John Elliott's Insights In Jazz Podcast

The standard, Secret Love, is analysed with particular attention the metaview and substitution. Bricks covered include: Cadence; On-Off; POT; SPOT; Yardbird Cadence; Nowhere Cadence; Launcher; Dropback. Joins include: Sidewinder; New Horizon.

The concepts of 'Off' and 'On' are explored with examples from many songs. The meta brick, 'On Off On + Dropback' is also explored with variants.

A very simple tune that is predominantly in a minor key but demonstrates the bricks: Cadence; POT; Launcher and Rhythm Turnaround. Joins used are: Homer and Highjump.

This podcasts continues to consolidate the ideas about Minor Harmony in the previous two podcasts. This tune uses the brick: Extended Cadence; Overrun; Cadence; Launcher; Dropback and Pullback. The joins are Bootstrap; Highjump and Sidewinder.

Autumn Leaves is used to illustrate the concepts introduced about Minor Harmony in the previous podcast. Bricks introduced include the Overrun; Launcher; Rainy Cadence; Nowhere Cadence. Joins are Sidewinder; Bootstrap; Homer and Highjump.

This week's podcast discusses minor harmony as used in jazz standards and how this relates to the IIJ method. Conversion of bricks to their minor equivalents and relevant joins are considered.

In December 2009, John was interview about the book, Insights In Jazz, by Leith FM, a radio station local to Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.

Another simple song, Blue Moon, is analysed, introducing the bricks: POT; On; 7-chord Dropback; and Slow Launcher. The joins in this song are Homer, Highjump and Bauble.

Tune Up is analysed, using the method in the book, showing the sound of the regular Cadence brick and the joins New Horizon and Bauble.

So, what are the benefits of the LEGO approach to learning jazz chord progressions? John Elliott, author of Insights In Jazz, discusses.