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Reharmonizations & Embellishments

Welcome to "Reharmonizations & Embellishments"!
Here we'll be going over the tools and concepts that John Stowell uses in his solo over "All The Things You Are".
Let's go!

Melodic Minor

The first technique we encounter is using melodic minor. More specifically, John uses the minor-major 7 chord for both the Fm7 in the 1st bar and the Cm7 in the 9th bar.

This is a typical thing to do in minor keys.

On our first degree we play melodic minor and we either use ImMaj 7 or Im6 if the root is in the melody.

Major b13

Besides the minor-major 7 substitute on minor chords, he frequently adds the b13 to major chords, which adds a nice colour without changing the function.

Secondary Dominants

The second technique is "secondary dominants". You can appply secondary dominants at any time when going to any other scale degree, except for the diminished. In major that would the 7th scale degree, in minor that's the 2nd scale degree.

Tritone substitutes

The third technique is closely related to secondary dominants: tritone substitutes.
You can substitute any dominant chord with the dominant chord a tritone away.

In the example below, the Gb7 chord is a substitute for C7, resolving to F13.

The F13 and Bb13 are secondary dominants again and the Bb13 is also a tritone substitute for E7 that resolves to Am in the next bar (which is not shown here).

If you're background is in classical harmony: the tritone substitute is somewhat comparable to the augmented 6th chord.

The biggest difference is that the augmented 6th chord has a subdominant function resolving to the dominant (i.e. b6 resolving to 5) and in jazz it just has as a dominant function, because it doesn't have to resolve to a dominant chord.

Dominant 7#9 / Dominant 13 b9

Another voicing that gets used frequently is the dominant 7#9 or dominant 13b9.

The voicing and the notes are the same, but because it's a rootless voicing, the bass note is ultimately whay will determine how we interpret the tensions.

This has to do with tritone substitutes once again.

Diminished substitute

And here's our final link with tritone substitutes.
The basis of these substitutes is the diminished scale.
If we replace the root of a dominant chord with the b9, we get a diminished chord.

And if we lower ANY note in a diminished chord with a note 1/2 lower we get a dominant chord.

C#° = C7b9
C#° = A7b9
C#° = F#7b9
C#° = Eb7b9

If you were to combine all the arpeggios of the C7,Eb7, F#7 and A7 you would get the C half/whole diminished scale. (I think I made my point that they're all related).

So you can replace a dominant chord not only with a dominant a tritone away, but also a minor 3rd away in either direction. Which is what's happening here.

Parallelism / Chromatic Approach

Next up we have parallelism & chromatic approach. I grouped them together, because they share a common fundamental attribute: a "structure" moves chromatically.

A structure is typically a chord or a voicing and the structure can move up or down to the target chord.

Quartal Voicings

Arguably the most beloved voicing when playing modal tunes (or if you want to be vague), the quartal voicing.
We're simply stacking perfect 4th on top of each other.

In this case, John uses it over C.

If we look at the voicing alone it would spell an Em11 chord, but with the added C that the bass player would play, we get an C6/9.

Diminished Major 7

Another voicing he uses frequently throughout the solo is the Diminished major 7 chord, which you can see here starting on the "2 &" of the measure.
This technique is also called a "high grade".

This chord originally comes from a diminished chord. All you have to do is raise the top note 1 whole step higher.

Alternatively, you could also see this chord as a C triad with an added b2.

Enclosure

Now we come to a melodic embellishing device, the enclosure.

In the first example our target note is the "Eb".
This "Eb" is being "enclosed" chromatically from below by the "D" and diatonically from above by the "F".

That's also the standard "formula" for an enclosure: approach/enclose your target note chromatically from below and diatonically from above.

Upper Structure

And finally, we have upper structures. 
Upper Structures are chord built from the 3rd, 5th or 7th of a chord.
And there you have it!
All the tools you need to make  any chord progression very interesting and colorful
Now it's time to apply these concepts and use them in your solos and arrangements!

If you're interested in learning many more concepts, you might be interested in the following books and courses.

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