Thelonious Monk - 1954
‘Bye-Ya’ was first released on the 1954 album ‘Thelonious Monk Trio’. It’s fun and relatively easy to play the head, but when we look “under the hood” we discover some challenges both rhythmically and harmonically.
A good place to start is the rhythm. ‘Bye-Ya’ is played over an Americanized Afro Cuban beat called a 3/2 Son Clave rhythm (Example 1). The clave is kind of lost in the first chorus but in the second it is quite clear (listen to the video sample that starts 30 seconds in).
Example 2 shows us the melody played over the 3/2 son beat.
‘Bye-Ya’ is no less interesting harmonically than it is rhythmically. The first four bars use a IV-I cadence (plagal or amen cadence). Bar five uses a bVII – I cadence. This is the “backdoor cadence” which we discussed in the section on “Dominant Substitutions” (Link). The resolution in bars 8-9 is unusual but as smooth as silk (see Example 4)
Bars 8 & 9 move down and then up in whole and half steps. It makes sense because of the smooth voice leading.
Preparing for improvisation it’s probably best to get the rhythm under your fingers first. Try repeating one note in the right hand, then add another and so on.
‘There is lots here to experiment with: An Ab scale with a flat third (harmonic minor) probably works over the first four bars (notice the melody outlines an Ab minor/maj7 chord). Try a Db harmonic minor over bar five.