SongTrellis
Music and Musical Know-how For You

Author:  David Luebbert Posted:  7/2/01; 3:38:00 AM Topic:  Climactic Patterns in music Msg#:  1997 (in response to 1993) Prev/Next:  1996/1998 Reads:  2092

I know "Whole Lotta Love" but am unfamiliar with "On The Run". Tell me if I understand what was done to create "Whole Lotta Love On The Run". It sounds like someone took the 4 track recording of "Whole Lotta Love" and mixed it with a 4 track recording of "On The Run" creating the 8-track "Whole Lotta Love On The Run", right?

If the result of this sounds good, it's very probable that "Whole Lotta Love" and "On The Run" share the same chord sequence (have the same changes in jazz parlance). When tunes are built on the same changes, you can shuffle melody fragments between the two versions and can frequently play them at the same time as countermelodies.

Jazz singer Helen Merrill did this twice on her album "Chasin The Bird/Gershwin". Charlie Parker very frequently composed entirely new melodies on the changes of popular tunes. Parker's Quasimodo was written on the changes of Embraceable You. His "Chasin The Bird" uses the I Got Rhythm changes.

On this record when Merrill sings Gershwin's Embraceable You she has her band play the melody of Parker's Quasimodo as a countermelody. When she sings I Got Rhythm on the album she has the band play Parker's "Chasin The Bird". These pairings work because the changes played as accompaniment for each pair of melodies are the same.

The mathematical arch forms which allow these games to work are The Changes. These are also what allow two improvisors to invent lines at the same time without having to work out everything in advance. Almost all of jazz and rock and roll music depend on this concept.

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