Our Analysis...

This free educational resource focuses on the tools you need to take your playing to the next level. The analyses are all grounded in classic Jazz tunes and improvisations.

Hopefully, they will help students of Jazz advance their skills and launch them into new areas of improvisations.

November 6, 2024

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The collection is sorted by the year the compositions were composed or recorded. Jazz was evolving rapidly during this period and working through the analyses in this order demonstrates that evolution.
Click on any column heading to rearrange the table.

You can search for a specific song title, composer, or type of composition.

ANALYSIS	TRANSCRIPTION	COMPOSER	YEAR
Temporary II - V - I & Chord Groups	Billie’s Bounce	Charlie Parker	1945
Altered II - V - I patterns	Monk’s Mood	Thelonious Monk	1947
Unresolved tensions	Introspection	Thelonious Monk	1947
Melody notes that are on the beat & Arpeggios	Donna Lee	Miles Davis / Charlie Parker	1947
Tritone Substitutions & Diminished Chords	Donna Lee Harmony	Charlie Parker	1947
Intros & Parker blues changes	Relaxin’ at Camarillo	Charlie Parker	1947
Tritone Substitutions & Upper Structure Triads	Boplicity	Miles Davis / Gil Evans	1949
Mulligan polyphony	Jeru	Gerry Mulligan	1949
Be-bop rhythm	Celia by Bud Powell	Bud Powell	1949
Skeletal chords & lock hands	Bouncing With Bud	Bud Powell	1949
Modified Cycle of fifth patterns	Hallucinations	Bud Powell	1950
Tritone Substitutions, Chromatic groups & Stride	Ask Me Now	Thelonious Monk	1951
Counter-melody polyphony	Line for Lyons	Gerry Mulligan	1952
Sharp nine and sharp eleven chords	Ecaroh	Horace Silver	1952
More Mulligan polyphony	Bernie’s Tune	Bernie Miller / Gerry Mulligan	1952
Major seventh as a sub for minor seventh chords	Monk’s Dream	Thelonious Monk	1952
Memorizing songs & Key phrases	Opus de Funk	Horace Silver	1953
Horn lines & voice leading	Bellarosa by Elmo Hope	Elmo Hope	1953
The "Ellington Sound" & descending dominants	Who Knows	Duke Ellington	1953
Harmonic Minor harmony	Nica’s Dream	Horace Silver	1954
Roots Blues & Diminished Chord groups	Doodlin	Horace Silver	1954
Silver punch chords & running thirds	Room 608	Horace Silver	1954
Harmonic Minor	Jordu	Duke Jordan	1954
Tritones & Cycle of 5ths	Reflections 2	Thelonious Monk	1954
Up beat Latin	Bye-Ya	Thelonious Monk	1954
"Acceptance" of the II - V - I	Daahoud	Clifford Brown	1954
Straight ahead horn lines	Joy Spring	Clifford Brown	1954
Opening things up	New Rhumba	Ahmad Jamal	1955
Piano solo & transposing phrases	Daddy Plays the Horn	Kenny Drew	1955
Creative Modulations	Prince Albert	Kenny Dorham	1955
Delayed Key Centre Resolution	Step Tempest	Herbie Nichols	1955
Pitch Centres	The Gig by Herbie Nichols	Herbie Nichols	1956
Motifs as Traceable Movement	Pannonica	Thelonious Monk	1956
Minor Blues in 6/8 & Latin feel	Senor Blues	Horace Silver	1956
Natural Minor	Whisper Not	Benny Golson	1956
Dorian Mode & pedal points	Dial S for Sonny	Sonny Clark	1957
Straightforward bop head	Bootin It	Sonny Clark	1957
Bebop horn lines	Serenade to a Bus Seat	Clark Terry	1957
Dense, mellow orchestration	Miles Ahead	Miles Davis / Gil Evans	1957
Key signatures & dominant substitutions	Crepuscule with Nellie	Thelonious Monk	1957
Implied Pitch Centre	Coming on the Hudson	Thelonious Monk	1958
Some earlier Mal Waldron blues	Gospel Truth	Mal Waldron	1958
Parallel left and right practice	Blues in the Closet	Oscar Pettiford	1958
Call and response	Moanin’	Bobby Timmons	1958
Developing a bass line	Freight Trane	Tommy Flanagan	1958
Collective Form - motifs and repetition	Invisible by Ornette Coleman	Ornette Coleman	1958
The Melody & Collective Forms	The Blessing by Ornette Coleman	Ornette Coleman	1958
Pentatonic Scales	Sister Sadie	Horace Silver	1959
8 bar minor blues & tritone substitution	St. Vitus Dance	Horace Silver	1959
