V-i progression in Charlie Parker's Confirmation
Sunday, April 25, 2021
Part of a larger ii-V-i progression, this lick or a closely related version of it happens no fewer than eight times in Charlie Parker's Confirmation solo, and its simplicity defines its elegance. This line illustrates an extremely important aspect of bebop and jazz harmony: the resolution of Flat-9 to 5 in a Dominant to Tonic progression. Parker took bebop to new heights with a virtuosic technique and a wider harmonic vocabulary of which this type of resolution plays a major part. Similar to the pull of the Flat-7 of a Dominant chord to the 3 of a Tonic, the Flat-9 commands more dissonance and thus more melodic drive.
In this line Bird begins on the B-flat, enharmonically, the third of the F#7 chord. He then leaps to the G-natural, the Flat-9. Parker adds to the pull down of the G by surrounding the target F# with two lower neighbor tones. This upper neighbor motion pattern is similar to the ascending scale with neighbor motion in John Coltrane's Giant Steps solo, accept the harmony in this line is more colorful and the melody is less stepwise; it's more leapy.
ii7-V7 exercise
This intermediate- to advanced-level exercise uses the dominant-to-tonic progression to cycle through the circle of fourths/fifths. Like the pattern that it's based on, it makes use of the flat-9 to 5 resolution halfway through each measure, and it adds a 7-3 resoluiton to transition to the next measure. To realize the full benefit of this exercise, the player will need to focus on the underlying chords more closely and memorize how the pattern fits over the harmony. While sticking closely to the chord tones, this exercise can be tricky because it floats above the roots of the chords more than some more elementary chord change exercises.
The complete transcription of Charlie Parker's Confirmation solo and 59 others are available in The Charlie Parker Omnibook. It is available for both treble-clef and bass-clef instruments and in various keys. For intermediate and advanced players looking to learn more about the style and technique of Charlie Parker's solos, it's an excellent tool.
Bird, directed by Clint Eastwood is an excellent dramatisation of Charlie Parker's rise and fall in the Bebop scene of the 40's and 50's. It's an excellent movie on all accounts. It's especially poignant for Charlie Parker or Jazz fans.