This thesis compares traditional and modern jazz improvisation through analysis. These analyses discuss various musical techniques and ideas specific to each differing era. The case studies focus on three traditional jazz standards: \"Autumn Leaves,\" \"Someday My Prince Will Come,\" and \"Cantaloupe Island.\" Two solo transcriptions (one traditional and one modern) represent each tune, including performances by Bill Evans, Miles Davis, Paul Desmond, Herbie Hancock, Yohan Kim, and Cory Henry. The older transcriptions showcase classic chord-scale relations, diatonic chord harmony, consistent rhythms with spacious phrasing, and recalled material. The newer transcriptions consist more of dense harmony, scales independent from the composed material, unpredictable, complex rhythms, and continuous new material. Note-worthy discussion points will include arpeggiation, chord-scale and modal theory, reharmonization in chord substitution, and varying rhythm in phrasing.
","abstract_html":"<p>This thesis compares traditional and modern jazz improvisation through analysis. These analyses discuss various musical techniques and ideas specific to each differing era. The case studies focus on three traditional jazz standards: "Autumn Leaves," "Someday My Prince Will Come," and "Cantaloupe Island." Two solo transcriptions (one traditional and one modern) represent each tune, including performances by Bill Evans, Miles Davis, Paul Desmond, Herbie Hancock, Yohan Kim, and Cory Henry. The older transcriptions showcase classic chord-scale relations, diatonic chord harmony, consistent rhythms with spacious phrasing, and recalled material. The newer transcriptions consist more of dense harmony, scales independent from the composed material, unpredictable, complex rhythms, and continuous new material. Note-worthy discussion points will include arpeggiation, chord-scale and modal theory, reharmonization in chord substitution, and varying rhythm in phrasing.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Johnson, Ryan M."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Music","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"School of Music","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Dr. Samantha Inman","Dr. Stephen Lias","Dr. Deb Scott"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2020,"date_issued":"2020-04-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2020-04-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:30:30Z","subjects":["Jazz","Music Theory","Jazz Performance","Jazz Standards"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/312","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Dr. Samantha Inman","Dr. Stephen Lias","Dr. Deb Scott"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Johnson, Ryan M."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2020-05-07T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["School of Music"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Music"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Jazz","Music Theory","Jazz Performance","Jazz Standards"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/312"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["This thesis compares traditional and modern jazz improvisation through analysis. These analyses discuss various musical techniques and ideas specific to each differing era. The case studies focus on three traditional jazz standards: \"Autumn Leaves,\" \"Someday My Prince Will Come,\" and \"Cantaloupe Island.\" Two solo transcriptions (one traditional and one modern) represent each tune, including performances by Bill Evans, Miles Davis, Paul Desmond, Herbie Hancock, Yohan Kim, and Cory Henry. The older transcriptions showcase classic chord-scale relations, diatonic chord harmony, consistent rhythms with spacious phrasing, and recalled material. The newer transcriptions consist more of dense harmony, scales independent from the composed material, unpredictable, complex rhythms, and continuous new material. Note-worthy discussion points will include arpeggiation, chord-scale and modal theory, reharmonization in chord substitution, and varying rhythm in phrasing.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["COMPARING TRADITIONAL AND MODERN TRENDS IN JAZZ IMPROVISATION"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Dr. Samantha Inman","Dr. Stephen Lias","Dr. Deb Scott"],"dc:creator":["Johnson, Ryan M."],"dc:date.available":["2020-05-07T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["This thesis compares traditional and modern jazz improvisation through analysis. These analyses discuss various musical techniques and ideas specific to each differing era. The case studies focus on three traditional jazz standards: \"Autumn Leaves,\" \"Someday My Prince Will Come,\" and \"Cantaloupe Island.\" Two solo transcriptions (one traditional and one modern) represent each tune, including performances by Bill Evans, Miles Davis, Paul Desmond, Herbie Hancock, Yohan Kim, and Cory Henry. The older transcriptions showcase classic chord-scale relations, diatonic chord harmony, consistent rhythms with spacious phrasing, and recalled material. The newer transcriptions consist more of dense harmony, scales independent from the composed material, unpredictable, complex rhythms, and continuous new material. Note-worthy discussion points will include arpeggiation, chord-scale and modal theory, reharmonization in chord substitution, and varying rhythm in phrasing.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/312"],"dc:subject":["Jazz","Music Theory","Jazz Performance","Jazz Standards"],"dc:title":["COMPARING TRADITIONAL AND MODERN TRENDS IN JAZZ IMPROVISATION"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["School of Music"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Music"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T04:30:30Z"}