Root movement & minor/major 7 chords	Self Portrait in 3 Colours	Charles Mingus	1959
Minor blues & advanced harmony	Goodbye Porkpie Hat	Charles Mingus	1959
Advancing Monk’s Language & Tritone Subs	Penthouse Party	Andrew Hill	1959
Chords performing more than one function	Blue in Green	Bill Evans	1959
Modal Jazz	So What	Miles Davis	1959
Giant Steps & Major thirds	Coltrane Changes	John Coltrane	1959
Pedal Point & Chord Extensions	Naima	John Coltrane	1959
"Foundational" blues style	Dig Dis	Hank Mobley	1960
Building Tension	This I Dig of You	Hank Mobley	1960
Hard Bop head	A Peck A Sec	Hank Mobley	1960
Harmonic Minor & relative major	No Problem	Duke Jordan	1960
Straightforward Blues	Squawkin	Duke Jordan	1960
Cycle of Fifths changes	Strollin by Horace Silver	Horace Silver	1960
II-V-I changes	Who Killed Cock Robin	Freddie Redd	1960
Sister Chords	Time to Smile by Freddie Redd	Freddie Redd	1960
Jazz waltz in one	Grand Valse	Booker Little	1960
Blues Motifs & The Tumbling Strain	Ramblin’	Ornette Coleman	1960
Adding spice to a basic blues	245 Eric Dolphy	Eric Dolphy	1960
The Altered Scale	Les by Eric Dolphy	Eric Dolphy	1960
The Dorian Mode & McCoy Tyner	Impressions	John Coltrane	1961
Tritone Subs. #11 chords and whole tone scales	Potsa Lotsa	Eric Dolphy	1961
Ambiguous Harmony	Fire Waltz Mal Waldron	Mal Waldron	1961
V-I chains and a delayed cadence	De Dah by Elmo Hope	Elmo Hope	1961
Advanced and Open Form	When the Groove is Low	Elmo Hope	1961
Advanced and Collective Forms	Miss Ann by Eric Dolphy	Eric Dolphy	1962
Mastery of Collective Forms	Lena by Cecil Taylor	Cecil Taylor	1962
Sus4 chords & modified blues	Empty Pockets	Herbie Hancock	1962
Creative Horn Lines	Three Bags Full Herbie Hancock	Herbie Hancock	1962
Pedal Points	The Maze by Herbie Hancock	Herbie Hancock	1962
Horn line harmonization	This is for Albert	Wayne Shorter	1962
V chord subs. & Temporary tonics	Pensativa	Claire Fischer	1962
Straightforward Bossa Nova	Capricious Billy Taylor	Gerry Mulligan	1962
Straightforward Ballad	Idle Moments	Duke Pearson	1963
Pitch Centres and Segmented Chains	Recorda Me	Joe Henderson	1963
I - IV changes & Paired Base Camps	Black Fire Andrew Hill	Andrew Hill	1963
Pitch Centres	Ode to Von	Andrew Hill	1963
Pedal Point & Chords built on 4ths and 5ths	Free For All	Wayne Shorter	1964
Blues structure & Unbroken Chains	Isotope by Joe Henderson	Joe Henderson	1964
Advanced Form harmony	Fuchsia Swing Song	Sam Rivers	1964
Open form using rhythmic drones	Ida Lupino	Carla Bley	1964
Collective Forms & clusters	Batterie Paul & Carla Bley	Paul Bley	1964
Anchoring complex songs	Refuge by Andrew Hill	Andrew Hill	1964
Dominant Subs	And Now the Queen by Carla Bley	Paul Bley	1965
Straightforward harmony with a complex bass line	Erato	Andrew Hill	1965
Minor Blues	The Jody Grind Horace Silver	Horace Silver	1966
Open Form & Paired Base Camps	Passion Dance by McCoy Tyner	McCoy Tyner	1967
Tyner’s signature sound	Four by Five	McCoy Tyner	1967
Indeterminate Chord Voicings	Margot by Keith Jarrett	Keith Jarrett	1967
II-V-I changes	Lisbon Stomp by Keith Jarrett	Keith Jarrett	1967
One approach to Collective Forms	Other Afternoons Jimmy Lyons	Jimmy Lyons	1969
Modal Jazz described in 12 bars!	Patterns	Ahmad Jamal	1970
Drones in Collective Forms	Down at the Gills by Mal Waldron	Mal Waldron	1970
Lovely melody with some harmonic twists	Golden Notebooks	Gerry Mulligan	1971
Upper Structure Extensions	Duke Ellington Sound of Love	Charles Mingus	1974
Summarizing last twenty years!	Sue’s Changes	Charles Mingus	1974
Percussive Improv & Transposing Phrases	Just Friends	Tete Montoliu	1974
Piano solo	Ornithology	Tete Montoliu	1974

Don’t miss the other pages! ^^^

“You don’t practice anything that you’re not going to use. Everything you practice should be thought of in terms of using it in some way in your playing and performance. Try to make everything you do have a purpose.” Dave Holland