Jazz Theory: History of Jazz Harmony

Harmony and Jazz Theory

Music scholars view jazz as a style of Western art music (read classical music; classical, however, is really the style of a certain period). All jazz harmony comes from that tradition, while the rhythms come from Africa. The vast majority of the jazz repertoire employs European chord progressions and harmonic forms. What is unique in jazz is the marriage of these European characteristics with African rhythm and a unique African-American style of inflections, articulations, and vibratos. The only collection of tones used in jazz that is unique to Western art music is the blues scale (in C it would be: C, D#, F, F#, G, Bb, C), which is the result of the African American fusion of slurs and sliding tones (also a feature of African music) into the European major/minor tempered tonal system.

Since jazz has traditionally been characterized by the fusion of the salient characteristics of the two cultures, and the harmony comes from Europe, it is misleading to describe anything as jazz theory or jazz harmony. Even the 12 bar blues is made up of a tonal progression of European chords (I, IV and V, however it can be dressed up in other European harmonies. Call it what you want, it’s still all European harmony.

Jazz texts simply encode what jazz composers choose to use stylistically from the full European palette, and sadly much has been left out, or rather not yet assimilated, like most 20th century music.

Therefore, it is better to go to the source, which is to the texts of classical harmony. French composer and theorist Jean-Philippe Rameau published the first definitive text on harmony in 1722. The books, by the way, will only prepare you for the real business of sheet music analysis, which is where you will find the really relevant information: in practice, where it is most revealing.

As stated above, the Blues Scale is the only collection of tones exclusive to Western Art Music. While it is true, for example, that the minor seventh added to the tonic chord in a 12-bar blues constitutes a harmonic inclusion of a blues note, however, it does not change the role of that chord in the progression, nor does it change the fact that it is a European progression. Although jazz is unique from European music due to its use of African rhythm, the rhythm does not alter the behavior of the progressions.

In the 20th century, many European composers began to write chord sequences that didn’t necessarily have a major key (atonality), but this hasn’t really made its way into the jazz style yet. Unfortunately, jazz musicians and their audiences are stuck in old European practices and harmonic forms. In fact, most haven’t even fully digested the music of French Impressionist composers Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel.

It helps to understand a bit of music history to better understand the various styles that emerged. In a nutshell, it goes like this: In the West, music was modal until the late 16th century, at which point music became tonal (based on chord progressions intended to culminate in a cadence to the tonic chord). The tonal system prevailed until the 20th century, when much of the music tended towards atonalism (no major key). In atonalism, chords are arranged in sequences that have no functionality in a tonal sense, but are used solely for color and interest. Jazz, however, remains basically rooted in the harmonic practices of the Classical and Romantic periods (18th and 19th century harmony).

Mark Levine’s popular book, Jazz Theory, is a good example of the limited understanding of music history that jazz educators have. Basically, it executes the Berklee College system of applying chord scales and modes to chord progressions. This makes it necessary to theorize to arrive at which of these scales (arbitrary at best) should be applied. In this way, the Greek modal names apply to a system of tonal chords that is in no way modal. In fact, European composers, whom jazz musicians emulate, did not employ modes in tonal music: they used non-harmonic tones to propel their lines forward.

This is, I hope, an interesting piece of history: A few years ago, while writing my doctoral dissertation, I interviewed Jerry Coker, who was one of the first to take up a full-time position as a jazz professor at a college or university. . He admitted to me that he used this modal system, with its Greek names, to impress the classical administrators who dominated the music department so they could take jazz education seriously. (They have been in universities for over 100 years, while jazz education was only grudgingly admitted less than 50 years ago.)

Coker explained that if he had taught a more direct and common sense traditional approach to this extemporaneous art form, it would have been overlooked. They do not like us. The only reason jazz exists in higher education is because of enrollment: students demand jazz courses.