Chromatic Harmony in the Music of Herbie Hancock and Clare Fischer PDF

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Michael Kahr, Graz/Austria CHROMATIC HARMONY IN THE MUSIC OF HERBIE HANCOCK AND CLARE FISCHER Pianist Herbie Hancock (*1940) is widely recognized both as one of the most popu- lar musicians in jazz and as a groundbreaking figure of the post-bop era. In addition to his membership from 1963 to 1968 in...

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Michael Kahr, Graz/Austria CHROMATIC HARMONY IN THE MUSIC OF HERBIE HANCOCK AND CLARE FISCHER Pianist Herbie Hancock (*1940) is widely recognized both as one of the most popular musicians in jazz and as a groundbreaking figure of the post-bop era. In addition to his membership from 1963 to 1968 in the seminal Miles Davis Quintet, the music he recorded for Blue Note Records during the same period, released on albums such as Empyrean Isles, Maiden Voyage and Speak Like a Child, has been highly influential for subsequent generations of jazz musicians. This article explores Hancock’s harmonic style and its relationship to Clare Fischer’s music–a relationship addressed by Hancock several times in his career, such as in an interview from April 2012: One of my first influences for harmony was a vocal group–the Hi-Lo’s. I found out, the arrangements I liked the most were by a guy named Clare Fischer, who recently passed away. When I finally did meet Clare, it was not that long ago considering that I had listened to the Hi-Lo’s back in the 50s.1 In another interview from May 2013, he offers more details on Fischer’s influence: I studied, on my own, the harmonies from [Fischer’s] arrangements. They were more advanced than what anybody else was doing […] As a matter of fact, when I was in high school, I formed a vocal group that was at first more like Four Freshmen harmonies [...] But then when I heard the Hi-Lo’s and Clare’s arrangements, I started writing more like that, […] That was a big lesson for me on developing more advanced harmonies, and I took that with me to New York and all that. If you listen to Speak Like a Child, his influence is huge on that record, in the voicings and the harmonic devices.2 These statements also coincide with comments made in earlier interviews, including those published in 1978 in Jazz-Rock Fusion: the People, the Music and The Black Composer Speaks.3

1 http://www.amoeba.com/live-shows/detail-2383#cat-most_recent_shows/page-1 (accessed Jan. 20, 2014), author’s transcription. 2 http://jazztimes.com/articles/76522-herbie-hancock-remembers-clare-fischer (accessed Jan. 20, 2014). 3 Julie Coryell and Laura Friedman, Jazz-Rock Fusion: The People, the Music (London: Boyars, 1978). Lida Belt Baker and David Baker, The Black Composer Speaks (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1978), p. 114.

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Hancock’s complex harmonic approach has been addressed recently, from various perspectives, in a number of publications; 4 this paper complements these previous studies, investigating the influence of Fischer’s arrangements for the Hi-Lo’s on Hancock’s harmonies. The analyses, comparing the music of the two, are based on historical information, Hancock’s own remarks in the liner notes to his albums, and transcriptions by the author and Bill Dobbins. They also draw on the literature discussed, particularly on Franz Krieger’s catalogue of Hancock’s harmonic devices. In addition, the study makes use of the results of previous studies of Fischer, including the author’s dissertation5 and information shared during the First International Clare Fischer Symposium, organized by the author at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz in May 2010. This information proved particularly integral to the connection between chromatic voice-leading events and conventional vertical structures in Fischer’s music. A number of Fischer’s arrangements for the Hi-Lo’s, part of a vast collection of manuscript scores and notes found in Fischer’s private library in his home in Los Angeles, have also proved indispensable; the collection is now archived in the online repository PHAIDRA, hosted by the library of the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz.6 The Hi-Lo’s The vocal group known as the Hi-Lo’s was formed in 1953 and consisted of four male singers – Gene Puerling, Bob Strasen (replaced by Don Shelton in 1959), Clarke Burroughs, and Bob Morse. The quartet sang in the barbershop style and quickly achieved a degree of popularity. Fischer joined the group in the mid-1950s as a pianist and soon began arranging for them as well, though much of his early work remained uncredited. Fischer’s first credited arrangement on a recording was of the

