Part I - Introduction to Jazz Concepts
Jazz theory shares a lot of the same building blocks as traditional theory. It is the application of these concepts where Jazz differs from traditional theory.
There are two primary types of jazz. The first is improvisational jazz, The vast majority of western art music is notated to convey the exact emotion the composer is trying to convey. However in jazz, a majority of the score may be left up to the performer to improvise, giving every performance a different feel.
The second style associated with jazz is swing. In the simplest definition, the performer gives the subdivisions of the beat unequal length
A steady series of notes would be interpreted as as pairs of long-short durations
Part II - Scales and Modes
Jazz makes use of the modes more so than normal major/minor scales
These modes in particular are used most:
Mode 1 Ionian - melodic minor
Mode 1 Ionian - melodic minor
Mode 2 Dorian - no common designation(might be called Phrygian #6)
Mode 3 Phrygian - Lydian Augmented
Mode 4 Lydian - Lydian flat7 or Lydian dominant
Mode 5 Mixolydian - Mixolydian (No common designation in Jazz)
Mode 6 Aeolian - Half-diminished scale or Locrian #2 or Locrian #9
Mode 7 Locrian - Altered dominant or diminished whole-tone scale
Part III - Additional Scales
Apart from the Major/minor scales Several other scales
The first to know is the Octatonic scale
Here are two different versions of the Octatonic scale:
Half step-whole step pattern:
whole step-half step pattern:
One primary feature of both of these scales is that any chord built with every other note of the scale will always be a fully-diminished seventh chord.
The next scale is the blues scale. The feature of this scale is the lowered third, fifth, and seventh. Traditionally considered 'blues notes' because of their use in blues. A twelve-bar progression iteration of jazz.
the blues scale:
The final category of scales used in Jazz is the Bebop scale, of which there are four:
Bebop dominant - Mixolydian scale with a chromatic passing tone between the seventh and eighth scale degrees.
Bebop Dorian - Dorian scale with a chromatic passing tone between the third and fourth scale degrees.
Bebop Major - Major scale with a chromatic passing tone between the fifth and sixth scale degrees.
Bebop melodic minor - Melodic minor scale with chromatic passing tone between the fifth and sixth scale degrees.
Part IV - Harmony
In tonal music, melody is closely related to harmony. Over any given triad in a chord progression, The melody will primarily be comprised of chord tones from that triad, with non-harmonic tones added for color and ornamentation. The same principle is true in jazz. The chords used in jazz harmony are associated with specific modes and melodies are improvised over each chord drawn from the pitch resources of that mode.
Many of the chord progressions are the same in jazz as they are in tonal harmony. For example, the ii-V-I and vi-ii-V-I have counterparts in jazz.
The V7 Chord is a major-minor seventh is always referred to as the dominant seventh chord. The seventh chord built on the tonic C-E-G-B is a Major-major seventh. This is the biggest break from traditional harmony this far. A tonic seventh chord is virtually unknown in music of the common practice period.
The symbol used for the major seventh chord is unique to jazz: C∆7. The triangle symbol indicates that the interval of the seventh is of a major quality.
Here is the standard ii-V-I progression in Jazz harmony:
Notice that the substituted V7 chord is just the same as the ii7 chord except for the three lowered notes. This makes part writing easy.
The symbol used for the major seventh chord is unique to jazz: C∆7. The triangle symbol indicates that the interval of the seventh is of a major quality.
Here is the standard ii-V-I progression in Jazz harmony:
Part V - Tritone substitution
One of the most interesting aspects of jazz harmony is the ability to substitute the tritone in the V7 chord. Illustrated here is the typical way a tritone substitution would manifest in a ii-V-I progression.
Part VI - Other considerations
In order to allow performers the freedom to improvise using the modes and techniques described, a style of jazz developed that involves repetition of very few chords. This style of jazz based on very few chord changes is known as modal jazz. An example of this type of jazz would be "I got Rhythm" by Gershwin.
A wide variety of symbols are used for commonly used chords. Here is a list of commonly used chord symbols and other symbols that might be used for that chord.
Chord Quality Common symbols Other symbols
Major triad with added 6th C6, or C13 CMaj6; CM6
minor triad with added 6th C-6 Cmin6; Cm6
Major 7th chord C∆ CMaj7; CM7
Dominant 7th chord C7
Minor 7th chord C-7 Cmin7; Cm7
Minor-Major 7th chord C∆7 or C-(∆7) Cmin/Maj7
Augmented-Major 7th C+∆ Caug/Maj7
Fully diminished sevnth C°7 Cdim7
Half diminished seventh Chord CΓΈ7 C-7(b5); Cm7(b5)
