Finally: jazz?

When a few long months ago I started to review music from its medieval beginnings, I realized how strongly the later styles are related to the preceding ones.
I also realized that to half-master a style it is ridiculous to look at a few pieces and try to imitate. The background in any period of music is immense.

So I went through baroque, galant, romanticism (from which I'm still getting a thousand things).

And I arrived at “jazz”. It is a confusing corpus. On the one hand it is based (in great part) on tonal and functional harmony, on the other hand it is out of control.
What I knew about jazz, other than listening to it, was a quite small part of what it is, mostly because I didn't have anything structured.

I'll never be a jazz musician, but my idea is to absorb what's useful to me in writing music.

I think that to move in this field you have to:

1. Master classical harmony.
2. Voicings. Essential, the voices jumping back and forth without order is chaotic, apart from the fact that different arrangements of the voices transmit different things.
3. Control of the chordal extensions, the fifth is relegated to semi-oblivion.
4. At a more advanced level: chords by superposition of triads, polychords...., but all this with its logic and resolutions.

And to be a little brave experimenting with all that and more.

In this little piece what I wanted was to incorporate something classical as well, so it's based on an arpeggio.
This one is made up of: Fundamental, Fifth, Ninth, Third and Seventh (natural or flat depending on the chord). That is the basis of the whole composition.
I think it sounds classical because of the arpeggio, but incorporating ninth and seventh systematically takes it to another point.
The melody emphasizes other notes which are the tensions, third and seventh.
And take advantage of the alternative resolutions of the dominants to modulate.

Well, it is an exercise.

Hello @Luis Hernández

I find amazing how you are willing to try experimenting in all styles to find characteristics that you like to implement in your compositions. It takes a lot of willpower, specially if some of these styles are not your favourite.

Jazz is really close to certain types atonality (set theory), specially when sharpening and flattening certain extensions. Are you going to experiment with that types of styles too?

In regards of the piece, it somehow reminds me of paco de lucia with the figuration you used, that could resemble a guitar and some of the harmonies

Thanks for sharing and good luck learning about jazz

Manuel

Hello
I was surprised by the reference to Paco de Lucia. It's not that it's my favorite music, but it sounds very familiar to me being from my country and having seen his whole career evolve. I will check it out.
I think jazz took two main lines, one that is totally tonal and includes a multitude of styles, even bebop etc.
And another that moves away from this either as modal music or incorporating post-tonal elements.
In another phase of my studies, I approached atonal music and set theory. although I wrote many things, they were still exercises and so on.
My intention now is to explore the extended tonal harmony of jazz.