Chords Used in Gospel Jazz.....

[4hisglory]

Below of foundational chords to obtaining the gospel jazz sound.

Major 7th
Minor 7th
Diminished 7th
Dominant 7th, 9th, 11th 13th, alterred

[wordmanord]

 ::)For all of you who think there is something wrong with Gospel Jazz, listen up!!!
The late, great Alfred Bolden, one of the world's foremost and greatest "gospel" musicians played this style of beautiful mesmarizing music.  He recorded such instrumentals as, What A Friend, Only What You Do For Christ Will Last, etc.  He was well ahead of his time back in the 1950's - 1970's.

Blues, Jazz, Rock and Gospel use the same varaitions of chords (modern players).  I am 57 years old and am still trying to learn Jazz runs and riffs.  Oh, by the way, I am an ordained minister of the Gospel and have been playing for over 40 years. 

When you hear Smokie Norful, John P. Kee, Kirk Franklin, Donnie McClurkin, The Clark Sisters, Darly Coley, etc, all of the modern (contemporary musicians) you are listening to jazz.

May the Blessings of the Lord be upon you and yours!!!

[diverse379]

this is a post i found the I wrote a while ago
i have done many posts on progressions
most of my theory bacground has been jazz and i very slowly learned how to apply it to gospel so if you check out some of my posts on bass lines
blues progressions voicings you will see a ton of info

but I was experimenting with using diminished chords to connect my chords within a key

this is should be practiced in every key

it is full of approach tones and 2 - 5 -1  progressions

and i think the voicing is pretty good


part of them are my own invention some are things I learned from Pj morgan tape
and eddie howard dvd

and some sebastians new dvd

pay attention to the count i list for each chord
because this is how you will get the phrasing correct

this is a 7-3-6-2-5-1- 4
progression be sure to fill in the chords with some melodic finger work in your right hand
appegiate the notes in the right hand add some higer notes melody fills

BP/LH/RH
2 beats  G/FG/BbDBb
2 beats  C/EG/BbDbEG
4 beats  F/EbAb/CEbFAb
2 beats  G/BbE/DbEGBb
2 beats  A/EbA/EbGbAC
4 beats  Bb/FAbBb/FAbBbDb
4 beats  Eb/FGBb/FGBbDb
4 beats  Ab/GBbC/EbAbC
2 beats  E/D#G#/
2 beats  D/C#F#/
4 beats  Db/DbFAb/CEbAb


i didnt add right hand chords to the two passing chords which pass to the
Db chord because i wanted to leave it open to interpretation

now you dont have to do that movement to the Db you can walk up to it from the Bb C and do the Db # 5 move we all hear all the time resolving to the Db 6/9

for example

1 beat Ab/AbAB/CGC
1 beat  Bb/BbBb/DbAbDb
1 beat  C/CC/EbBbEb
2 beat  Db/DbEb/FAF---
2 beat  Db/DbBb/FBbF


the last two chords have a little movement to it to make it work

the left hand plays Eb,C,Eb Db
while the right  plays in between the octaves  C, A, C, Bb
so you have F octaves held by th thumb and pinky while the middle and ring fingers play the D C C Bb
along with the left hand which is playing Eb.C, Eb,Bb

I hope you like this progression

another thing that sounds cool is to do another 7-3-6 but now in Db

and this will bring you to Bbmin
and you can use this chord to do a 2 - 1 back to Ab


I hope you can get some use out of this

play this in every key

and you will have a strong progression that iwll allow you to function in every key


when transposing think left to right

in other words think about the half steps and how far each finger has to move to go to the next chord

if you do it this way you will be transposing with less think

[rspindy]

Folkses,

A very notable church composer of his (and everyone's) time used the vernacular music to involve the congregation.  He followed the precedent set by a church reformer of a century earlier.  He wrote pop style, operatic type arias (when that was not cool in church) and could do a Jig in the midst of a Mass.  He could even begin his composition of a secular piece with the initials "JJ" meaning "with Jesus' help" and end it with "SDG" meaning "Soli Deo Gloria" or, in English "To God Alone Be the Glory."  He knew that music, in all of its forms was a gift of God.  He was an early improviser, and a Jazz musician.

His name was Johann Sebastian Bach.

It's not the style, it's what we do with it.

[bug]

All of the contemporary keyboard sounds are jazz voiced.  The first time I heard Tthe Reason Why I Sing by Kirk Franklin I could hear the voicings that sounded just like I would play on a jazz gig.

John P. Kee studied jazz.  You can hear it in his concept as well as his voicings.  Go to John P. Kee's website and find out that he studied jazz before he ever got a chance to record.

The best contemporary stuff is very jazz oriented.

brother scott