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Bill Evans Rootless

Maj7 Rootless B — jazz piano voicing

Bill Evans maj7 B voicing - LH 7–9–3–5. Written in C. Below it, 5 transcribed voicings from the pianists it defines, both hands, note by note.

The shape

Bill Evans maj7 B voicing - LH 7–9–3–5

Bill Evans Rootless

Stored in C so it moves to any key; each note carries its role and its name.

Same family: Maj7 Rootless A, Dom7 Rootless A and Dom7 Rootless B.

The hands, in full

5 transcriptions across 2 players, oldest first.

Cool Jazz era still life for Red Garland: a pair of taped boxing wraps coiled on a studio stool.

Red Garland

1923–1984

Block Chord Master · Block Chord + Octaves

Block chord master - locked-hands technique (originated by Milt Buckner, popularized by George Shearing), octave melody with inner voices

Cmaj7 block chord

Block chord (locked-hands): melody E5 in RH with close-position harmony, LH doubles melody an octave below at E3

RH plays melody on top with close-position chord voicing beneath it; LH doubles melody note an octave below

Block Chord

Cmaj7 drop-2 comp

Garland comping: single bass note LH, drop-2 voicing in RH

LH plays bass on beat 1, RH comps the drop-2 voicing rhythmically

Drop-2 Comping

C melody octaves

Octave melody with inner voices: 5th and 7th frame the 9th, melody G doubled

Play melody in octaves (G3-G4) with inner harmony notes between

Octave Melody

Also reaches for Maj7 Rootless A.

Contemporary era still life for Fred Hersch: a single glass of water on black gloss, the city bokeh behind it.

Fred Hersch

b. 1955 · USA

Transparent Voicings · Rootless

Classical refinement with transparent rootless shells and soft pedal

Dm9 → G13 → Cmaj9sequence

Transparent rootless A-form with lyrical top voice

Rootless A

Cmaj9 → E7#9 → Amaj9sequence

LH shells with RH tight three-note 6/9 grips

Rootless 6/9

Also reaches for Dom7 Rootless A and Maj7 Rootless A.

Also in their vocabulary

1 more reach for it. Their notes are printed on the rarer grip each one plays.

Take it to the key you are working in

Everything above is in C, and nothing is held back — the notes are the notes. What a page cannot do is move the shape into the key of the tune on your stand, or run your own progression through it and play the result. That is what the Reharmonization Engine in the app is for.

Built from the app's own data: the grip from masterVoicingGrips, who plays it from pianistVoicingStyles, and every transcription frompianistExactVoicings. Nothing on this page was written about these pianists for the website.