Wave - João Gilberto

Details

Description

In the March 2007 issue of Jazz Times Magazine, Toots Thielemans recalls that Lee Konitz seems to have once stated: “Toots, we have been playing "Wave" for forty years. There are two Blues choruses dropping a Bebop ”. The "bebop" to which Konitz refers would consist of part B of the song, characterized by two cadences II-V-I. Who knows, that is why North Americans welcomed the works of the Rio de Janeiro composer - who, by the way, spent the most productive years of his musical career in the USA.

In "Wave" song, it is observed, the blues loaded melody of the phrase “it is impossible to be happy alone”:
This phrase is based on the D minor blues scale (which easily gains a 6th grade). But, in addition to the “blues intention” - which, in fact, goes beyond the use of blues scales and “blue notes” - in Wave music, there was also a process of re-reading the blues harmony in its typical 12 measure structure.

In his musical production, Tom Jobim explored all available resources of the extended tonality, creating harmoniously very rich compositions. This music is a case in which we have a major / minor alternation.

Before the first verse, the song starts with a Vamp in D minor, composed by the Dm7-G7 chords, which correspond to the Im7-IV7 degrees. It is a cliché that belongs to the area of ​​minor tonic (for those who want to deepen I advise the wonderful Online Course on Harmony Applied to Popular Music)

The term "Vamp" indicates a rhythmic pattern, usually composed of one or two chords that are repeated for the purpose of establishing a groove, of “getting into the rhythm”.
Bossa Nova - João Gilberto - Wave - Rio De Janeiro