Lead sheet
Here, we cover two types of lead sheet – standard lead sheet and extended lead sheet – before examining the role of chord symbols.
The lead sheet approach was tried out in most of the constellations, in pieces such as Cortége, D’un vieux jardin, and Assez lent, and was generally perceived to be an effective way of turning a highly detailed score into something ‘thinner’, i.e. leaving more room for improvisation. In particular, the model turned out to be a good way of focusing on the melody of a piece, which gave a lot of freedom for experimenting with other elements (e.g., harmony, voicings, instrumentation, rhythmic interpretations, character).
The flexibility in terms of instrumentation meant that the same sheet music could be adapted to various constellations. To illustrate, here are two recordings of the same passage from D’un vieux jardin, interpreted by piano trio and septet:
It should be added that the lead sheet treatment sometimes seemed to make the interpretations gravitate more towards musical choices typical of jazz performance practice, in terms of how melodies, harmonic progressions and individual chords were interpreted, how solo improvisations were conceived, and so on. This was likely a combination of our backgrounds as performers and habitual ways of interpreting this kind of notation. In some cases this was deliberate on my part; that using a notational language typical of jazz contexts, with its familiar appearance and reduced amount of information, would make it easier for us to get into improvisation. This was the case, for example, with Cortège, where I opted for a minimal approach to notation. However, when trying out Assez lent from Valses nobles et sentimentales, I felt that the scaled-down appearance of the lead sheet – in its basic form – made us lose too much of the subtle details from the original.
The omission of the accompaniment patterns and the voicings made some of the harmonic changes sound less musically justified and somewhat coarse, particularly as we reached the fifth measure, something that I felt our improvised interpretation didn’t make up for, at least not as Söderquist and I tried it out the first time. In cases like these, I turned to more detailed types of notation, something I refer to as an extended lead sheet [1].
Figure 8.8. Valses nobles et sentimentales II. Assez lent, mm. 1–8, extended lead sheet interpretation.
The extended lead sheet approach was valuable when the standard lead sheet in its stripped-down, basic appearance, didn’t capture the desired level of detail for a specific piece. I would then revise the sheet music and add more information; chord voicings, bass lines, etc. This sort of extended lead sheet often seemed to be a good choice when working with ensembles larger than duos, where there were other potential parts that one might want to include. Although such situations could have been solved by going into full arrangements, with separate parts for each musician, that type of approach would have made the versions more fixed, and effectively restricted our possibilities to try out other alternatives to things like instrumentation and form.
The main advantages that I perceived with the extended type of lead sheet was its flexibility – that arrangements could be created on the spot, without the need for musicians to adhere to a pre-determined arrangement – and overview, that musicians could have access to all the information, rather than being limited to one individual part.
This way of preparing a score mirrors the work process of Anders Jormin in Bobo Stenson trio, in how he prepares a “less is more” arrangement that serves as a starting point for the trio explorations:
I simply choose material that I find exciting, and in the case of Western art music, of course I get the sheet music, whether it's an orchestral piece or maybe just a piano piece. And then I familiarize myself with it, and work just as I would to understand any kind of music, I pick out what I perceive to be the melody. … And then I do a harmonic analysis, as I'm sure you do too, so pretty soon I have a melody and a chord progression. And then I go even further into it and see – are there any important middle voices? Counterparts? And so on. I simply do a “less is more” arrangement, where I include everything that I think – and that's where the interpretation comes in – everything that I think is central to the composition. And then I may have peeled away some things. (Interview with Jormin, 2022-01-20)
[Jag väljer helt enkelt material som jag tycker är spännande, och när det nu gäller västerländsk konstmusik så skaffar jag förstås noterna, oavsett om det är ett orkesterstycke eller kanske bara ett pianostycke. Och så sätter jag mig in i det, och jobbar precis som jag skulle ha gjort för att förstå vilken sorts musik som helst, jag plockar ut vad jag uppfattar är melodin. … Och sen så gör jag en harmonisk analys, som du säkert gör också, så jag står där ganska snart med en melodi och en ackordföljd. Och sen går jag ännu längre in i det och ser - finns det några viktiga mellanstämmor? Motstämmor? Och så där. Jag gör helt enkelt ett "less is more" arrangemang, där jag har med allt som jag tycker – och där kommer tolkningen in – allt som jag tycker är centralt för kompositionen. Och så har jag kanske skalat bort lite saker.]
Hence, while the standard lead sheet in its basic form provides a quick and flexible way for improvising musicians to create their version of a given piece, it may need additional information to convey certain nuances of the source material. One aspect of this, which we'll look at next, is the representation of harmony as expressed by chord symbols.
