Chick Corea 500 Miles High: Harmonic Analysis

Chick Corea's 500 Miles High is not an easy piece to analyze. There's no fancy counterpoint to talk about, no symmetry or development. But In this video, I'm talking about The "minorization" of a minor chord and some interesting melodic organization.
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[@dekelas]

Nice one! More Chick would be highly appreciated. Your Rhodes sounding gooood

[@dr.guyshkolnik_composer]

Thank you, Assaf!

[@JohnHorneGuitar]

Thanks so much for this analysis. I often consider relative major/minor relationships when looking for interesting pathways through tunes but I’ve never really had a good name for it like minorization.

[@dr.guyshkolnik_composer]

Thanks John! I've always been fascinated by progressions such as Em7 - Cm7 (PMG Episode D'Azure), and the Dmaj7 - Fmaj Types of thing. We'll further explore it on this channel.

[@patbreacadh]

Minorization of minor is an interesting concept. As always, great playing in all the examples. Gorgeous sounding Rhodes! First time I see the insides of one.

[@dr.guyshkolnik_composer]

Thanks Pat! And you have that in major too, when moving from B Major to D Major ( D is the relative of B minor,). I particularly like that with Major 7 chords. By the way - If you got friends who might be interested, please let them know about the channel, thanks! :)

[@patbreacadh]

Could one see minorization of minor as a form of chromatic mediant modulation, ie moving from the i (minor) to the iii (minor) instead of the III (major)?

[@dr.guyshkolnik_composer]

Pat Breacadh yes. But the important thing is when you’re moving say, from C to Eb, the E from the C becomes Eb, even if not in the same voice. (The Eb moves to the bass).

[@patbreacadh]

@@dr.guyshkolnik_composer Indeed, very noticeable on two Maj7 chords a minor third apart! Channel, yes! :) Two shares already today . Really like the content and the quality of the performances. Visited for your video on Bright Size Life, then I watched a few others. Great work.

[@dr.guyshkolnik_composer]

Pat Breacadh thanks Pat, I really appreciate it!

[@lunfardo]

I signed up to this channel for your great analyses on Pat & Lyle’s compositions. Did not excepted to see another all time favorite musician of mine!

[@dr.guyshkolnik_composer]

Oh yeah :) I'm a huge Chick Corea fan! There will be at least 4 more videos dedicated to his music. And thank you! :)

[@groovelove3361]

BTW, Chick, Gary Burton, Pat M. did a great album together. I love their version of Windows.

[@matt-spaiser]

Thank you for this analysis. I have always loved this song. I have never been drawn to Chick for his improvisations, but rather for his larger visions. He's a brilliant composer, and he has had so many wonderful bands over his career that have different and special sounds, but you still always know it's Chick. And as a player he has such a special touch and a special way of phrasing. And the vehicles he writes are key to this. I hope you analyse more of his compositions in the future. Chick has mentioned Bartok (one of my favourite composers) a lot. Could you compare Chick and Bartok?

[@dr.guyshkolnik_composer]

Thanks Matt. There's definitely a lot to be explored about Chicks music. I remember listening to Duet Suite with Gary Burton with all those inventive progressions and modulations, when my friend out to me just how natural it all sounded. The chords don't clash with one another in terms of resonation. I've heard cases of chromatic jazz writing that may sound ok played slowly. Played in time, though, the chords seem to be stepping on one another's toes - resulting in an overall cluttered sound. I'm not sure I can point out something specific about Bartok - Corea (I do want to explore Children Song #20), but I'm planning more videos on his music. And thanks for the great comment!

[@cosmolocus6545]

Excellent video and amazing Fender Rhodes!

[@dr.guyshkolnik_composer]

Thank you!! :)

[@thetophat6833]

Your structure of the video, editing, examples, and explaination is superb. Thank you so much.

[@max-herzog]

This is really good. Thanks.

[@monsterjazzlicks]

Is that an MXR Carbon Copy? I think the REGEN dial activates a kind of pitch-modulation FX? I have not actually experimented with mine in that way as yet. You make it sound very cool!

[@dr.guyshkolnik_composer]

Hi! Thank you! Yes, I that's the MXR Carbon Copy. As good as it is, the Memory Man Deluxe takes it to another level, the vibrato is magic.

