Major Thirds on Minor Chords: How James Moody might have been the greatest improviser of all time

 

The other day, I stopped to talk to a colleague at JMU (thank you, Donna Wampler!) who was placing donated cds on a table.  I saw this Dexter Gordon album, The Tower of Power, and I snatched it up.  I actually bought the record at Tower Records in Boston back in the 80s, when I was a teenager.  I had very few records back then and I listened to this one over and over.  I still have my vinyl copy, but I haven't listened to it in years.  Having it on cd was too good to pass up.  The next morning, I popped it in the stereo while I drank my morning tea.

I have been teaching jazz improvisation for thirty years.  In that time, I have always taught that you can wiggle your way out of any note on any chord, as long as you do it with style and intention.  There is one exception: you can't play the major third on a minor chord.  I call it "the dreaded flat eleventh!"

The first track is a tenor battle between Dexter and James Moody on a minor tune with a cycle bridge.  I listened to this album probably a hundred times when I was a kid.  Remember, we didn't have the internet back then, so I had a handful of albums and listened to them over and over again.

Imagine my astonishment when I hear Moody absolutely slay a major third on a minor chord.  Check it out below at around 3:30.

Yes, he is using the major third as a super slick lower chromatic neighbor to the eleventh, which is a superb note choice on a minor chord, but he leans on that major third pretty hard.  It is jarring to my adult ears, but in a very satisfying way.  I almost fell out of my chair when I heard it.

And then, later in the solo, he does it again.  I have questions!!! Is Moody doing this as an amazing prank?  A bar bet with Dexter?  Did he do it by accident and then wink at us by doing it again, acknowledging the accident?  Or did he just hear this as sounding good?

It does sound good.  Actually, it sounds great.  It might be the most genius thing that I have ever heard.  A major third on a minor chord is the most dissonant choice imaginable.  You can play minor on major and it sounds bluesy.  You can play different sevenths, as long as you resolve them correctly.  But I never thought of sliding a major third up to the eleventh of a minor chord.  Check it out.  My mind is blown!  Skip to around 4:55.

I am so grateful for this crazy discovery.  It is a reminder that anything is possible, as long as it is played with conviction and style.  James Moody spoke to me through a kind of time machine this week, upending my most core ideas about how to improvise jazz.  If Moody could play major thirds on minor chords, I believe that anything is possible.  Peace.