Chord symbols
When assessing the role of chord symbols, several aspects were perceived as valuable. One of these aspects related to its accessibility. As Jormin described it, it’s a sort of language that allows performers to meet and create music on the spot, provided they have a basic understanding of its usage in different traditions. This allowed me to try out pieces together with other musicians directly from the paper, without us having to do a real-time analysis of the underlying harmony. The chord symbols also provided a harmonic overview, giving a rough idea of the underlying harmony which made it easier to get into improvisation sections. They also provided a certain flexibility, in that chord symbols are not limited to a particular way of voicing a certain chord. Moreover, the act of creating the chord symbols in itself often served as a way of getting a deeper harmonic understanding of the music, as negotiations were often required in relation to how certain passages should be interpreted. This is further elaborated under Interpreting harmony.
However, discussions about chord symbols also suggested that there are aspects of them that make them less suitable for the repertoire in question. One such concern relates to the risk for over-interpretation, when approached in a context of jazz improvisation, i.e. that the use of chord symbols from a jazz musician’s point of view often will be interpreted as something more than what is written out, i.e. reading the symbol for a minor 7 chord might yield an minor 11 chord from the performer. This is intrinsically linked with the notation standard and performance practice of jazz; typically, chord symbols in this context will be written in a rudimentary form, e.g., writing Cmaj7 – or C△ – instead of Cmaj9, Dm7 rather than Dm11, G7alt instead of G7(#5#9), etc. This is often based on an expectation that musicians will add this kind of extensions anyway, drawing on a presupposed chord scale. This approach provides flexibility for performers, in that they can make their own choices for how to color and interpret a given chord sequence. However, when the musical context calls for a more rigid interpretation of a particular chord symbol – e.g., that the symbol for C major 7 is read as containing the notes C, E, G, and B, without addition – a challenge arises as how to convey that a more strict reading is desired.
Anders Jormin pointed out the use of chord symbols is a way of simplifying the underlying progressions, something that might not always be desired:
The chord analysis – seen from the context of jazz music – is a simplification method. It is approximate, it should provide a direction. And art music contains, possesses another level of determined character, which should not be changed. It is precisely because it is what it is that it is exciting to approach it as an improviser. (Interview with Jormin, 2022-01-20)
[Ackordanalysen – ur jazzmusikalisk kontext – det är ju en förenklingsmetod. Den är ungefärlig, den ska återge en riktning. Och konstmusik innehåller, har en annan nivå av bestämd karaktär, som inte ska förändras. Det är just för att den är det den är som det är spännande att närma sig den som improvisatör.]
Another aspect of the chord symbol system that was observed is it's failure to convey horizontal[2] dimensions of the music. This was somewhat problematic with much of the repertoire – seen that the music is composed with an emphasis on melodies, lines, contrapuntal lines, and their relations over time – rather than the vertical dimension; i.e., what pitches are sounding at the same time, what the resulting harmony is. This was brought up by Peter Danemo in relation to how he approached arranging Marion Bauer’s Viola sonata for our septet sessions:
PD: When you move away from this more traditional... That a dominant leads to the tonic, and all that sort of thing. … Then there's also the fact that, in the jazz world, we very much want things to lead to each other, that it should be comprehensible, and that it should be a C minor 7, or an F7, or something. But here there are so many instances where, well, I haven't even bothered to figure out what the chord is, even. It's completely unimportant to me.
PK: … That's exactly what I've struggled with sometimes when I've transformed, shall we say, art music pieces into improvisational material: that I – somewhat by default – have ended up writing out chord analysis because it is kind of a standard method, or a standard way of working for jazz musicians to improvise. But when I'm sitting with Hindemith, for example, or well, Takemitsu, or quite a few... you realize that: this is not unambiguous enough that I can create a chord analysis that does the music justice. (Conversation with Danemo, 2024-02-20)
[PD: När man frångår det här mer traditionella, att en dominant leder till tonikan, och allt det här … Då är det ju också det där att, i jazzvärlden så har vi ju, vi vill ju hemskt gärna att saker och ting ska leda till vartannat, och att det ska vara begripligt. Och att det ska bli ett C moll 7, eller ett F7, eller någonting. Men här är det så många gånger så att, ja, jag har inte ens brytt mig om att räkna ut vad det är för ackord. Det är helt oviktigt för mig.
PK: … Precis det där har jag stångats med ibland när jag har omvandlat, kan vi säga, konstmusikaliska stycken till improvisationsmaterial: att jag – lite schablonmässigt – har hamnat i att sätta ut ackordanalyser för att det finns, det är liksom en gängse metod, eller ett gängse arbetssätt för jazzmusiker att improvisera. Men när jag sitter med till exempel Hindemith, eller Takemitsu, eller ganska många, så märker man att: det här är inte entydigt nog att jag kan göra en ackordanalys som gör musiken rättvisa.]
