![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2014\/YoungBrecker.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nHere’s another new transcription I\u00a0have been\u00a0working on. \u00a0This is Michael Brecker’s 5 chorus solo over the tune “Four Chords” from the album Paradox by Steps Ahead. \u00a0This is young Michael Brecker tearing it up with some high energy classic “Brecker” lines. The Paradox album is one of the many\u00a0Steps Ahead albums that I purchased back in the 80’s when I first heard about Michael Brecker and Steps Ahead.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u00a0Michael Brecker in the 70’s<\/strong><\/p>\n I’ve been been working on this solo for the past few weeks. Figuring out the chord progressions on some of these tunes can be rough. \u00a0I always wished I was one of the guys that had\u00a0perfect pitch and could hear every single note and what inversions the chords were in but alas………I was not born with that gift. \u00a0I remember taking lessons with Charlie Banacos and I was working hard trying to hear two notes at once and being able to name them by ear. \u00a0I was having a rough time and Charlie told me he has had some students that had such good ears that he could play\u00a013 random notes on the piano at the same time and the students could name all of them by ear (He did tell me that those students were a rare exception though……which made me feel better)<\/span><\/p>\n I\u00a0believe these chords are close to what is being played although I am not 100% certain. \u00a0 \u00a0I was driving myself crazy trying to figure out the exact chords and inversions on the piano and finally I couldn’t take it anymore. \u00a0This is as close as I could get……….If any of you can hear the chords easily I would love to hear from you if you hear something different than what I have.<\/p>\n There are a ton of great lines and licks in this solo and what actually spurred this on was that Rick Margitza shared two other bootleg transcriptions of “Four Chords” on Facebook which are awesome too. \u00a0I actually started putting all 3 transcriptions together on a 3 stave version of the solo to compare them and work through the lines. \u00a0I hope to share them when they are ready.<\/span><\/p>\n Addition: \u00a0I’m adding this a week after the original post. \u00a0I ended up buying the Don Grolnick Collection because a few of these chords were driving me insane. \u00a0This is what Don Grolnick’s original lead sheet states for the chords on the solo section:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n E-7sus \/E-7sus \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\/CMaj7 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \/B-sus E7#9\/<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n A-7 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\/G-7b5 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0C7b5 \u00a0 \u00a0 \/F#-7b5 Fm6 Abm6\/B7#9 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \/<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n E-7 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\/D-7 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 G7 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \/Camj7 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\/B-7sus Bb13\/<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n A-7sus\/EbMaj7 \u00a0 DbMaj7\/GMaj7b5 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\/F13 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\/<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The first chord is labeled as E-7sus which makes sense as at the 8 minute mark I hear Mike Mainieri comping a suspended sound on the vibes. \u00a0I take this to mean EGABD. \u00a0 My Finale program wouldn’t let me \u00a0put in a minor suspended notation so I labeled that chord as a E-11 chord (which I think of as having the same notes). \u00a0Where ever there is a minor sus chord in the tune\u00a0I call it a minor 11 chord\u00a0in the transcription.\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The 2nd chord is still baffling me though. \u00a0The sheet music says it is still a E-7sus chord but in the piano part there is a D# as the left hand bass note. \u00a0I would usually think this is a chord with D# in the bass because of that but I still hear the bass playing lots of BC#D# on that chord. \u00a0I basically hear that chord as D#GABD concert key. \u00a0Brecker does seem to be gravitating to an F lydian sound on this 2nd measure so that would make sense. \u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n I had measure 3-5 mostly correct. Measure 6 is a minor ii-V which surprised me. \u00a0Brecker’s lines are definitely outlining a minor ii-V so that is what I first thought that measure was but when I play it on the piano it doesn’t sound right to me. \u00a0I think it’s a matter of finding the right voicing to fit with the other chords.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The rest of the chords are\u00a0pretty straight forward.\u00a0\u00a0I missed the b5 on measure 15 but I knew there was more tension on that chord than a normal GMaj9 chord………..I changed all the chords to reflect the Don Grolnick version of the lead sheet. \u00a0The only difference is that measure 2 which I kept as C#7#5#9 just because I’m pretty sure it is not a E-7sus chord there…………Enjoy!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Four Chords Brecker Solo-Paradox<\/a><\/p>\n *I’m not sure if this recording is available right now but you can listen to the solo\u00a0online here for free<\/a>. \u00a0If your resourceful there is probably a way to record it while it streams from that site………….<\/p>\n *It is also on Google Play to buy for .99 Four Chords<\/a><\/p>\n If you like these type of outside modern sounding lines like I do, be sure to check out my Devastating Lines for Jazz and Funk Soloing for Minor and Dominant Grooves. These two books are filled with great modern 16th note lines in all 12 keys that you can learn and use while soloing. Check out all the 5 star reviews!<\/a> Steve<\/p>\n Here’s another new transcription I\u00a0have been\u00a0working on. \u00a0This is Michael Brecker’s 5 chorus solo over the tune “Four Chords” from the album Paradox by Steps Ahead. \u00a0This is young Michael Brecker tearing it up with some high energy classic “Brecker” lines. The Paradox album is one of the many\u00a0Steps Ahead albums that I purchased back […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":25022,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1256,716,35,1255,1254,265],"class_list":{"0":"post-25017","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-transcriptions","8":"tag-four-chords","9":"tag-jazz-sax","10":"tag-michael-brecker","11":"tag-paradox","12":"tag-steps-ahead","13":"tag-tenor-saxophone","14":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25017","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}*If you would like to support me here at neffmusic.com, you can do so\u00a0on the support page of my store<\/a> by debit or credit card. \u00a0 Any support is appreciated and will go towards keeping this site running, saxophone reeds, mouthpiece patches, coffee, and towards justifying the many hours I spend on providing free transcriptions to the saxophone community!\u00a0 Thanks,\u00a0 \u00a0Steve<\/em><\/div>\n![\"DevastatingFrontCoverAd\"](\"https:\/\/d1av9c1o38t6ow.cloudfront.net\/2021\/DevastatingFrontCoverAd.jpg\")
<\/a>Devastating Minor Lines for Jazz and Funk Soloing<\/a><\/p>\n![\"DevastatingDominantAd\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2021\/DevastatingDominantAd.jpg\")
<\/a>Devastating Dominant Lines for Jazz & Funk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"