jfh05.gif
Song 15
The GENTLE BREEZE
of LOVE

  1. The IIø - V7 - Im Progression
  2. The Gentle Breeze of Love
  3. The Gentle Breeze of Love - Bridge
  4. Phrasing - Starting and Ending notes
  5. Practice : IIm7-V7-I phrases
  6. Session Materials

    Library


Song | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | ?? |


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S 15.1 : The IIø - V7 - Im Progression

The IIm7 - V7 - Imaj7 progression outlines the tonality of the major scale.
In Jazz, and abundantly Latin songs (Bossa Novas) there is a comparable progression which outlines the minor scale tonality.
This progression is formed by the I, II and V chords of the harmonic minor scale.

Audio 15.1
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In Circle of 5ths order the progression is :

Audio 15.2
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The b9 (Ab above) can be added to the V7 chord as it belongs to the harmonic minor scale.
The ImM7 chord is never used in the progression as it is not a suitable ending chord. The minor triad (Cm) is generally used instead.

The Harmonic minor scale of the I chord can be used for improvisation over the entire chord progression.

Audio 15.3
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A popular alternative I chord for the progression is Im7 (Cm7 below).

Audio 15.4
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In this case use the harmonic minor scale of the I chord over IIø - V7 only (C harmonic minor above).
Use the Dorian mode of the I chord over Im7 (C Dorian above).


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S 15.2 - The Gentle Breeze of Love

The Gentle Breeze of Love is a 40 bar Bossa Nova.
The format can be described as A B A, where A constitutes a 16 bar 'A section' and B represents an 8 bar bridge.

The chord progression of the 'A section' was inspired by the beautiful Bossa Nova Black Orpheus by Luiz Bonfa.

The main feature of the A section are a succession of IIø - V7 - Im progressions in the key of A minor.

Audio 15.5
jf1505.gif

The minor IIø - V7 - Im segments (in A minor) are shown below in red.
A brief modulation to the related major key (C major) - IIm7 - V7 - Imaj7 (in bars 6 and 7) - is shown in blue.

Melody
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For improvisation use the C major scale over bars 6 and 7 (Dm7 - G7 - Cmaj7).

Bb instruments use the D major scale over bars 6 and 7 = D E F# G A B C# D

Bb instruments us the A major scale over bars 6 and 7 = A B C# D E F# G# A

For the rest of the A section you have two choices :

Option 1
Use the A harmonic minor scale throughout.

Audio 15.6
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Bb instruments use the B harmonic minor scale = B C# D E F# G A# B

Eb instruments us the F# harmonic minor scale = F# G# A B C# D E# F# (E# = F)


Option 2
Use the A harmonic minor scale over Bø - E7.
Use the A Dorian mode or A natural minor scale over Am.

Audio 15.7
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Bb instruments use the B harmonic minor scale over C#ø - F#7 = B C# D E F# G A# B
Use the B Dorian mode or B natural minor scale over Bm = B C# D E F# G# (or G) A B

Eb instruments us the F# harmonic minor scale over G#ø - C#7 = F# G# A B C# D E# F# (E# = F)
Use the F# Dorian mode or F# natural minor scale over F#m = F# G# A B C# D# (or D) E F#

As a guide to your improvisation print out a blank sheet of manuscript paper. Divide each line into 4 bars. Then write above each bar the chord symbol and in each bar the required scale for your improvisation.


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S 15.3 - The Gentle Breeze of Love - Bridge

The 8 bar Bridge of The Gentle Breeze of Love consists of two IIm7 - V7 - Imaj7 segments, one in the key of C major the other in the key of Bb major (with a turnaround E7 chord in the last bar).
Play over this section your own improvised melody.
This way you will contribute to the composition of the song, which then becomes uniquely your own.

This idea is used in quite a few Jazz standards, most famously in the 'Rhythm bridge' of Oleo (by Sonny Rollins), over which players improvise their own melody.

Audio 15.8
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To create a consistent and interesting melody use a similar (but not necessarily identical) rhythm pattern for both 4 bar phrases.
Also start the melody of the second phrase on the comparable note (here 1 tone down) in the new key, as in the example shown below.

Audio 15.9
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The Gentle Breeze of Love play-a-Long track first plays the whole 40 bar long melody once (A B A).
Then 24 bar long sections of A B are repeated four times.
The track is concluded with a final complete 40 bar chorus of A B A.
It looks like this :

A B A - A B - A B - A B - A B - A B A



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S 15.4 - Phrasing : Starting and Ending notes

The first and the last note are by far the most important points of any musical phrase. Take good care of both these notes and the rest of the phrase looks after itself.

