Postbop Procedures in Two Kenny Wheeler Compositions, by Keith Waters

Postbop jazz composers in the late 1950s and 1960s offered alternatives to tonal jazz compositions, bypassing 32-bar AABA or ABAC monotonal song forms and conventional harmonic progressions. Many postbop compositions explored major third (M3) cycles of major harmonies (John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter), ascending fifth cycles of minor harmonies (Bill Evans, Chick Corea), or minor pentatonic melodies (Shorter, Woody Shaw, Joe Henderson) within single-section chorus structures. This paper shows those principles absorbed in later decades, examining two compositions by noted trumpeter/composer Kenny Wheeler, ‘Ma Belle Helene’ (The Widow in the Window, 1990) and ‘Smatter’ (Gnu High, 1976), both on the ECM label. The lead sheets used are taken from Wheeler’s publication (Wheeler/Sturm). 

Keith Waters

Keith Waters is Professor of Music at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is the author of numerous books and articles on jazz, a contributor to the New Grove Dictionary of American Music, and a consultant for the Oxford English Dictionary. As a jazz pianist, he has recorded and performed throughout the United States, Europe, and in Russia and South America. 

‘Ma Belle Helene’ is a 26-bar composition. The harmonic language uses primarily slash chords, which use a slash to separate upper-structure triads (left side) above a bass note (right side). The composition uses a separate intervallic premise in both dimensions: M3 cycles for upper-structure triads, and a half-step trajectory in the bass. At the larger eight-bar hypermetric level (mm. 1, 9, and 17), however, the intervallic patterns reverse roles: upper structure triads now descend by half step, while the bass descends by M3.

 The analysis of ‘Smatter’ takes into account both harmony and melody. I suggest an ascending fifth cycle of eight minor pentatonic collections and a two-chord framework as a simplified model. Both harmony and melody progress through this model in distinct fashion, moving from Eb minor pentatonic to E minor pentatonic between mm. 1-16. In the melodic dimension, the final four measures (mm. 17-20) reverse the direction of those pentatonic collections, creating a boomerang effect that quickly returns the composition to its original pentatonic region.

Both compositions share procedures of 1960s postbop composers, a topic of recent interest for music analysts. At the same time, they operate within a broader network of post-1970 jazz compositions, an area ripe for further consideration.  

Delen