What you will learn
If there is one chord progression a jazz musician wants to master, it is undoubtedly the jazz cadence in all minor and major keys.
In this post, I will show you a great way of improvising and comping over a jazz cadence in minor more easily.
The idea is to use the same chord type and scale for all three cadence chords.
You can see how this works by watching the following short video.
The term "harmonic cadence" explained
In classical music, harmonic cadence refers to the three basic function chords based on degrees 1, 4, and 5. In jazz, the chord based on degree 4 is substituted with the chord based on degree 2. In the key of C minor, the harmonic cadence chords in classical music and jazz compare as follows:
Classical cadence:
4, 5, 1
Fmi, G7, Cmi
Jazz cadence:
2 5 1
Dmi7(b5), G7(b9), Cmi
Simple is better - and here is how
When I first practiced improvising and comping over the jazz cadence in minor, I practiced a different scale for each chord. I could do it, but a lot of thinking was involved, as shown below.
There is a simpler way - yeah!
One day, while transcribing a Bill Evans solo, I noticed that he transposes phrases a minor third up between 2mi7(b5) and the V7(Alt) chord. Sometimes, he does the same thing between the second and third chords, where the transposition is a major third up instead. So I started thinking about why this works so well. There has to be some sound theoretical concept behind it, I thought. So I did a little digging, and what I discovered was something genuinely fascinating. The scale he used for the half-diminished chord was the sixth mode of the melodic minor scale, and the one he used for the V7(Alt) was the seventh mode of the melodic minor scale. For the tonic chord, he used the melodic minor scale. Here is the cool thing about that: Since he uses a melodic minor scale as the base for all three jazz cadence chords, he can use the same scale and chord quality for all three, in this case, the 13(#11) chord, only in different keys.
This sounds really complicated and abstract. So let me give you an example of what this looks like in the key of C minor:
How to find the substitution chords
If we want to use this in our playing, we need a quick way to find the three root notes on which our 13(#11) chords are based. Here is my method for doing so, as it applies to the jazz cadence in C minor.
- The root of Bb13(#11), which replaces the Dmi7(b5) chord, is a whole step below C (the tonic).
- The root of Db13(#11), which replaces the G7(Alt) chord, is a half step above C (the tonic).
- The root of F13(#11), which replaces the Cmi6/9 chord, is a perfect 4th above C (the tonic).
So here are the three 13(#11) chords we want to use as the overlayed structure for the C minor jazz cadence chords:
Bb13(#11)/D Db13(#11)/G F13(#11)/C
To find the root notes of the three 13#11 substitution chords, memorize this:
An other useful tip
Since all three chords have the same scale and chord quality, using the same lick or phrase is possible over all three jazz cadence chords. All we need to do is transpose it accordingly. When you listen to Bill, you will hear him do this often!
It's also a great way of practicing the same lick starting on different notes, a skill every improviser should aspire to master.
The following shows the two licks I used at the end of my short video example
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