Ex. 1 – ‘Sashianova’ bars 43 – 46 Ex. 2 – ‘Rosewood’ bars 53 – 54 Ex. 3 – ‘What Is This Thing Called Love’ bars 55 – 57 Ex. 4 – ‘You Stepped Out Of A Dream’ bars 47 – 51 Ex. 5 – Pentatonic Scale Ex. 6 – ‘In Case You Haven’t Heard’ bars 65 – 71 Ex. 7 – ‘What Is This Thing Called Love’ bars 8 – 10 Ex. 8 – ‘The Legend Of Cheops’ bar 85 Ex. 9 – ‘The Legend Of Cheops’ bars 41 – 48 Ex. 10 – ‘Rosewood’ bar 8 Ex. 11 – ‘Rosewood’ bars 19 – 20 Ex. 12 – ‘The Legend Of Cheops’ bars 33-34 Ex. 13 – ‘If’ complete solo Ex. 14 - ‘What Is This Called Love’ bars 37 – 41 Ex. 15 – ‘What Is This Thing Called Love’ bars 70 – 72 Ex. 16 – ‘In Case You Haven’t Heard’ bars 113 – 120 Ex.17 – ‘Zoltan’ bars 25 – 27 Ex. 18 – ‘Zoltan’ bars 17 – 19 Ex. 19 – ‘Zoltan’ bars 53 – 56
Ex. 20 – ‘What Is This Thing Called Love’ bars 11 – 17 Ex. 21 – ‘What Is This Called Love’ bars 70 – 73 Ex. 22 – ‘Rosewood’ bars 38 – 40 Ex.23 – ‘There Will Never Be Another You’ 1st version bars 8 – 10 Ex. 24 – Pentatonic Exercises Ex. 25 – ‘In Case You Haven’t Heard’ 1st Version bars 4 – 8 Ex. 26 – ‘There Will Never Be Another You’ 1st Version bars 20 – 22 Ex. 27 – ‘In Case You Haven’t Heard’ 2nd Version bars 41 – 45 Ex. 28 – Exercise linking C and D flat pentatonic scales Ex. 29 – ‘There Will Never Be Another You’ 1st Version bars 30 – 34 Ex. 30 – ‘In Case You Heard’ bars 69 – 71 Ex. 31 – ‘Mode For Joe’ starting at TIME
Another common use of the pentatonic scale is the dominant pentatonic scale played over a major 7th chord – in this case, E flat pentatonic played over A flat maj7 (a C flat is also included as a passing note. Ex. 10 – ‘Rosewood’ bar 8 Another device commonly used by Woody is the linking together of two separate pentatonic scales in varied rhythmic groupings. He often uses two pentatonic scales a perfect 4th apart, creating a strong sense of tonality as this has a strong V-I sound. The following phrase, linking F# and B pentatonic scales, can be found in several of his solos: Ex. 11 – ‘Rosewood’ bars 19 – 20 Ex. 12 – ‘The Legend Of Cheops’ bars 33-34 Other examples can be found of Woody linking pentatonic scales a semitone apart and a major 3rd apart – however, these will be dealt with in a new section, discussing techniques used by Woody when he plays ‘outside’ the underlying harmony. Outside Playing
‘outside’. Here are some examples of Woody using pentatonic scales a major 3rd apart to get ‘outside’ – note the use of pivot tones common to both scales. Ex. 14 - ‘What Is This Called Love’ bars 37 - 41 Ex. 15 – ‘What Is This Thing Called Love’ bars 70 - 72 Here is an example of Woody constructing a line using several pentatonic scales together in his solo on ‘In Case You Haven’t Heard’. Note the way the E flat on the fourth beat of bar 118 is used as a pivot note between B and E flat pentatonic scales, again linking pentatonic scales a major 3rd apart. Ex. 16 – ‘In Case You Haven’t Heard’ bars 113 - 120 Another approach used by in his solo on ‘Zoltan’ is the superimposition of chords a minor third below the actual chords. On several of the D maj7#11 chords, Woody plays B major pentatonic scale, resulting in dissonance between the D# in B pentatonic and the D natural in the bass. Also, in bars 17 and 49, Woody clearly plays phrases outlining F7 (using the bebop scale) despite the underlying chord being A flat maj7#11, creating a clash between the A natural of F7 and the A flat in the bass. He does a similar thing in bar 54, outlining D7 over F maj7#11. The result is a strange sound where most of the notes used are ‘inside’ and fit with the underlying harmony, but one note is sharpened and gives the line a brighter sound. Ex.17 – ‘Zoltan’ bars 25 – 27 (B pentatonic played over D maj7#11) Ex. 18 – ‘Zoltan’ bars 17 – 19 (F7 outlined over A flat maj7#11)
PART 2: My Attempts To Play Like Woody Over the past few months I have been studying Woody’s playing closely and deriving exercises to help me incorporate some of the features of his playing I admire the most into my own style. I feel I have made progress in this attempt even though there is still much for me to do. To help me chart my progress I have made some recordings of the tunes ‘There Will Never Be Another You’, ‘What Is This Thing Called Love’ and ‘In Case You Haven’t Heard’. The first set was recorded on the 12/3/10 and the second set on the 20/4/10, and both sets of recordings feature Aidan Shepherd on piano, Diccon Cooper on bass and Keith de Barra on drums. Also referred to is a recording of a showcase I did at Blackheath Halls on the 11/5/10 with the same band except for Rebecca Nash playing piano instead of Aidan Shepherd. The recordings can be found on the accompanying cd, which has the following tracklisting: ‘In Case You Haven’t Heard’ - 1st version (12/3/10) (Appendix 11) ‘There Will Never Be Another You’ – 1st version (12/3/10) (Appendix 12) ‘What Is This Thing Called Love’ – 1st version (12/3/10) ‘In Case You Haven’t Heard’ – 2nd version (20/4/10) (Appendix 13) ‘There Will Never Be Another You’ – 2nd version (20/4/10) (Appendix 14) ‘What Is This Thing Called Love’ – 2nd version (20/4/10) ‘Mahjong’ (11/5/10) ‘LHC’ (11/5/10) ‘Mode For Joe’ (11/5/10)