| The melody is effectively an Eb blues scale. Harmony-wise you get a little more complex.
Almost all of the harmony in the head changes stem directly from either the Eb minor pentatonic scale or the C melodic minor scale. The only time this isn't true is an A7#11 chord that shows up in the 2nd and 12 bars, and an A13 in the 9th bar. Even left as a basically unaltered A7#11 (A B C# D# E G) finds that all but one note fit in either the Eb minor pentatonic or C melodic minor. If you want to seriously screw with that chord, you can set it up like this: A Bb C C# D#(Eb) E F# G, which is an A7 with a b9, #9, #11, and 13. Again, the only note not appearing in either scale is the E natural, which could easily be ommitted or raised to an F natural, which is the 4th in a C melodic minor scale.
The way this works is that a blues scale is effectively a pentatonic minor with a b5 added. Essentially all of the harmony you'll find is in the melody already.
The way the chords move throughout a blues tune can be, say:
I, IV, I, ii-V
IV #IVo7, IV, I, VI7,
ii, V, I-vi, ii-V
The way the chords move here are clearly a bit different. Let's take a peek...
Eb7#9 B13 / Emaj9 A7#11 / Db9sus B13 / Db7sus Eb7
Am11 / Fm7b5-Bb7(#9,#5) / C13 F13 / B7-Emaj7,
A13 Ab7 / Bb7 Db7 / Eb7(#9) B7 / Emaj7#11-A7#11
The "key" of this tune is Eb7, and at it's heart, it's an Eb blues. Similarly to using a flatted fifth to colour a pentatonic minor scale into the "blues" scale, Mingus here uses harmonies a half-step away to create colour. You can see that the Am11 is in the same place you WOULD see an Ab7. You could conceivably make it even more similar and spell/play the chord as an A7#9. The minor ii-V in the following bar comes back to the Eb again for a few moments. The next bar is two secondary dominants (V of ii, V of V) with a V-I in E major. The next two bars are full of secondary dominants: V of bI, V of vii, V of I, and V of biii. Interesting to note that the root movement for both bars is entirely contained within an Eb blues scale (bV, IV, V, VII). Finally, the last two bars are the same as the first including an A7#11 as a bridging chord back to Eb minor pentatonic.
EDIT: I'll take a look at the solo changes too.
__________________ Quote: |
Originally Posted by HollowBassman Doesn't she know that they're not really people until the age of about three? |
Last edited by Aaron Saunders : 03-13-2007 at 09:48 AM.
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