4 Compare Bill Dobbins, Herbie Hancock – Classic Jazz Compositions and Piano Solos (Rottenburg am Neckar: Advance Music, 1992); Franz Krieger, »Impressionist and Expressionist Harmony in Jazz, as Exemplified by Herbie Hancock« (Jazzforschung / Jazz Research 44, 2012), pp. 91–124; Keith Salley, »Ordered Step Motives in Jazz Standards« (Journal of Jazz Studies 8/2, 2012), pp. 114–136; Richard Tuttobene, The Herbie Hancock Collection (Milwaukee: Hal Leonard, 2002); Dmitri Tymoczko, »The Consecutive-Semitone Constraint on Scalar Structure: a Link between Impressionism and Jazz« (Integral 11, 1997), pp. 135–179; Johannes P. Wallmann, »The Music of Herbie Hancock – Composition and Improvisation in the Blue Note Years« (PhD diss., Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, New York University, 2010); Keith Waters, »Modes, Scales, Functional Harmony, and Nonfunctional Harmony in the Compositions of Herbie Hancock« (Journal of Music Theory 49/2, 2005), pp. 333–357, and Keith Waters, The Studio Recordings of the Miles Davis Quintet 1965–68 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011). 5 Michael Kahr, »Aspects of Context and Harmony in the Music of Clare Fischer« (PhD diss. Sydney Conservatorium of Music, University of Sydney, 2010). 6 https://phaidra.kug.ac.at (accessed Jan. 20, 2014).

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jazz standard »Tenderly«, released on the album And Suddenly It’s the Hi-Lo’s in 1957 – the year Herbie Hancock turned 17.7 In the same year another Fischer arrangement, »Solitude«, was released on the album Ring around Rosie, featuring singer Rosemary Clooney.8 In 1958, the albums Love Nest and And All That Jazz were released, featuring further arrangements and two original compositions by Fischer.9 Of possible indirect relevance to Fischer’s influence is trumpeter Donald Byrd, who mentored young Hancock upon his arrival in New York in 1960. Byrd knew Fischer well from previous collaborations: during school vacations they had played together in so-called territory bands, and in 1957 Byrd recorded the album September Afternoon with a large orchestra arranged and conducted by Fischer. However, we can only speculate as to whether Byrd related his experience working with Fischer to Hancock. Fischer’s arrangement of »Tenderly« Clare Fischer’s arrangement of »Tenderly« is a characteristic example of his contributions to the Hi-Lo’s; it also makes use of a number of harmonic techniques that can be found in Hancock’s music on Speak Like a Child, particularly the following features (compare Examples 1 and 2): – chromatically moving major seconds (Ex. 1, bars 1–2, 7–8, 13; see framed areas #1) – minor seconds in voicings (Ex. 1, bars 4, 12, 14; see frames #2) – chromatically ascending fourths between middle voices (Ex. 1, bars 7–8; see frame #3) – chromatic bass lines as part of a minor line cliché (Ex. 1, bars 10–11; see frame #4) and a re-harmonisation (Ex. 2, bars 15–17; see frame #1) – re-harmonisation accompanied by chromatic voice-leading in all voices (Ex. 2, bars 16–17; see frame #2) – constant structures in minor thirds, outlining a diminished scale (Ex. 2, bar 25: Db/D, E/F, G/Ab, Bb/B; see frame #3)

7 The Hi-Lo’s, And Suddenly It’s the Hi-Lo’s (Columbia 952, 1957). 8 The Hi-Lo’s, Ring around Rosie (Phillips BBL 7156, 1957). 9 The Hi-Lo’s, Love Nest (Columbia CS 8057, 1958) and And All That Jazz (Columbia CS 8077, 1958).

