There are so many learning components in this line by Wynton Kelly, I had to make it two parts. In this first part, Wynton starts off the line on the up beat of 2 which is a great thing to do. Starting lines on upbeats really intensifies the swing feel. He goes down a half step and then outlines an Eb triad and then lands on the b9 over the C7 chord.
From here he uses the same half step below approach he did over the Eb chord, but on the C7 this time, and drops down to B natural then moves back up to C.
He then starts a four note approach that is intended to resolve to the F on the next measure. He is simply playing with the surrounding notes to F using chord scale above and half step below.
He lands on the F on beat 1 of the third measures and adds a nice little ornamental 16th note texture which really propels his line downward to the notes C and A. You should definitely work on including these on downward and upward lines.
Finally he moves chromatically down from the 9 of the F-7, the notes G and onto the 7th, Eb which will set us up for part 2 of this line.
Points for practicing this lick:
- Half step below approaches
- Two 16th note ornaments to propel line
- Start lines on up beats
- Land on extensions over dominant chords
Enjoy!
