Understanding Rhythm Changes1

Understanding Rhythm Changes:

A Primer for Writers and Reviewers of Jazz Music
2013 Matthew Howard. All Rights Reserved.

Introduction

In an interview with Musician, Wynton Marsalis draws attention to a common shortcoming in

jazz music reviews: writers on the subject do not understand the basic technical elements of the
music they critique. Wynton claims, Ornette Coleman sounds like Bird. He was playing rhythm
changes on The Shape of Jazz to Come. Have I ever read that by anybody reviewing those albums? No.
Why? Because they don't know what rhythm changes sound like (Zabor, 1985). As Wynton might
agree, a music writer needs enough technical and historical background to understand both the
artists intent and the tradition of the music. Understanding the chord patterns of rhythm changes
and their development in modern jazz empowers the music writer to better understand jazz, to enjoy
it more, and to communicate about it more knowledgably. Because our audience consists of writers,
not musicians, we will avoid most traditional musical symbols. Instead, we will explain the ideas
simply without teaching a new alphabet of symbols.

The Strongest Resolution

Without a technical background, even the term rhythm changes may cause confusion. It
sounds like it refers to changing the rhythm of the song, perhaps by altering the tempo or the meter.
But in reality, it describes a set of chord changes based on George Gershwins song, I Got Rhythm.
With that in mind, let us develop an understanding of this set of chord changes, moving from simple
elements to the more complex.
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To begin, rhythm changes demonstrate one of the fundamental building blocks of jazz: the
strong resolution of the Dominant chord to the Tonic chord. In a basic blues form, the Tonic
chord represents the key signature of the song. The Dominant chord is built on the fifth scale tone
of that key, and is typically played as a dominant seventh chord. In the key of C Major, for example,
C is the tonic note. Expressed as a dominant seventh chord, our Tonic chord is C7. The Dominant
chord, then, is G7, built on G, the fifth scale tone of C major. One can easily hear on a guitar or
piano the resolution when a C7 chord follows a G7.
Jazz takes this idea from the blues and logically extends it. If the strongest resolution
happens when the Dominant chord moves to the Tonic, asks jazz, then why not create structures of
continually resolving movements? Consider our key of C Major again. We have our Dominant
chord as G7. Jazz takes G7 as a new starting point, a new Tonic, and then finds its Dominant
chord; in this case, D7. D7 resolves to G7 in the same way that G7 resolves to C7. If we resolve
D7 to G7 and then G7 to C7, we have completed the basic chord sequence of jazz.
Jazz musicians often call this a two five one, because the note D is the two or second
note of the original key C Major in this example. This is the most common harmonic movement
in jazz. Its most common variation replaces the D7 with a Dm7.
Jazz often extends the idea yet again to get a set of four chords. Continuing our example, we
can treat D7 as a new Tonic and find its Dominant chord: A7. The complete sequence, played as a
series of chords, is now A7 to D7 to G7 to C7. Musicians may call this a six two five, because, in
our original C Major tonality, A is the sixth note of the C Major scale. If you play this sequence on a
guitar or piano, you may notice that you have heard similar movements in a slew of popular tunes
from blues and jazz to country and rock. It also forms the harmonic backbone of rhythm changes.

I Got Rhythm

George Gershwin incorporated elements of early New Orleans jazz in his musicals.
Although his brother Ira deserves credit for the lyric of I Got Rhythm, George composed the melody.
Underneath his melody, the chord sequences a piano, guitar, or full band will use are nothing more
than an exercise in six two five resolutions. Its horn-friendly key of B and its logical sequences
of six two five resolutions made it a favorite of jazz musicians. No sooner did it appear on stage
than jazz artists began improvising their own melodies and solos over the basic chords of the song.
We call this set of chords rhythm changes.
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The most important chords of the first four measures are the Tonic, B, and its Dominant
chord, F7. To make it more interesting, the chords Gm7 and Cm7 come between them. This
creates a Dominant-to-Tonic resolution from G to C, then from C to F, and finally from F back to
the songs original Tonic, B(See Appendix 1.)
Measures five and six create the same pattern of resolutions: from B to E to A.
While it may seem like a change in keys, all three chords are standard chords in a B blues.
Measures seven and eight create a six two five resolution ending on the Tonic, B. D
resolves to G, G to C, C to F, and F to B. The second section of the tune, beginning on A,
restates this same movement over eight measures. The A resolves down to D then follows the same
cycle of resolutions. It does not end on B, however, as the form will predictably begin there on
the next verse. This logical sequence, while perhaps unfamiliar to those who have not studied
harmony, makes perfect sense to a jazz musician so much sense, in fact, that it spread across the
country like wildfire.

The Change Exchange

In 1932, two years after I Got Rhythm first appeared on stage, Sidney Bechet used the chord
changes in his recording: Shag (Harrison, p. 432). Bechets band does not play Gershwins melody.
In fact, they barely have a head or opening melody at all, diving instead into a group improvisation
based on the chords (SoundJunction). Listening to Shag, one should listen for the same overall
motion or resolution sequences as I Got Rhythm. Understand that according to U.S. copyright law,
composers may copyright melodies and lyric but not chord progressions. Therefore, musicians may
appropriate the chords for their own melodies or improvisations. At the time, jazz musicians
commonly borrowed chord sequences, including those of Tiger Rag and Moten Swing (Williams, 1989).
In this atmosphere of open source chord progressions, Charlie Parker appropriated I Got
Rhythm for his seminal bebop tune, Anthropology, with a few customizations. He sometimes uses a
minor seventh chord (Gm7) rather than a dominant seventh (G7,) and he omits the A chord at the
beginning of the second section (measure nine.) He also adds a different ending for the second
repetition of the verse, or first eight measures (See Appendix 2.) But, underneath the melodies,
the chords essentially follow the same pattern of resolution.
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According to Wynton Marsalis, Ornette Coleman used a similar approach on his album, The
Shape of Jazz to Come. His group improvisations, Wynton claims, follow rhythm changes. Reviews of
Colemans 1959 album consistently state the importance of The Shape of Jazz to Come lies in its
abandonment of strictly outlined chord progressions and completely free improvisation. Wynton,
however, urges us to listen closely and more knowledgeably to hear the musicians playing within a
tradition of rhythm changes.

