Turnarounds

If my teacher has taught me anything (and he has) it's that the real book almost never has the turnarounds correct...

 

listen to the piano player. after a few choruses you will agree on something, then it will change

 

keep it simple on the head, play with what the soloist is doing during solo's.

 

Why not just use what's called for?

If you're feeling inventive or want to insert tension then maybe try a turnaround out during a solo. If it doesn't work, don't play it again.

 

I thought about this and am thinking that it doesn't generally seem to matter. I realize that I play a turnaround that fits with the melody, the tune, and the moment, and not necessarily what's written. Aren't most turnarounds some version of I-vi-ii-V, two-beats each? With subs, chromatics, etc, it still all points back to the tonic, so depending on what the harmony instrument is playing, some basslines will create more or less tension. Off the top of my head, I can't think of two turnarounds that would unacceptably clash. And as Huy said, if I played something that didn't sound good to me, I'd only play it skeptically for the rest of that tune.

 

There's a transcription I was working on lately where it was obvious that a 3625 turnaround would be used. In listening closely to this particular tune that Vince Guaraldi arranged, all he did was sit on the tonic, move up a half step, and back down for 2 more bars. After so many tunes with so many uses of the standard turnaround, this sounded so fresh new and innovative.

Of course when I went to play it on the gig, out came the 3625 because the piano player was hearing that instead.

 

Not sure if this applies, but I use several exercises to get my students to develop some kind of "language" to walk turnarounds. The trick is not to be right but to play whatever is called for in that moment, IMO. I'm sure many of us have played a rhythm changes that has been different every chorus.

Anyhoo....

 

Nice topic, subscribed to see more contributions.

 

IMHO What you do totally depends on your skill level and the skill level of the people you are playing with. I have had a few conversations over the years, but they were mostly for my benefit as I am sort of an intermediate jazz hack who mostly plays out of the Real Book.

With some songs I stay fairly close to what is on the page, with other songs I insert turn arounds and substitutions. Some players are frustrated because I am not free enough, and some are frustrated because I actually throw in some chord subs.

With other songs, I am fairly clueless, and feel the Real Book changes are not only wrong, but virtually unusable without consulting other sources.

When playing blues or rhythm changes, I find it pretty hard to stick to the page. But I am pretty sure my harmonic vocabulary for these forms is pretty basic.

Most of what I do is informed by my ear, and years of experience. So, although I do technically throw in subs, I don't necessarily have a conscious awareness of what I am doing; it's more of an instinctual thing.