Chords for Christian McBride | Bebop IS Modern Language (Cherokee Transcription)

Peter Martin is back and we're going to talk a little bit about bebop language and some more modern day language
_ Let's make something very clear
Bebop language is still modern day language
there's been a whole school of thought that the lines and rhythms and the phrases and the patterns that Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie and
Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell used a sort of out of date
uh-uh
_ Tell you something you listen to Charlie Parker any solo he ever took particularly solos like Shaw Enough
_ They're pretty _ otherworldly
Now you think of more modern language, you know
some would say or that Coleman or _
_ _ 60s Miles Davis Herbie Hancock Wayne Shorter John Coltrane
_ They all came from bebop all they did was take the bebop language and kind of scramble it a little bit
You know just kind of scrambled the eggs a little bit, but it's still very much rooted in the bebop language
so we're gonna take a
Song like Cherokee.
We're not gonna play the melody.
We're just gonna take the chord progression and I'll play as best as I can
a pretty bebop is kind of solo, you know put _ bebop rhythms
_ The sort of phrasing that kind of went on with [Gm] bebop a lot of arpeggios
you know a lot of a lot of jumps kind of outlining the chord and then we'll stop and we'll play it again with
try to put a little bit of a
More of a modern spin on it not too modern not as in abstract, but just a little up-to-date
so let's try Cherokee with sort of a
bebop vibe one two _ one two _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Gb] _ _ _
[Gm] _ _ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _
[Gb] _ [Eb] _ _ _ [Gm] _ _ [Abm] _ _
_ [Eb] _ _ _ [Em] _ [Eb] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Gm] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Eb] _ _ [B] _ _ [Gm] _ _ _ _
_ [E] _ _ [G] _ [Ebm] _ _ _ [Dbm] _
[A] _ _ _ [C] _ [Dbm] _ _ _ [E] _
[Em] _ _ [Ab] _ _ [G] You _ _
[F] _ _ [D] _ _ [Eb] _ _ [B] _ _
[Gm] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _
[Eb] _ _ _ _ [Gb] _ _ [Bb] _ _
_ _ _ [Gm] _ _ _ _ [Ab] _
_ [Dm] _ _ [Gm] _ [G] _ [C] _ [Bbm] _ _
[Bb] _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ [E] _ [Eb] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _
_ [Gm] _ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
[G] I think we are going to call it [E] after [Em] that.
_ [Bb] _ _
_ _ _ [Ab] _ [Eb] _ [Gb] _ _ [Gm] _
_ _ _ _ [Gb] _ _ _ [Bb] _
_ [G] _ [Gm] _ _ _ _ [C] _ _
[Eb] _ _ [G] _ _ [Gm] _ _ _ _
[B] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[A] _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _
[Em] _ _ [G] _ _ [Gbm] _ _ _ _
[Bb] _ _ [Gb] _ _ [Cm] _ _ [A] _ _
[F] _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ [E] _
[Gm] _ _ _ _ _ [Gb] _ _ _
[Bb] _ _ _ [Gm] _ _ _ [D] _ _
[Eb] _ _ _ _ [Gm] _ [Abm] _ _ [F] _
[C] _ So that's my best sort of bebop.
If you can imagine it an octave up, it might sound a little closer to bebop than it did there.
But that's my best sort of bebop textbook 101 kind of thing.
I try to do a lot of triplets, you know,
you _ know, a lot of chord outlining, especially when it got to the bridge.
_ [D] _ _ _ [E]
You _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ [Ebm] _ _
[Gb] _ _ [B] _ _ _ [Em] _ [A] _ _
_ [Em] _ _ _ [A] _ [Eb] _ _ [E] _
_ [Gm] know, that's real bebop there.
So now let's play it again _ and maybe open it up a little bit more, you know,
maybe do some more, _ _ _ _ _ _ make the harmonies maybe a little bit more open,
make the rhythms maybe a little bit more broken.
We'll just do our best.
It's hard to break it up too much when you got that kind of tempo going with those changes going
by, but we'll do our best to see what we can come up with.
A little more of a modern era style Cherokee, if you will.
Same tempo.
_ One, two, one, two. _ _ _ _ _
[Ab] _ _ [E] _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ [Gm] _
_ [Gb] _ [A] _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _
[A] _ _ _ _ [F] _ F [Eb] pedal here.
_ [Dbm] E, [Gm] B flat, _ _
[Gb] flat minor.
_ [Gm] Back to the [Gb] one.
_ [Bb] _
[D] _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ [Bm] _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ [Abm] _ _ [G] _ _ [Ebm] _
_ _ [G] _ _ [Ab] _ _ [Dbm] _ _
_ [Ab] _ _ [Gm] _ _ _ [Eb] _ _
[Bm] _ _ [F] _ _ [Gm] _ _ _ _
[B] _ [Gm] _ [Ab] _ [Eb] _ _ [E] _ _ _
[Dbm] _ [G] _ _ _ [Ebm] _ [Ab] _ [G] _ _
_ _ [Gm] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Eb] _ [B] _ _ [Gm] _ [E] [Cm] Solo, now what I come up [F] with, _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ [Em] _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ _ [C] _ _
[Dm] trying to leave more space.
_ [E] _ _ _ [B] _
[G] _ _ [E] _ _ [G] _ _ [Gb] _ _
[Fm] _ _ _ _ _ [Gm] _ [E] _ _
[Gm] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ [Gbm] _ [F] _
_ _ [Bb] _ _ [Gbm] _ _ _ _
[Eb] _ _ [Gm] _ _ _ _ For [Abm] bebops, but not really.
_ [B] _ _ [Gb] _ _
[Dbm] _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Em] _ _ _ [Ab] _ [Bm] _ _ _ _
_ [Gm] _ _ _ [G] _ _ _ [A] _
[Gm] _ _ _ _ _ [B] _ _ _
[Em] _ _ _ [Gm] _ _ _ [Ebm] _ _
[Dm] _ _ _ _ [Gm] _ [Gb] _ _ [B] _
[Bb] _ [Eb] _ _ _ [Gm] _ _ [F] _ _
_ [Bb] _ Now, you know, that was, like I said, just a shade, _ a little step past the bebop sort of
phrasing, you know, a little bit of bebop still in there, nothing wrong with that,
but I think breaking it up a little bit, Peter, opening up the harmonies a little bit,
that kind of puts jazz where it is.
Now, one step in the past, one step in the middle, and one step on what could be in the future.
We don't really know what that is, so the way to do that, I think, is to address just being a moment,
use all the references that you know, everything that you've learned,
everything that you've internalized, and just let it flow.
Just let it flow.
Don't get too caught up in the concept of what you're playing, but just really
understand the concepts, not to be beholden to them, but just learn them thoroughly,
so you can create your own language, and you can converse in your own rhythm,