads, simple dominant 7's, etc. It has a really interesting progression. I wanted to include this to show that sometimes "simple is enough".
Joe Pass' Chords2- The 2nd of 2 Joe Pass' examples.
Group A Chords- Here's a module where I've used Group A chords wherever possible, and have given several variations within the 32 measures. It was modified and used as the harmony for the I Got Rhythm versions where I added the Mickey riffs and later Mickey's bridge solo.
Group B Chords- I created this module with just Group B chords, but using the same philosophy as Module 7 did with the Group A chords. This also has several variations within the 32 measures.
Variations- I tried to use as many of the chords from Mickey's course that we haven't used in any of the other modules.

From our beginning lessons in the course, we've been talked about the importance of the "turnaround" and by now we all have our favorites. I Got Rhythm harmony can be simplified by describing it as 32 measures (minus the tag measures) divided into 4 groups of 8 measures: A, A, B, A.

The A section is a 2-measure Bb turnaround, another 2-measure (although not necessarily the same) Bb turnaround, two measures comprising I -I7 - IV - iv, and a final 2-measure Bb turnaround.
Repeat that A section or create another A section using the same philosophy.
The B section is an 8-measure bridge based on III7 - VI7 - II7 - V7 (all dominant forms). All applicable substitutions for dominant chords apply.
Repeat that A section.
Oh yeah, if you can't live without the "tag measures", change the last two beats of Measure 32 to a VI7 chord, and then add a 2-measure turnaround based on II7 - V7 - I.

Guess what? Review Lessons 14 and 15 and the TEF's we created as harmony TEF's. Transpose them to Bb. If I could speak French, I'd say "Voila" - you have your very own Rhythm Changes.

About the Exercises:

Mickey gives us his Rhythm Changes exercise in two separate parts rather than a two-staff score. As a side board, to me, it makes this lesson a lot more difficult to understand. I'm sure Mickey's editors did this to save on paper which means "cost cuts". Fortunately, we have TablEdit and to paraphrase Mel Brooks' famous line from "Blazing Saddles", "we don't need no stinkin' cost cuts."

Here are the files I've created:

Mickey's Suggested Rhythm Changes Harmony - Bb: This TEF recreates Mickey's favorite Rhythm Changes chord chart.

Rhythm Changes Worksheet - Bb: This TEF has two modules and comprises 257 measures with three repeats to allow the student to insert 4 different riffs in each location per Mickey:

Mickey's chord chart
The solo with blank measures for the student to fill in.

Rhythm Changes Student Submission - Bb: This TEF has my creations. In addition, I've changed the rhythm to the 1st repeat to show how important the rhythm really is.

Bonus - I Got Rhythm Variations - Bb: This is the TEF we used in the discussion of what constitutes a Rhythm Changes.

Bonus - I Got Rhythm: Just for fun, I've included a solo guitar arrangement of "I Got Rhythm" that I made 35 years ago after being inspired by guitarist Laurindo Almeida. This arrangement is in the Key of D.

There is an error in Mickey's Solo Score. Over Measure 58, we have a Bridge callout. The callout should be above Measure 50

Brain surgery 101?!?!?!

Just keep it FUN!