Hey YouTube! mDecks Music here and welcome to our new series 'Mastering Jazz Standards.' In this
series we will look at iconic recordings from the perspective of the performer and
look at what they did, how they did it and why they did it. So by the end of this video,
not only will you have the exact progression featured in the recording, but you will also
have a wide range of tools and skills that you can apply to any song including your own.
Our first song is going to be "Misty" as played by Erroll Garner on the 1955 album "Erroll Garner Plays
Misty." You'll find all related information to the song in the description down below. So this is the
version of Misty that we're gonna use. I've already completely analyzed it and synched it
using Mapping Tonal Harmony Pro, which is the tool you'll see us using moving forward to analyze all
of the harmonic embellishments that Erroll Garner used in this piece. The Real Book version is in the
key of Eb, but Erroll played it in the key of Ab, and that's your first harmonic development
transposed to any key that you want. Transposing is a simple transformation but it's essential
when creating your own version of a standard. All right so let's change the key that we have here
in the Real Book version in Eb into Ab. Right here I'm going to click there and boom! So
the chord names have completely changed, but it's worth noting that their purpose, or their functions,
have not. So you can see this concept illustrated quite clearly if I click on the function button
down here and then I change from Ab back to Eb and the map never changes.h e chords on
the right side where the chart is will, but the functions do not. So now we have a great place
from which -- now that we're in Ab -- we have a great place from which to compare and contrast
the Real Book version in our key with what we're about to do as we evolve this into the recording...
All right so right away and measure one we see an interpolated C minor. Ab is our one and C
minor is the three chord. And this is something you can always do because the one chord and the
three chord not only straddle the same or share the same region in our map, if you look at the
upper part of a one major seven chord, you'll see the notes of the three chord. So it's kind
of like self-contained with within it, right. So let's plug that chord in right here, I'm gonna
go to beat three, and then boom we have our C minor7 interpolation of the three chord...
The second technique is going to occur in measure two on the third beat. And what we're
going to do here is something called borrowing, or modal interchange. So the function of the chord is
going to stay the same we're just going to borrow from the parallel minor to change the
harmony a little bit and the chord scale, which will inform the melody and the improvisation
also. So instead of Ab7, what we're gonna use is Ab7b9. And you'll notice
the chord scale change from Mixo so to Mixo b9b13. But Garner doesn't stop
there because the default scale for my V/IV in minor, is mixolydian b9b13 and that
b13 is not compatible with our melody -- our melody is F and the chord chord scale pairing
implies Fb -- so we're gonna change that to just a regular b9. (let me go back real quick, sorry)
right click mixolydian b9 boom. Ah! Now the chord chord scale pairing jives with the
melody, perfect! So anytime you have a dominant chord in your chart with a Mixo chord scale,
you can always replace it with a Mixo b9 or a Mixo b9b13. But that's a one
way street, you can never go the other way. And that means to say if you have a Mixo b9
b13 in your chart already, don't turn it into a Mixo with a dominant chord...
So onto measure three, where we're going to see our next technique, on the third beat. We start off on the
measure with a Db major7 chord, and all we're gonna do on the third beat is interpolate,
next to it, it's ii chord. So now I have the ii chord present whereas before I just had
the IV chord for the whole measure. So this is kind of similar to the first technique we talked
about. They occupy the same region of the map -- the sub-dominant region -- and if you look at the upper
three notes of a Bb minor7 chord, you'll see the Db chord and that means that if you
look at the upper notes of any ii chord you're gonna see the IV chord that it's related to...
So the next reharmonization is found at the first ending. And so before we talk about that
let's see what's going on in the first ending to begin with. And all we have is a turn-around.
So we're basically -- or what Garner was probably doing here -- is basically considering the target
which is the Ab chord back at the beginning of the chart. So what he did was "okay what's it's
V chord" -- Bb7-- , and "what's the ii of that V" --Bb minor7 -- so we basically
just have it ii-V-I turn around. And then before that and the first measure of the first
ending it's just the ii-V of the ii/V of our target. So it's like a ii-V of
the ii-V to the target. So now what we're gonna do is turn that turnaround into what's
called an ''extended dominant sequence.'' All right so we're gonna leave this Eb alone and as
with any extended dominant sequence work our way backwards from there. Remembering the whole
time that we're targeting this Eb which is also targeting the Ab at the beginning of
the song. So what we're gonna do is find the V of Eb and plug that in before it -- which is
Bb7 -- so there we go we've changed that ii-V, that Bb minor7 to a Bb7.
And then we're gonna find the V of Bb, which just so happens to be the chord that's
already there -- the F7b9 -- so we don't have to do anything with that, we can leave that
alone. And now all I need is to find the V of F7 and that is over here, C7b9.
So now I have this really cool extended dominant sequence: C, F, Bb, Eb, Ab, and we didn't have
to change the roots of any of the chords. So it's a really cool rearm and that we've sort
of re-engineered the sound a little bit but also stayed true to what Erroll Garner had originally...
Our next technique is found in the second ending and this is something we're just going to call
a cadential rearm. So what we have here in the initial, or the original chart, is
just Ab, Gb, and Ab. So he's going 1, b7, VII, back to 1 again. This
probably was all a 1 chord at one point, so what Garner did here was kind of to break up
the monotony of this all just being a static 1 chord is introduced some tension by way of
this b7-VII I only bring that up because that's exactly what we're gonna do
with our reharmonization and that something happens to be this Db -- we're gonna make
it a Db-VI right over here -- the IV chord. Alright so now we have everything (save that) we
have everything we need... for our cadential reharm that honors the melody note which is the
1 and also facilitates, or accommodates, the real reason Gardner probably did this which is
that cool little four note quasi pentatonic riff here occurring here. If he wasn't doing
that riff there were a couple of other ways he could have achieved this breaking up of the
monotony of the static 1 chord. He could have gone, for example I-iv-I alright or
he could have gone was more mortal interchange and used the minor chord, or the minor one chord,
or he could have done this alright. There are all these different ways you can break
up just a static one chord. So just to recap he replaced the b7-I with a vi-I...