There are three important aspects to these two notes.

  1. At which point in the bar (upbeat, downbeat) do you place these notes ?

  2. What pitch do you select for these notes ?

  3. How do you articulate these notes (legato, staccato, also dynamics : how soft, loud) ?

In this Session we work on the note pitch to start and end a phrase on.

By far the best notes to start and finish a phrase on are chord tones of the underlying chord in the progression.
The most obvious one is the chord tonic (1), but this is of course a rather predictable note.
Greater interest is created by selecting one of the other chord tones : the 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th are especially good. The 11th (or #11th) and 13th can also create interest.

Below the chord tones for the IIm7 - V7 - Imaj7 chord progression in F major (Concert pitch). The parent scale is shown in the bar for the Fmaj7 chord.

Audio 15.10
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Play-a-Long track jf15sf1 consists entirely of a succession of 4 bar long progressions of :

Gm7 (1 bar) - C7 (1 bar) - Fmaj7 (2 bars)

  • Each odd numbered 4 bar phrase : I play an improvised line with starting note as shown in the Table below.

  • Each following even numbered 4 bar phrase is left empty for you to use.
    Try to repeat the same phrase I played in the previous 4 bars,
    or
    play a phrase of your own, but using the starting and ending notes as specified in the Table below.

Repeating phrases is no easy exercise, so do not get discouraged if you can not do this at first.

A second Play-a-Long track jf15sf2 is the same as the first one, but it echoes each phrase softly on the piano in the "empty" four bars to help you along.

In the Table below the number indicate the chord tone (1 = root, 3 = 3rd, etc.) used as my starting and ending note for each phrase.
The corresponding Concert key notes are shown in black.
The corresponding Bb instruments notes are shown in red.
The corresponding Eb instruments notes are shown in blue.

Phrase No.Starting note (of Gm7)Ending note (of Fmaj7)
Phrase 1 1 = G -- A -- E 5 = C -- D -- A
Phrase 3 1 = G -- A -- E 3 = A -- B -- F#
Phrase 5 1 = G -- A -- E 5 = C -- D -- A
Phrase 7 3 = Bb -- C -- G 7 = E -- F# -- C#
Phrase 9 3 = Bb -- C -- G 3 = A -- B -- F#
Phrase 11 3 = Bb -- C -- G 5 = C -- D -- A
Phrase 13 3 = Bb -- C -- G 3 = A -- B -- F#
Phrase 15 5 = D -- E -- B 1 = F -- G -- D
Phrase 17 5 = D -- E -- B 7 = E -- F# -- C#
Phrase 19 5 = D -- E -- B 5 = C -- D -- A
Phrase 21 5 = D -- E -- B 5 = C -- D -- A
Phrase 23 7 = F -- G -- D 7 = E -- F# -- C#
Phrase 25 7 = F -- G -- D 5 = C -- D -- A
Phrase 27 7 = F -- G -- D 3 = A -- B -- F#
Phrase 29 9 = A -- B -- F# 3 = A -- B -- F#
Phrase 31 9 = A -- B -- F# 5 = C -- D -- A

You can also use one 4 bar phrase from the track and take it through all keys around the Circle of 5ths.

Writing down the phrases on the track in proper music notation is a very good exercise too.


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S 15.5 - Practice : IIm7 - V7 - I Phrases

Included is a page with IIm7-V7-Imaj7 Phrases in the key of C major.
Take each phrase in turn and play it by ear through all 12 keys in Circle of 5ths order.

First practise without a play-a-long track until you get the hang of it, then use the 2 x 4 bars and the 1 x 4 bars play-a-long tracks provided.

Here an example of the first phrase.

Audio 15.11
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(The number indicate the chord tone for each underlying chord.)

Also write down some very simple phrases yourself to work on, especially if you find some of the phrases provided a bit too hard at first.


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S 15.6 - Session Materials


ItemMidi fileSheet music
Gentle BreezeDemo P-a-L C instr.Bb instr.Eb instr.
Easy Key for Bb instr. (Am)E-PalC instr.
Easy Key for Eb instr. (Am)E-PalC instr.
Manuscript papersheet
IIm7-V7-Imaj7 PhrasesDemoPhrases
IIm7-V7-Imaj7 P-A-Ls2 x 4 bars1 x 4 bars
Swapping 4 bar phrasesjf15sf1jf15sf2 (with echo)


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© 2003 Michael Furstner (Jazclass)