Endings (and Intros)

[Roger Harper]

I am still relatively new to jazz bass playing (2 yrs). I feel I have made good progress and am holding my own in some pretty good jams and have a good guitarist I play with regularly. One area I need some help on is endings. There are some typical or standard endings that are used frequently but are not usually on a lead sheet. Does anyone have some books or websites that might have some typical endings and intros?

Thanks,
Roger

[TroyK]

There are a couple of answers, but all of the ones I can offer really require referencing some recordings.

1) There are two really traditional endings; the Basie Ending and the Ellington Ending, named for their original or at least associated sources. People will say or shout "Basie Ending" and it's good to know it. They are both very simple, but you should practice them in all 12 keys so that you know that you know them. I hate to try to describe them here. Maybe someone else can articulate them better.

2) It's pretty common to "tag" a few bars at the endings. People will either say "tag the last x bars before we resolve" meaning repeat them 2 or 3 times or they'll just do it. You should be expecting it and listening. Also for intros, it's pretty common to say "let's do the last x bars as an intro" or "vamp on the 1st two chords as an intro", very simple, unless of course you don't know what they mean. Listen for this or have someone locally look at a few charts with you and talk about how they would do that.

3) Stock, famous intros and endings for certain tunes. "The Something Else" intro for Autumn Leaves, the "Dizzy Thing" for All the Things You Are, the Butch Warren line for Recorda Me, the bassline at the front of So What. You've got to get these from the recordings, I'm afraid. You don't have to play them and the people you play with may have a preference for either playing them or not playing them, but you should know them for the tunes that get routinely called in your area.

I suspect that my response isn't coming off as that helpful, sorry it's not my intention. I don't know of book and I could show you everything I know in 1/2 a hour, but it's hard to explain on line.

Do you have a teacher?

[clink]

Roger, I'm only a few years further into this. I fear we are all novices at this art form, although we learn what we can and see what works.

Troy is right on in his advice, but I will add that you need to listen to all the jazz you can and learn what you can from those who have come and gone before you.
Try:
- I vi ii V. This is often done three times, or sometimes just vamped out
- Flat 5. For instance, if the tune ends on F you would hit B and run down chromatically, maybe two beats each.
-Sharp 5?? Hit up a half step from the V, then up a 4th, then down a half step to the I
It's good to work through some things, but ultimately big ears are the most important asset you will develop. You often will only get the slightest cue and need to be on it. Ideally, this would be discussed before the tune starts, but I have found when subbing that the piano player is just used to playing a certain way. Trial by fire.

Once you become familiar with endings, you will find that certain tunes just feel right ending certain ways.

[Dave Irwin]

If in the process of an ending the band "stops", just watch the drummer on when to come back in. Probably will be on the one/root.

When a tune ends in a 2-5-1, there's a good chance they'll turn around meaning go to a 3-6-2-5 instead of that last 1 chord and may do this several times building up to a big final 2-5-1.

In blues but sometimes other styles, you can hold a chord 1/2 step up from the root then resolve to the one.

As mentioned above you can replace the last one/root with the flat 5 moving down chromatically. This is a nasty one to catch until you get the sound of that flat 5 in your head.

BTW, no one around here is kind enough to signal a particular ending. Just gotta listen.

Don't let any of this scare you. You'll pick up endings in no time. Problem is endings are the easy part

[Mixmasta J]

Sometimes I like it when some is spontaneous and just starts to groove on the tune. On any instrument as a matter of fact.

For example, I was playing a gig and this tenor player I was playing with calls out "The Night has A Thousand Eyes" and just starts playing a tumbao line over the changes. Everyone was a bit caught off guard but it worked fine. Everyone was listening and we worked it out.

I know that it is not always the safest thing, but in the spirit of jazz and improvisation, it keeps things fresh, as multiple people can improvise and once and come together.

Just a thought