BookatlasPiano Rabbit Hole: Improvisation Theory & Practice
7736 / 18210 · Workshop 60 — “Butterfly”-Type Floating Harmony: Deep Pocket, Pedal Centers, Upper Structures, Parallel Voicings, Common-Tone Motion, and Making Harmony Feel Suspended Rather Than Functional← prev⊞ allnext →

60.83Apply it to “Mack the Knife”

Take the melody away from walking swing entirely.

Use:

C pedal.

Sparse upper structures.

Deep pocket.

A long suspended environment.

Then perhaps one conventional turnaround at the end.

The contrast with the tune's usual swing association will be enormous.

This is a good test of whether the melody truly exists independently from style.