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JAZZ PERSPECTIVES
Jazz
Forms - The 32 bar Song Form
One
of the many skills a jazz musician must possess is the ability to improvise
within a given harmonic structure. This practice has been present in jazz since
the first spontaneous paraphrasing of popular song melodies. As many
of these popular songs were of a 32 measure length divided into four eight
measure phrases, this song form has become a regular occurrence in the
traditional jazz medium.
The
jazz soloist approaches the 32 bar form using the same logical phrases the
composer uses to create the song's progression. These phrases are then labeled
as sections using rehearsal letters [A, B, C, etc.], repeating the same letter
for any section which is the same or similar to a previous one. Harmony patterns
are broken down and memorized, and similarities between sections of different
tunes are explored.
The
most typical 32 bar song form is represented by the form A, A, B, A. Many popular
melodies follow this structure, such as Frosty the Snowman, Aura Lee, and
Au
Clair de la Lune. Jazz standards which follow this form include Thomas
"Fats" Waller's Honeysuckle Rose* and Ain't Misbehavin', Duke Ellington's It Don't Mean a Thing If It Ain't Got
That Swing and Sophisticated Lady, and George Gershwin's I Got
Rhythm.
I
Got Rhythm became very popular during the BeBop era, not for the melody but for
the underlying harmonic progression. Charlie Parker wrote many complex melodies
over these changes, including Little Bennie (originally Crazeology),
Anthropology, and Ko Ko. Other 'Rhythm Changes' heads include Sonny Stitt's
Eternal Triangle, Sonny Rollin's Oleo, and Dexter Gordon's Dexterity. For many
years one 'cutting' test of a player's worth was their ability to handle Rhythm
Changes effectively and individually.
Other
variations of the 32 bar song form are also in regular use. The popular jazz
vehicle Out Of Nowhere by Green and Heyman follows an A,B,A,C song form, as does
Morgan Lewis' How High The Moon, which Charlie Parker used to create Ornithology. Parker used
Indiana's harmony to support the BeBop standard Donna Lee**, both following the A,B,A,C form.
Jazz
listeners and jazz improvisers can explore the 32 bar song form in the same
ways, through listening, feeling the beat, counting measures, and learning to
hear the connections and flow of the harmony. One crucial step in this process
is to sing, hum or imagine the melody throughout the improvisations after the
melody is stated. By hearing the architecture of the chord patterns in
relationship to the melodic variations, the immense logic and spontaneous
creativity of the jazz improviser will be revealed.
[top]
- article by Frank Singer
©2002
*
A recording of Honeysuckle Rose can be found on the CD Tito
In Wonderland 
**
A recording of Donna Lee can be found on the CD oFF
tHE tOP: standards 1
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JAZZ PERSPECTIVES
CONTENTS
Jazz
Origins
I - Beginnings
II - Jazz and Technology
III - Radio and the Industrial Beat
The
Swing Era
I - Precursors
II - The Decade of Swing
III - The
BeBop Strain
A
First Look Back
New Orleans
Revival
Jazz
Forms
The Blues
The 32 bar Song Form
The Latin Influence
Cool
Hard Bop
Evolution 1 - A New Dialogue
Evolution 2 - Into The Seventies
Evolution Of The Jam Session
Post Modernism
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