[@monsterjazzlicks]

@@dr.guyshkolnik_composer - Thanks. So you are ONLY using the MXR in this video? Paul.

[@max-herzog]

This has been very helpful on some other Chick Corea tunes for me. Thanks!

[@mikeo2420]

You had me at Fender Rhodes!😉

[@groovelove3361]

Thank you so much. Rip CR, I love RTF & 500 miles is a fav(Flora Purim vocal is amazing )! Your content (I see it on IG often) is always mindful and superb. My only question is: what are those last 4 voicings you play in that (diminished or alt sounding) turnaround in the last 4 seconds of the video? I don’t read music yet, so I just learn chords from visually identifying finger placement. Thank you ahead of time!🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@bassmonk2920]

Just discovered you and am digging your style and analysis of very cool tunes.......thanks

[@dr.guyshkolnik_composer]

Thanks Edgar - I'm glad you're liking it! Welcome to the channel :)

[@danieljsanders]

Cool, again! Thanks

[@dr.guyshkolnik_composer]

Thanks Daniel!

[@YoelGenin]

Love it! One of my favorite standards and you shed some new light on it for me (: Always ta'anoog.

[@dr.guyshkolnik_composer]

Thanks my friend ❤️ יואל תודה! And how about that F#m7b5 - fm7... Lyle included it in his 'Mirror of the Heart' Ballad (from his first solo album).

[@YoelGenin]

@@dr.guyshkolnik_composer So good. I'll take a listen to that song I don't know it!

[@monsterjazzlicks]

Ok, good video but quite short and a few important points omitted. For one: you did not establish what KEY the piece is in? I think this is an exceptionally debatable topic concerning many of Corea's compositions. I have seen "500..." written in : E minor, Bb Major, and also C Minor! (personally I favour the latter-mentioned). Thanks, Paul David Seaman

[@dr.guyshkolnik_composer]

The big tonal plan for me is Em (with the Am and F#ø) with a sudden turn to Cm at the end. that's also the last chord of the piece.

[@monsterjazzlicks]

@@dr.guyshkolnik_composer - The relative-major of Am Min is C Maj. F# half-dim can be viewed as D13#11 in its 1st inversion (which is the secondary-dominant of C Maj). I have also seen "500..." written in open-key, which is pretty slack.

[@dr.guyshkolnik_composer]

@@monsterjazzlicks There's a difference between "can be viewed" and how things sound. If what you suggest actually sounds to you like the big picture of the piece - then this is how you hear it. What I suggested is how I hear it :)

[@musicpatricio]

In the second example B-D shouldn’t it be MAJorizarion if anything?

[@monsterjazzlicks]

Have subbed ;-)

[@SteviePanicStudio]

thanks!

[@thf62]

Do you ever plan to do a “Return to Forever” (the song) analysis?

[@dr.guyshkolnik_composer]

I am planning videos on other pieces by Chick Corea. But I did listen to RTF 2 weeks ago, for the first time since age 16...

[@matheusafrancez]

nice!!!

[@dr.guyshkolnik_composer]

Thanks Matheus !

[@monsterjazzlicks]

Can you PLEASE review 'Captain Marvel' and 'Light As A Feather'?! Cheers, Paul

[@dr.guyshkolnik_composer]

I'm planning a video on Chick's descending chromatic progressions, such as in You're Everything (amazing song) and Waltz from Lyric suite for sextet.

[@monsterjazzlicks]

@@dr.guyshkolnik_composer I am pretty certain that there is not an improvised solo on You're Everything?

[@monsterjazzlicks]

@@dr.guyshkolnik_composer Which key signatures would you use for the two tunes: Light As A Feather and Windows, please? I ask because I have transcribed and arranged them, however they both modulate all over the place!

[@dr.guyshkolnik_composer]

@@monsterjazzlicks You're right there isn't - except for Chick's intro.

[@dr.guyshkolnik_composer]

@@monsterjazzlicks Exactly. I see also with Pat Metheny, sometimes when it comes to indicating a key signature, he doesn't even bother. Same here. It starts on Em but then ends on Cm. Kind of like bending an E note down to Eb. It's a weird mysterious tune.

[@danielgersax]

Thanks!

[@dr.guyshkolnik_composer]

Daniel Gerecht my pleasure! 😊 thank you!