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Example 1: First page of Fischer’s arrangement of »Tenderly« for the Hi-Lo’s 10 





 





 


  

  





 











































 










































 


 









 

 
 














 

 

  





  



  













  



 





 







 






  

 



 









 









  





 



 





 

 

 



 



  

 



10 Reproduction of original score, used by kind permission of the Fischer family. All accidentals appear as in the original. For clarity of the analysis, lyrics have been omitted. Tenor voices sound one octave lower. The performance on the album recording is slightly adapted, including in bar 10 (omission of last note in bass voice), bar 12 (bass voice slightly changed) and is a semitone lower.

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Example 2: Second page of Fischer’s arrangement of »Tenderly« for the Hi-Lo’s 11 







   

 



 

  








 


















 
























































 



  





























 


















 


































 



















  





























































 








 

11 Reproduction of original score, used by kind permission of the Fischer family. All accidentals appear as in the original. For clarity of the analysis, lyrics have been omitted. Tenor voices sound one octave lower. The performance on the album recording is slightly adapted, including in bars 22–23 (melody only, no other voices until beat three in bar 23) and is a semitone lower.

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In bars 16–17, Fischer’s arrangement includes a re-harmonisation, a particular characteristic of his harmonic approach. The section is based on a simple II-V cadence (Am7–D7); Fischer employs the three distinct chords Bb6/addmaj7–A6 –Ab9/sus4, which bear little functional relationship to the original but are the cumulative result of smooth individual voice-leading (Example 3). Example 3: Bars 16–17 in Fischer’s arrangement of »Tenderly«12 






   
 







  

 

 

 





 

The Ab9/sus4 chord appears as a subV (tritone substitution for D7) with the note Db functioning as a suspension, resolving to the third of the chord (C) on beat two. The third in the foregoing Bb6/addmaj7 chord is also briefly suspended (Eb) on beat two, then moving chromatically to Db. The lower voices also descend chromatically, while the top note A is sustained. The result is an A6 chord with no obvious functional role–and far removed from the expected dominant chord, D7. Yet, this seemingly out-of-place vertical structure has a linear connection to the subV chord Ab9/sus4 : A6 reaches Ab9/sus4 via the chromatically descending bass voice (A–Ab), the chromatically ascending top voice (A–Bb) and the two sustained voices F# and Db. Example 4 shows a reduction of the progression, including the preceding two bars: Example 4: Bars 14–17 in Fischer’s arrangement of »Tenderly«13

12 Tenor voices sound one octave lower than written. 13 Ibid.

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The entire passage is based on an imperfect cadence in the key of G, consisting of a long, descending chromatic bass line from D in bar 14 to Ab in bar 17 (horizontal line) and involving the progression of the dissonant major seventh between C–B (vertical line #1) to the even more dissonant flatted ninth between B–C (vertical line #2), finally resolving to the fairly stable, but non-diatonic, Bb6/addmaj7 chord. Fischer made frequent use of such linear harmonic solutions, in which the expected resolution of one dissonance leads to the creation of another dissonance, throughout his career. Similar solutions can be found in Herbie Hancock’s music on Speak Like a Child. Speak Like a Child The album Speak Like a Child was Hancock’s sixth album for Blue Note Records.14 Recorded and released in 1968, it marked his re-emergence as a leader after a 5-year stint as sideman in the Miles Davis Quintet, and his first record under his own name on Blue Note since 1965’s Maiden Voyage. Hancock is the only soloist on Speak Like a Child and is accompanied by Ron Carter (b) and Mickey Roker (dr), as well as Jerry Dodgion (alto fl), Thad Jones (flh) and Peter Phillips (b-tb). In the liner notes Hancock credits Gil Evans, Oliver Nelson and Thad Jones as having influenced the music on the album–but does not acknowledge Fischer. Not all the pieces on Speak Like a Child are reminiscent of Fischer’s work. However, elements of the pieces »Toys«, »Goodbye to Childhood« and »Speak Like a Child« resemble his harmonic approach and are thus analysed here as compositions, along with excerpts from Hancock’s piano improvisations. Similar to Fischer’s early arrangements for the Hi-Lo’s, these three pieces are melancholic: all three are in medium to slow tempos, feature descending lines in the voice leading, and focus largely on harmonic variety and colour. In Nat Hentoff’s liner notes, Hancock says: Now what’s different in Speak Like a Child as a whole has to do, first of all, with harmony. For the most part, the harmonies in these numbers are freer in the sense that they’re not so easily identifiable chordally in the conventional way. I’m more concerned with sounds than chords, and so I voice the harmonies to provide a wider spectrum of colors that can be contained within the traditional chord progressions.15

