A few days ago, a melody came to my head, which phrasing and melodies sounded like an old school Latin ballad. So I tried to figure out the melody first using my guitar and then figured out the chords a while ago.
I also figured that the song follows a simple AB jazz standard format. However, the melody is complex; the key changes a lot. In the more complicated parts of the melody, I tried to figure out the background chords by thinking of relating them as modes; i. e. there was a lick that included the notes F, G, A, B, and I thought of it as the F Lydian mode, and decided to play the FM7 chord for it.
But I've found two interesting things today which is related to the Vb9 chord. First is that, since the tune generally has a warm, dark ambiance to it, the next melody after FM7 contains the notes A, B, and C. At first I tried using C as the root note, so I tried using C and CM7. However, I didn't think it sounds appropriate. That's when I thought of using the B as the root, and then proceeding to play the B7b9 chord over the melody, which finally fits.
The second discovery is that, one of the ending melodies can be considered under the E harmonic minor scale, D#, C, B, A. Surprisingly enough, the B7b9 again fits! So it seems that within a Vb9 chord, the harmonic scale of the fourth works (i. e. if the root of the Vb9 is B, the harmonic scale of the fourth, E, works).
Anyway, while I did read Mark Levine's Jazz Theory book and was taught about modes by our jazz ensemble teacher, I'm in know way a music major nor did I studied classical music. So feel free to correct me if I'm wrong with some of my thoughts and ideas
I also figured that the song follows a simple AB jazz standard format. However, the melody is complex; the key changes a lot. In the more complicated parts of the melody, I tried to figure out the background chords by thinking of relating them as modes; i. e. there was a lick that included the notes F, G, A, B, and I thought of it as the F Lydian mode, and decided to play the FM7 chord for it.
But I've found two interesting things today which is related to the Vb9 chord. First is that, since the tune generally has a warm, dark ambiance to it, the next melody after FM7 contains the notes A, B, and C. At first I tried using C as the root note, so I tried using C and CM7. However, I didn't think it sounds appropriate. That's when I thought of using the B as the root, and then proceeding to play the B7b9 chord over the melody, which finally fits.
The second discovery is that, one of the ending melodies can be considered under the E harmonic minor scale, D#, C, B, A. Surprisingly enough, the B7b9 again fits! So it seems that within a Vb9 chord, the harmonic scale of the fourth works (i. e. if the root of the Vb9 is B, the harmonic scale of the fourth, E, works).
Anyway, while I did read Mark Levine's Jazz Theory book and was taught about modes by our jazz ensemble teacher, I'm in know way a music major nor did I studied classical music. So feel free to correct me if I'm wrong with some of my thoughts and ideas