Jormin expressed a similar sentiment in relation to his work with preparing pieces for Bobo Stenson trio:
AJ: I'm thinking of Petr Eben, for example, who has a very unique musical language. And a chord analysis is not enough for that. It's voice leading, notes that appear, move around… and Bartok, another good example, where there is a harmony and a harmonic thinking that cannot be achieved with a jazz musical approach. Instead: take it as it is. Sometimes it comes out exactly as it's written. Sometimes I add a little note, to make it maybe less harsh, or more complex, or something like that. Or I'll refine it. You're allowed to take liberties as an arranger, but it must involve the essence of the work, which is the challenge to retain. What that essence looks like – that's where I have an opinion, and you perhaps another. (Interview with Jormin, 2022-01-20)
[AJ: Jag tänker på Petr Eben, till exempel, som har ett väldigt eget tonspråk. Och det duger inte med en ackordanalys på det där. Det är ju stämföring, toner som kommer, rör sig … och Bartok, ett annat bra exempel, där det är en harmonik och ett harmoniskt tänkande som inte kan göras med en jazzmusikalisk approach. Utan då: ta den som det är. Ibland blir det precis som det är skrivet. Någon gång lägger jag till en liten ton, för att få det kanske mindre kärvt, eller mer komplext, eller någonting sådant. Eller så renodlar jag: man får ju ta sig friheter som arrangör. Men det gäller att det är kärnan i verket, som det är utmaningen att behålla. Hur den kärnan ser ut - där har ju jag en uppfattning, och du en annan kanske.]
As I brought a lead sheet to saxophonist Eirik Hegdal, we discussed some of the default interpretations that a jazz improviser might make:
PK: I'm struggling with this too, how to do; as soon as you put a chord symbol, then a lot of jazz musicians will interpret it in a certain way, and think: “yeah, but this is melodic minor”, for example.
EH: And all the presets that we have...
PK: Yes, exactly. But at the same time – if you don't write anything there, then it requires that the musician has learned the harmony by ear.
EH: Yes, but it's like that; as we play, new possibilities open up, and things start to fall into place. And as a kind of orientation picture it's great, but you want to get away from it. (Conversation with Hegdal, 2024-05-09)
[PK: Jag sliter med det här också, hur man ska göra: så fort du sätter en ackordsymbol, då kommer en massa jazzmusiker att tolka det på ett visst sätt, och tänker att: "ja, men här är det melodisk moll", t.ex…
EH: Og alle de presets:en vi har...
PK: Ja, exakt. Men samtidigt – om man inte skriver någonting där, då kräver det ju att musikern har lärt sig harmoniken gehörsvägen.
EH: Ja, men det er jo sånn, når vi – etter hvert som vi spiller, så åpenbarer det seg nye muligheter, og ting begynner til å falle på plass. Og som et sånt orienteringsbilde så er det jo kjempefint, men man vil bort fra det.]
Here, Hegdal sees the function of written-out chord symbols as a general harmonic orientation, which resonates to a high degree with my way of approaching them. The same topic was discussed with saxophonist Birgitta Flick, who pointed out that chord symbols seem to impose a hierarchy for how the pitches of a certain sonority are perceived:
PK: Sometimes it can be sufficient to write out voicings also, if it's very linear, chromatic and so on.
BF: Yes. Because then you don't have to name things. … Sometimes you also have things where it's just a collection of notes... and then I think, if I put on a [chord symbol], well, then you determine a hierarchy.
PK: Yes, and just such a thing as saying “this is the root note, this is the lowest note”. There you have a clear hierarchy. (Interview with Flick, 2024-04-18)
[PK: Ibland kan det räcka med att skriva ut voicingar också, om det är väldigt linjärt, kromatiskt och sådär.
BF: Ja. För då slipper man också namnge saker. … Ibland har man också saker där det är bara en samling toner.. Och då tänker jag, om jag nu då sätter på en [ackordssymbol], alltså, då bestämmer man en hierarki.
PK: Ja, och bara en sån sak som att du ska säga "det här är grundtonen, det här är den lägsta tonen". Där har du ju en tydlig hierarki.]Hence, the chord symbol comes with an inherent assumption that sonorities are centered around a certain note, i.e. the “root” of a chord. This might be undesired in some cases; for instance, if the music we want to represent is composed in a way where there is no apparent root, a bass note, or even one pitch that seems be dominant in the gathering of pitches that is sounding at a given moment.
[1] It should be noted that the name ”extended lead sheet” is not a standard term, although I find it useful when one wants to make a distinction between a stripped-down type of lead sheet (as found in the first TuneDex cards, for instance) and something that contains information beyond melody and chord analysis.
[2] The terms 'vertical' and 'horizontal' are derived from the visual representation of music in Western music notation, where these graphic dimensions are used to prescribe events in pitch (vertical axis) and time (horizontal axis).