14 Speak Like a Child (Blue Note BST 84279, 1968). 15 Liner notes to the album Speak Like a Child (Blue Note BST 84279, 1968).

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»Toys« The composition »Toys« bears a close relationship to the blues, though it lacks the conventional 12-bar form. The bluesy character is achieved through its mainly diatonic melody, in the key of F major with the inclusion of minor thirds as blue notes, and through its harmonic structure, involving the familiar I7 and IV7 but also including dominants on scale degrees including the flatted seventh–similar to Charles Mingus’ composition »Goodbye Porkpie Hat« (first recorded in 1959). Example 5 is a lead sheet of the second theme chorus, including the slightly altered harmonisation used in the solo section. Notably, the trombone plays a chromatic counterpoint to the mainly diatonic first and second voices. The use of a functionally independent, occasionally dissonant low voice is closely associated with Gil Evans’ style but also (as in the chromatically descending bass line from the »Tenderly« example) with Clare Fischer’s. In the liner notes, Hancock says of »Toys«: There are times [...] when I sacrifice the vertical for the horizontal structure in going from one chord to another (a few bars later) and the reason is to allow certain instruments to play a melodic line even though that line may involve some harmonic clashes.16 Example 5 highlights these features, described as characteristic of Hancock’s style in the literature and can be found in Fischer’s work for the Hi-Lo’s as well: – fourths between voice 1 and 2 (bars 1, 2–4, 6, 11–12; see frames #1) – major seconds moving chromatically (bars 1–2; see frame #2) – parallel fourths (moving by whole step in bar 6 and chromatically in bars 15–17; see frames #3)17 – minor seconds moving chromatically (bars 6–7; see frame #4) – the progression, in the lower voices, of a dissonant major seventh to a dissonant minor second (vertical lines in bar 6), recalling the voice-leading example in Fischer’s »Tenderly«, where a major seventh resolves to a flatted ninth

16 Ibid. 17 Similar passages can be found at the beginning of the fourth solo chorus and at the end of the fifth and sixth choruses of the piano solo.

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Example 5: Transcription of Hancock’s horn arrangement in his composition »Toys«18

18 The transcription represents the second theme chorus, which differs slightly from the first. The chord symbols represent the basic underlying harmonies, as found on lead sheets. The harmonies for the solo section are slightly different.

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»Goodbye to Childhood« »Goodbye to Childhood« consists of a ten-bar head composition, played rubato by the complete ensemble, and a ten-bar solo form for Hancock, accompanied in a slow ballad tempo by bass and drums. In the liner notes Hancock states: »In the writing of it, I again didn’t think about what the chords were. I had to figure out what they were afterwards.«19 Bar 6 of the opening section shows the use of chromatically moving fourths in the lower voices, similar to Fischer’s arrangement of »Tenderly« (Example 6; frame #1). In bars 7–8 Hancock uses chromatically ascending seconds Ab / Bb–A / B (frame #2). Minor seconds are absent here, but the flatted ninths between Bb–B and C–Db in bar 5 (Example 6, horizontal lines) and the flatted ninth stretched across an octave Db–D in bar 9 (Example 7, horizontal line) convey a similar level of dissonance. Example 6: »Goodbye to Childhood«, transcription of the horn arrangement, bars 5–8








         




 
 
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