Evolutionary Perspectives

The chapter supplies three areas for further inquiry into postbop composition: tonal vestiges that connect to earlier tonal jazz practices (through bass motion by descending fifth and descending half step); double axis progressions; and contrapuntal organization. It then describes the evolution of postbop jazz through the notion of schema—a prototype, exemplar, or conventional grammatical pattern. For example, the major third axis schema originally appeared within the constraints of tonal jazz conventions (“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes,” “Have You Met Miss Jones”), but once it penetrated to deeper levels of structure (John Coltrane, “Giant Steps”) it became an agent of syntactic change, giving postbop composers a potent point of departure to bypass tonal jazz frameworks.

Booker Little, Joe Henderson, and Woody Shaw

The compositions of Booker Little, Joe Henderson, and Woody Shaw use characteristic harmonies of tonal jazz (major seventh, minor seventh, dominant seventh) that nevertheless progress in ways that do not always reflect earlier tonal jazz practices. Booker Little’s career, if short-lived, offered compositions with formal and harmonic ambiguity. His “We Speak” (Out Front) combines the faster harmonic rhythm of postbop jazz with slower harmonic rhythm characteristic of modal jazz, and his three-horn scoring reflects the manner in which Little negotiates both. Joe Henderson’s “Punjab” (In ’n Out) uses axis progressions in an 18-bar form with built-in metrical ambiguities. Woody Shaw’s “Beyond All Limits” (Larry Young, Unity) exhibits a melodic structure characterized by pentatonic and perfect fourth designs, appearing within an AABA form consisting of 14-bar A sections and a 12-bar B section.

Chick Corea

Chick Corea’s prolific compositional career began in the 1960s, even if he likely went on to greater acclaim in the 1970s with compositions such as “La Fiesta” and “Crystal Silence.” “Windows” (Inner Space) uses ascending perfect fifth progressions as a large-scale harmonic frame for the composition, although harmonic substitutions expand that frame, and the skeletal melody (often appearing on metrical downbeats) creates longer underlying lines. A comparison of the recording with Corea’s copyright deposit shows a degree of evolution in the composition, particularly through harmonic inversions and stepwise bass motion. “Inner Space” (Inner Space) uses a melodic major third axis progression (in the introduction and later in the composition), but particular harmonic substitutions suggest a second-order grammar in which the progressions do not shadow the melodic axis. As with many Corea compositions from the 1960s, a centrifugal harmonic progression closes with an expanded harmonic turnaround to return to the m. 1 harmony. Three versions of “Song of the Wind” (Complete “Is” Sessions, Joe Farrell Quartet, Piano Improvisations vol. 1) illustrate Corea’s move to a more complex harmonic language, using polychords and expanded pedal points. Despite stark differences between the more progressive harmonic language of “Song of the Wind” and his earlier “Windows,” a comparison of the melodic designs of both jazz waltzes indicates some overall structural similarities.

Postbop

Innovations in postbop jazz compositions of the 1960s occurred in several dimensions, in the areas of harmony, form, melody, and cadence. Postbop composers abandoned or muted many techniques of tonal jazz, the jazz standards and original compositions that defined small-group repertory through the 1950s: single-key orientation, schematic 32-bar frameworks (in AABA or ABAC forms, often with tonal cadences at the ends of constituent 8-bar sections), and tonal harmonic progressions. Attributes of postbop compositions rely on a series of family resemblances that include axis progressions (harmonic, melodic, or bass sequences by a single interval, such as major third or minor third); absence or suppression of functional harmonic progressions; common structure progressions; bass pedal points beneath shifting harmonies; and harmonic rhythm with chord changes every half-measure, measure, or every two measures. The last feature distinguishes postbop jazz from that of so-called modal jazz, which relies on a slower harmonic rhythm. One of the significant precedents for postbop jazz is to be found in John Coltrane’s 1959 composition “Giant Steps,” which provided potent alternatives to more conventional tonal designs.

Herbie Hancock

Hancock’s postbop composition provided some of the signature sounds of the 1960s. “King Cobra” (My Point of View) relies on both major third and minor third axis progressions, often using a slash-chord vocabulary; several devices at the end of the form enhance its tonal and formal ambiguity. “Dolphin Dance” (Maiden Voyage) maintains an even heightened sense of tonal and formal ambiguity. It begins with major third axis progressions embellished through harmonic substitutions and elaborations; despite local harmonic cadences and goals, the composition suppresses a single-key orientation. “Jessica” (Fat Albert Rotunda) relies on a perfect fifth axis progression in its skeletal melody, and its horn scoring reveals significant details of Hancock’s harmonic vocabulary and harmonic substitution techniques.

Wayne Shorter

Wayne Shorter remains one of the most significant jazz composers of the 1960s, with challenging compositions noted for their harmonic and formal ambiguity. “El Toro” (Art Blakey, Freedom Rider) uses a major third axis progression in a 16-bar form, but the melodic structure cuts against an 8 + 8-bar regularity; “Virgo” (Night Dreamer) relies on a 29-bar ABAC form with irregular phrase lengths. A comparison of “Penelope” (Etc) and “El Gaucho” (Adam’s Apple) shows that they begin with a nearly identical melody, but Shorter subjects each to radically different harmonic environments. “Pinocchio” (Miles Davis, Nefertiti) is an 18-bar composition. Its major third axis uses postbop substitution strategies that echo more-conventional progressions. “Face of the Deep” (The All-Seeing Eye) is one of Shorter’s more exploratory compositions: it links to the jazz avant-garde, and its scoring for three horns reveals an expanded vocabulary of upper structure harmonies.