Soul Stream Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 (edited) I was listening to "A Night In Tunisia," Jimmy Smith's version on "Crazy Baby". Anyway, I notice Jimmy's bassline, after initially hitting the Eflat, starts a movement of Enatural to Anatural in the bass for the Eflat chord. Basically making a ii/V out of Eflat's tritone substitution Anatural. This seems like it would clash in that Efat is the chord and your bass note is Enatural for a beat before heading to A. Anyway, it SOUNDS great, but I haven't heard another version of "'A Night In Tunisia" where the bass does this. At least that I'm hearing. They always seem to outline the Eflat to D change pretty much. I know this is just a basic harmonic movement of ii/V/i. However, maybe there's something I'm missing. Edited January 16, 2005 by Soul Stream Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 (edited) Not sure what the question is. But doing what he does creates a kind of "poly-harmonic-rhythm" (admittedly a homemade term) where the harmonic rhythm of the bass moves in a different rhythm than that of the chords themselves. It's another layer of tension that resolves. From a strictly harmonic standpoint, I guess you could look at it like this - shifting the bass from Eb to E to A like that implies a harmonic movement of Eb13 Alt to E Dim to A13 Alt (#11), which of course then goes home to the Dm. If you think in terms of chord/scale relationships, the Eb7 Alt & the E Dim chords in this context, as well as the A7 (b9 #11), all imply the same scale - Eb half-whole diminished, starting on a different scale degree to match the particular chord. Check it out (enharmonic spellings included so as to appease any and all factions): Eb-E-F#/Gb-G-A-A#/Bb-C-C#/Db-Eb See? You got all three of those chords in there. And if you wanted to go nuts and get all theoryheaded at the possible/probable expense of the music, you could construct a whole little mini-cycle to play before you came home to the Dm. Although I don't know how much I'd enjoy hearing such a cycle fully outlined in the bass/left hand (too dense/cumbersome to really swing, perhaps) using such a construct in the right hand (i.e. solo line) would/could be pretty nifty. Trane did shit like that all the time, playing lines based on extrapolated/extended changes. It's crazy, baby! Edited January 16, 2005 by JSngry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soul Stream Posted January 16, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 (edited) Thanks Jim. I think your "homemade" term fits. As an organist who has examined a lot of organ basslines over the years, I've come to view organ bass and standup bass as two very different beasts in many ways. Alot of organ basslines create a "smoke and mirrors" effect. They consist of repeated figure on a song like "Night In Tunisia," and in order to create a sense of bass movement greater than it is, Jimmy will fudge harmonically a bit at times in order to keep the pattern moving. This seems especially true on this tune. If you have "Crazy Baby," perhaps you could tell more by listening than by my admittedly lame description of all this. I don't think I was clear enough in my description. Although I think you anwered it anyway with your poly harmonic rhythm term! What is happening is that for the E flat chord, Jimmy's bass line is E to A. The bassline is not Eflat/E/A, it's just E to A. This just seems odd on the "One" beat to be playing E in the bass on an Eflat chord repeatedly throughtout the whole song. Edited January 16, 2005 by Soul Stream Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottb Posted January 16, 2005 Report Share Posted January 16, 2005 While typing out the answer I noticed Jim already replied. Just for the record, I was gonna say exactly what Jim said. Exactly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Hawkins Posted January 20, 2005 Report Share Posted January 20, 2005 I haven't heard the 'Crazy Baby' version, but I would have thought substituting the II-V (e-A) of the d minor chord rather than using the Eb chord as written by Dizzy would dilute the impact of the last two measures of the A section, when it actually does go e-A-d... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soul Stream Posted January 20, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 20, 2005 (edited) I haven't heard the 'Crazy Baby' version, but I would have thought substituting the II-V (e-A) of the d minor chord rather than using the Eb chord as written by Dizzy would dilute the impact of the last two measures of the A section, when it actually does go e-A-d... Somehow it seems to really work for Jimmy (the song's swingin'), but I think it does lose some of it's harmonic impact. But, if you get a chance to listen to Jimmy's version please do and let me know. Edited January 20, 2005 by Soul Stream Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz Kat Posted January 20, 2005 Report Share Posted January 20, 2005 Man, I gotta check Tunisia out in my fakebook, see what I can do with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexander Hawkins Posted January 25, 2005 Report Share Posted January 25, 2005 Somehow it seems to really work for Jimmy (the song's swingin'), but I think it does lose some of it's harmonic impact. But, if you get a chance to listen to Jimmy's version please do and let me know. Will be sure to - just as soon as I can get my hands on this album! Have only heard good things about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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