Reading and playing a jazz lead sheet
Music theory · Jazz harmony · Level 5 · 14 min
A jazz chart often fits on one page: the melody (the head), the chords, a few form markings. Everything else is oral tradition: style, rhythm, arrangement. Reading this page means knowing what isn't written on it.
Jazz-specific symbols
- - = minor (C-7 = Cm7); Δ = major seventh; ø = half-diminished; ° = diminished.
- alt = altered dominant (♭9, ♯9, ♭5, ♭13 at will); sus = fourth instead of third, with the 7th (G7sus).
- Tensions in brackets are suggestions: C7(♭9) indicates the desired colour.
- Two symbols in a 4/4 bar = two beats each, unless marked otherwise.
The form
Find the sections (letters A, B, C), repeat bars, 1st and 2nd endings, the D.S. (dal segno) and coda signs. On the bandstand you play the head, then solos over the whole form (each time through = one chorus), then the head again.
Swing
Eighth notes are written even but played uneven, long-short, close to a triplet rhythm (quarter + triplet eighth). Beats 2 and 4 are slightly accented (where jazz audiences snap their fingers!). At the piano, swing comes mostly from the left hand and rhythmic precision.
Comping
Comping (from accompanying) means placing chords rhythmically and discreetly, in dialogue with the soloist. The “Charleston” rhythm is an ideal starting point:
M:4/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=132
%%staves {RH LH}
V:RH clef=treble
V:LH clef=bass
K:C
[V:RH] "Dm7"[FAce]3 [FAce] z4 | "G7"[FABe]3 [FABe] z4 | "Cmaj7"[EGBd]3 [EGBd] z4 |]
[V:LH] D,2 E,2 F,2 ^F,2 | G,2 F,2 E,2 D,2 | C,8 |]
The right hand plays rootless voicings, the left hand a walking bass (a quarter-note bass line): D E F F♯ → G, a chromatic approach to the next root.
Solo piano
Without a bassist, combine: bass (or shell) in the left hand, melody + one or two chord tones in the right. At slow tempos add arpeggios; at fast tempos, short chords (“stabs”).