Song JACA BLUES About Jacarandas About the Song Practice Downloading Bay Links Minor Pentatonic scale

JB 1 - About Jacarandas

After viewing the Jazclass pages it will come as no surprise to you when I confess that I love Primary and Secondary colours. My most favourite colour is undoubtedly blue (I dress in casual blue most of the time). In the world of plants and trees there are two flowers I love more than anything else. One is the deep blue cornflower, with its delicate structure, which I remember so well from the corn fields in my beloved 'Achterhoek', a region in the Dutch Province of Gelderland, where I was born and grew up during my first 20 years. I remember these lovely flowers, offset by the yellow corn stems and red poppies, during the Dutch Spring- and Summer- months.

In my new home country, Australia, my favourite flower is without a doubt the brilliant purple blue blossom of the Jacaranda Tree. For 9 or 10 months of the year this tree quietly blends in the landscape completely unnoticed. But then, suddenly in Spring, overnight, it explodes into an abundance of this beautiful blue colour. This has each year a powerful effect, giving me this exhilarating awareness of the incredible beauty of nature life on earth. The colour explosion starts in the warmer North of the country in late September or early October. Then, with the progress of Spring, it gradually moves South, like an enormous purple blush travelling across the Australian Continent until it reaches Adelaide, Melbourne and finally Tasmania in November.

JB 2 - About the Song

Jaca Blues is a twelve bar blues in F, with the most basic chord progression.

Melody

The first bar of Jaca Blues symbolises the tree's dormant existence during most of the year. Then, in bar 2 the colours suddenly explode.

Audio 1

The first 4 bar phrase is repeated in bars 5 to 8 as in a traditional blues.

The Jacarandas tree flowers are very delicate, and fall from the tree with the slightest breeze, forming a purple carpet on the ground. These purple clouds, swirling down from the branches are simulated by the scale run in bar 10.

Audio 2

The triplets in bars 2, 6 and 10 are all composed of notes from the F minor pentatonic scale.
You can use this scale for improvisation over the entire Blues Progression.
(Bb instruments use the G minor pentatonic, Eb instruments use the D minor pentatonic scale for this purpose.)

Audio 3

Practise the song slowly until you have the rhythm right. Then move the speed up to a medium tempo swing (about MM = 125 beats per minute).

I have played this song on keyboard in unison with one of my flute students. The combined effect is a lovely clear cascade of colourful sounds.

JB 3 - Practice

Jaca Blues gives you a good opportunity to get into some serious pentatonic scale practice.
First play the scale straight until you know it thoroughly from memory.
Then play the scale in a number of patterns. Here are four different patterns for the C minor pentatonic scale.

Practise each pattern slowly until you can play the entire pattern evenly (in swing quavers that is) without any hesitations or mistakes. Then, (and only then) gradually increase the tempo.

Pattern 1 : 1 - 4 , b3 - 5 , 4 - b7 , 5 - 1 , etc.

Audio 4

Pattern 2 : 1 - b3 - 4 , b3 - 4 - 5 , 4 - 5 - b7 , 5 - b7 - 1 , etc. (in triplets)

Audio 5

Pattern 3 : 1 - b3 - 4 - 5 , b3 - 4 - 5 - b7 , 4 - 5 - b7 - 1 , etc. (in semi-quavers)

Audio 6

Pattern 4 : 1 - 4 - b7 , b3 - 5 - 1 , 4 - b7 - b3 , 5 - 1 - 4 , etc. (in triplets)

Audio 7

Transpose each pattern yourself to other keys.

JB 4. Downloading Bay