Diminished Chords in Lionel Hampton’s Solos
I’ve been listening to a lot of swing-era Benny Goodman lately, i.e. stuff from the mid- to late-30’s and early 40’s, particularly the small groups recordings (trios, quartets, etc.–not the big band music). It’s surprising to me how similar a lot of the licks and riffs in the solos are to early 50’s rock and roll. There are lots of blues patterns, chromatic runs, and pentatonic scales, features with which most guitar players should be familiar.
As I was transcribing some solos by Benny Goodman’s vibraphone player, Lionel Hampton , I noticed a little trick that he uses which, as opposed to his other soloing techniques, is *not* common in a rock and roll style. It’s a trick that classical composers use all the time, but more as a harmonic tool than a melodic embellishment.
Take a look at my transcription of Lionel Hampton’s solo from the Benny Goodman Quartet’s recording of “Dinah” from August 1936. The song is in Ab major. Notice how before a lot of the Eb chords (the dominants), Hampton has a little diminished run on D, i.e. he plays D-F-Ab-Cb.
The chord progressions in this song are pretty simple, mostly just toggling between tonic and dominant with a B section that goes off into the relative minor. Hampton used the diminished runs to add a little spice and leading quality to transition between the tonic and dominant. In classical music, applied diminished chords to the dominant are fairly common, but it’s quite noteworthy to see it used as a melodic device, especially since the rest of the band is presumably still playing Ab (the tonic).
Take a listen to a short excerpt from Lionel Hampton’s solo; you should be able to easily hear what I’m talking about. The mp3 clip starts at the last line on the first page of my transcription. The first move to Eb7 in the clip is probably the most aurally obvious example:
| Benny Goodman Quartet, “Dinah” (Hampton’s solo) |
I would like to also point out that using an applied diminished chord prior to the dominant is probably not the only situation in which a transition chord can be useful while soloing. Try using applied diminished chords before any chord that the harmony is moving to. In fact, pretty much anything you play before a chord change works, honestly, since dissonance resolving to consonance on a change of harmony is always satisfying. The diminshed chord is just one way to achieve that effect. At one point, Hampton even outlines an E-major triad before moving down a half-step to Eb.
As a complete side note, I would also like to point out that Benny Goodman’s drummer from this period, Gene Krupa, was a madman. Listen to the end of a live performance of “Running Wild” and tell me he’s not decades ahead of his time in terms of pure rockin’-ness. Lionel Hampton’s solo over those drums is pretty mind-blowing too:
| Benny Goodman Quartet, “Running Wild” (live) |
February 12th, 2007 at 10:41 am
Lee Ritenour used to say “there’s no such thing as a bad note, just a bad resolution.” I’m sure he got that from someone else, but it does nicely underscore your point about outside notes that resolve into chord tones.
February 14th, 2007 at 5:48 am
Hey John! Thanks for stopping by. Good comment.
Your comment reminds me of a saying in jazz something to the effect of no matter what note you play, if you aren’t on a note that works, you are always at most only a half-step away from a note that does work.
It’s quite noteworthy, I think, how “tonal” these old jazz recordings sound, while they are often using every note from the chromatic scale in a short span of time. It goes to show that it’s not the notes you use, but how you organize them.
March 2nd, 2007 at 5:11 pm
According to Don Byas, Art Tatum once told him sometime in the 1930s:
“What makes a note wrong is when you don’t know where to go after that one. As long as you know how to get to the next note, there’s no such thing as a wrong note. You hit any note you want and it fits in any chord.”
Your quote is a lot more elegant and succinct, though, John. Of course, who knows who really said it first!