From Lead Sheet to Arrangement: The Safflower

At the heart of solo jazz piano playing lies the use of spread and rootless voicings. But to truly transform a simple lead sheet into a captivating piece of music involves digging deeper into the jazz player's bag of tricks and employing an array of arranging and reharmonization techniques to develop and intensify the underlying character of the melody and harmony of the tune.

Each lesson in this series features a comparison of a fully realized two-handed arrangement of tune with it's basic lead sheet to analyze the techniques and devices that are used to transform the piece from a melody and chord symbols to the final piece of music.

Sarah Jane Cion's jazz ballad, The Safflower, is presented in the first lesson of this series to demonstrate how to get from a lead sheet to a complete arrangement using various arranging and reharmonization techniques. By supplementing spread and rootless voicings with upper structure triads, related ii chords, deceptive cadences, sus chords, constant structures and other devices, this already beautiful tune is elevated into a engaging and compelling piece of music.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• jazz piano
• jazz chord
• jazz voicing
• solo jazz piano

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