Backcycling Harmony

[ocripes]

I'm working up some tunes where I am the only chord guy. I know some routine substitutions, know some colorful, if not groundbreaking, voicings. But I'm looking for a way to add some "movement' if you will to the chordal stuff.

Waht I think backcyckling means is pretty crude: you stick some ii V's in some bars ahead of the target ii V and, if you know what yer doing, it sounds good. I think I hear Joe Pass doing this in a bunch of solo stuff.

Anyway, I'm looking for 1 or 2 concrete suggestions/examples so I can get the rule(s). One tune I'm playing is "You Don't Know Me." Any suggestions much appreciated.

Thanks!

[JonR]

Backcycling is common, and you understand it right.
A simple alternative, or variation, is tritone substitutes, at least for dom7s. For any dom7 (in a cycle of 5ths) you can substitute one whose root is a tritone away (the b5 of the existing chord).
Another idea is to substitute minor ii-Vs for major ones. Eg, Dm7b5-G7b9, instead of Dm7-G9. (Not always appropriate, of course - with all this kind of thing, it's important to stay aware of what the melody might be doing.)

Plus, of course, you can make various alterations to dom7s: #5, b5(#11), b9, #9. Just make sure you stick to voice-leading principles, so that alterations make for interesting moves between chords, rather than just nice sounds on individual chords. (Again, the melody may or may not suggest (or even allow) certain alterations.)

For specific suggestions on specific tunes, I recommend the allaboutjazz theory forum:
http://forums.allaboutjazz.com/forumdisplay.php?f=34

[strat a various]

I'm working up some tunes where I am the only chord guy. I know some routine substitutions, know some colorful, if not groundbreaking, voicings. But I'm looking for a way to add some "movement' if you will to the chordal stuff.

Waht I think backcyckling means is pretty crude: you stick some ii V's in some bars ahead of the target ii V and, if you know what yer doing, it sounds good. I think I hear Joe Pass doing this in a bunch of solo stuff.

Anyway, I'm looking for 1 or 2 concrete suggestions/examples so I can get the rule(s). One tune I'm playing is "You Don't Know Me." Any suggestions much appreciated.

Thanks!

"You Don't Know Me", I haven't thought about that tune in years. Edward Arnold did that one, Ray Charles, too.
I jotted down a quick little basic version, then threw together a sample with some chord subs, not too many, with some of that turnaround movement in it. This is very inside for now, you can get crazy with tritone substitutions if you like later.

basic:
//: C / C7 / F / F# dim /
/ C A7/ D-7 G7 /(1.) E-7 A7/ D-7 G7://
//(2.) C F7 / C //
// F / E-7 A7 / D-7 G7 / C /
/ A-7 / E-7 A7 / D7 / G7 //
// C / C7 / F / F#dim /
/ C A7 / D-7 G7 / C F7 / C (G7)//

alternate:
//: C / G-7 C7 / F / F-7 Bb7b5 /
/ E-7 A7/ D-7 G7 /(1.) E-7 Eb9#11/ D-7 G7://
//(2.) C Bb7b5 / C G-7 C7 //
// F / E-7 A7 / D-7 G7 / C B-7b5 E7 /
/ A-7 / E-7 A7 / A-7 D9 / D-7 G7 //
// C / G-7 C7 / F / F-7 Bb13 /
/ E-7 A7 / D-7 G7 / C A-7 / Abmaj7 G11//

[gennation]

You can look at quartal chords too...

for a maj7 for a dom7 chord you can play a m11 chord a M3 higher...for instance:

for Cmaj7 play Em11
for C7 play Em11

Once you learn how to use the quartal chords from each of the triads notes you'll see your chords become multipurpose and things blur together nicely for you and you'll usually find a chord right next to the one you're on.

Like Cmaj7 uses Cmaj7, Em11 and G11
C7 uses C7 Em11 Gm11

Dm7 uses Dm11 Fmaj7#11(quartal) and Am11

All of these chords would be quartal chords.

So if I'm playing | Cmaj7 | Dm7 |... I could play | Em11 | Fmaj7#11 | and now my chords are a half step from each other instead of a whole step.

If I was playing |Cmaj7 | Dm7 | Cmaj7 | Dm7 | I could play | Em11 | Fmaj7#11 | G11 | Am11 | and now my chords are moving in an upward progression.

I have a ton of 'chord substitution' info, here's a pretty good tutorial that explains the "Quartal chord from the triad notes" concept from 'what is a quartal chord" to how to apply it to some tunes: http://mikedodge.freeforums.org/quartal-chords-t5.html

Here's a couple full blown substitution tutorials: Part 1 http://mikedodge.freeforums.org/substitutions-and-the-vim-iim-v-i-progression-part-1-of-2-t3.html

Part 2 http://mikedodge.freeforums.org/substitutions-and-the-vim-iim-v-i-progression-part-2-of-2-t4.html

Movement within the minor song Footprints: http://mikedodge.freeforums.org/footprints-some-forward-motion-concepts-t2.html

Adding diminished movement to common progressions: http://mikedodge.freeforums.org/diminished-concepts-in-common-music-t26.html

Run through those in that order, it's show you a lot about substitute concepts and applications.

[ocripes]

Thanks for all the great input!!!!

[Mandoboy]

The chords from the 1st 8 bars of the Ray Charles version (if I remember correctly:)

C G7+/Gm7 C7/ F F+/F6 F#o7
CoverG A7/D7 G7/ Bb7#11 A7/ Dm7 G7