To Be Ornette to Be?

Armed with this understanding of rhythm changes, a writer may develop a deeper
understanding of jazz. But what of Wyntons claim about The Shape of Jazz to Come? While Wyntons
expertise and theoretical knowledge give us no reason to doubt his claim, listeners may have some
problems verifying it due to Ornettes idiosyncratic style.
Even a cursory review of the first track, Lonely Woman, reveals that Wynton certainly did not
refer to it. Its passages of relatively simple D minor tonality have nothing to do with rhythm
changes. However, Congeniality, despite its tempo changes, sounds very much like standard bebop.
Its solo sections, like those of the final tune Chronology, swing along very much like bebop. After
several listens to the album, one finds it difficult to believe statements about its abandonment of
chord changes. It seems much more likely that the musicians simply did not write down the chord
changes, emulating the bebop style by ear. Each of Colemans collaborators on the album,
accomplished musicians in their own right, certainly did not need a chart to play basic jazz chords
and melodies. To such musicians, improvising a line based on rhythm changes would come
naturally.
Rhythm changes do crop up in other works by Ornette Coleman. However, he often
shortened the form by omitting one or more measures. He also seemed to improvise in the style of
rhythm changes, but in a different key from the rest of the band. For a more thorough analysis of
Ornettes music, we refer you to Do the Math at <http://dothemath.typepad.com/dtm/forms-
and-sounds.html>, and Jari Perkimkis 2002 doctoral thesis for Sibelius Academy, Lennie and
Ornette <http://ethesis.siba.fi/ethesis/files/nbnfife20031086.pdf>.
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Closing Suggestions

If we approach jazz culturally, we seek to understand any given recording in terms of the
traditions that gave rise to it. Shag exemplifies the Dixieland eras approach to rhythm changes,
while Anthropology demonstrates a bebop approach. Ornette and other modern jazz pioneers may
have played free or outside music, but they came from this same tradition. Sometimes what
seems outside to the untrained ear relies on tradition for its underlying structure.
Writers, when possible, should seek out a compositions chord chart and identify the
Dominant-to-Tonic resolutions inside it. While it can be difficult to identify chords by ear in a fast-
paced performance or recording, seeing the charts makes it quite easy. Hearing the chord
progression played on a guitar or piano, without all the soloing and embellishment, also helps one
hear the overall movements of the song. If a writer does not play guitar or piano, perhaps a friend
or colleague can play the basic chords.
This level of structural analysis remains absent from most jazz critique. Writers, often non-
musicians, can only write their impressions of what music sounds like. This compares to writing
about architecture based strictly on what the outside of buildings look like, without understanding
the inner structure. The professional writer, therefore, will strive to understand and hear more like a
musician. Seek to understand the internal logic of the music as much as its subjective effect. The
basic structure of rhythm changes and patterns of Dominant-to-Tonic resolutions underlie a great
number of songs in both traditional and experimental recordings. If one cannot pick them out by
listening, then one must train the ear and the mind. In the end, taking the time to learn about the
music one critiques will bring a deeper appreciation, and a more thorough understanding.
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References

Bechet, Sidney. (1932). Shag. 1932. Audio sample retrieved 25 October, 2013 from
http://www.soundjunction.org/sidneybechetwildjazzwanderer.aspa

Gershwin, G. (1996). I got rhythm. The complete Gershwin keyboard works. WB Music Corp., ISBN
029156298383. (original copyright 1930?). Chart obtained from Jazz Ltd fake book.

Harrison. Essential Jazz Records (e), Volume 1.

Boppers were not the first people to erect fresh tunes above familiar harmonies: Sidney
Bechet, after all, recorded Shag less than two years after I got rhythm was first sung in the
Gershwins show, Girl Crazy. p. 432

Parker, C. and Gillespie, D. (1945). Anthropology. Chart obtained from The Real Book 1.

SoundJunction. Sidney Bechet: wild jazz wanderer. Retreived from

http://www.soundjunction.org/sidneybechetwildjazzwanderer.aspa, October 25, 2013.
Includes audio sample

Williams, M. (1989). Jazz in its time. New York: Oxford Press. Qtd. in Crawford, R. and Magee, J.,
Jazz Standards on Record, 1900-1942: A Core Repertory.
He goes on to call Shag by Sidney Bechet the first of hundreds (thousands?) of new I Got
Rhythm themes to come. Also notes that this was common practice including standards
like Tiger Rag and Moten Swing.

Zabor, R., and Garbarini, V. (1985, March). Wynton vs. Herbie: The purist and the crossbreeder
duke it out. Musician, 77, 52-64. Excerpted from The Eighties (Palermo), Ch. 54: Soul, craft,
and cultural hierarchy. PDF retrieved from
http://www.scribd.com/doc/32894306/Wynton-Vs-Herbie-2
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APPENDIX 1:
Chord Chart for I Got Rhythm
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APPENDIX 2:
Chord Chart for Anthropology