Stuart Smith
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- Neighbor chords.
- Passing chords.
- Neighbor-passing chords.
- Interpolation.
Voice leading chordsChords made up mostly or entirely of neighbor- and/or passing-tones are common in jazz. These are designated “voice leading” or “linear” chords because they are primarily the result of the motion of the voices or parts. There are several types of voice leading chords: Neighbor chords. Often, an entire chord is used as if it were a neighbor note. Here FÕÉË and BÉË act as lower neighbors to GÉË and CÉË, respectively: 
Passing chords. A minor seventh chord may be used to slide chromatically between two diatonic chords. For example: EmÑ EÓmÑ DmÑ. Here the EÓmÑ is a passing chord between EmÑ and DmÑ 
Downward sequences of dominant seventh-type passing chords are also common. Sonny Rollins’ Doxy, for example, begins with BÓÏ AÏ AÓ7 GÏ. Neighbor-passing chords. A chord can also be made out of a combination of neighbor- and passing-tones. In the EëÑ in this example, F is a neighbor tone and Dë and Bë are chromatic passing tones: 
The bass line here supports the interpretation of the middle chord as EëÑ, but the voices in the treble staff could easily occur in jazz without this bass line as, for example, “rootless” piano chords or as part of a passage written for four saxophones. In such cases, the middle chord would be indicated as GƒÏ. Interpolation. If a voice leading chord is preceded by its own dominant, supertonic, or subdominant, or a combination of these, the result is a more elaborate structure called an “interpolation.” The interpolated chords are typically built on raised or lowered steps of the prevailing scale or are borrowed from the parallel key. A typical interpolation is: | ¥ ¥ | ¥ | ¤ ¤ ¤ ¤ | ¥ | IIImÏ VIÏ | IImÏ becomes | IIImÏ VIÏ ëIIImÏ ëVIÏ | IImÏ Here the sequence ëIIImÏ ëVIÏ is inserted between VIÏ and IImÏ. The interpolated unit, ëIIImÏ ëVIÏ, is simply the preceding unit, IIImÏ VIÏ, transposed down a half step. To accommodate this interpolation, IIImÏ and VIÏ are played at twice the prevailing harmonic rhythm rate—quarter notes rather than half notes—and the interpolated ëIIImÏ and ëVIÏ are also played as quarter notes. The interpolation can be viewed as a slightly elaborated chromatic slide downward from IIImÏ to IImÏ. (See Thelonious Monk’s Round Midnight for an example of this type of interpolation.) The following is a little keyboard exercise that illustrates this type of interpolation. Every other measure is part of the chromatic circle of fifths, and the intervening measures are the interpolations. Movement from measure to measure is by half-step down: 
The voice motion in this example is noteworthy. The lower two parts in the right hand hold common tones within each measure, while the upper part in the left hand holds common tones (sometimes enharmonically) across the barline. Download 1.17 Mb. Share with your friends:
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