In plain words
Barry wrote a whole piece out of one device. Instead of playing the notes of a sixth chord, you borrow notes from the diminished chord, and he built a complete piece that way. A blind student in his class at the Jazz Cultural Theatre suggested the title, Borrowing. People said it sounded like Chopin; Barry said it was his own, and saw it as a continuation of the classical tradition.
He made the same point at the piano in another class: he played a piece of his built on the diminished, said he had never memorised it himself, and pointed out that Chopin had one that does the same thing, so this is not haphazard.
Jazz theory, part 7: Monk and Stella by Starlight5:006:176:52
He also composed in front of people. At a master class he had a volunteer pick numbered cards one at a time and turned the four numbers into a piece he called 26-47; he usually made people sing such tunes, and the audience sang another set, 1-8-5-3. His point: with the numbers one to eight, anybody can make up a song.
Artists House Master Class Barry Harris - Performance0:321:041:404:435:576:3138:3139:07
For Barry tunes arrive as melodies, not chords. At an Artists House master class performance he played his own songs, such as his theme song Nascimento and a song written for musicians, first for Walter Davis, partly to show that Americans can write beautiful music.
Artists House Master Class Barry Harris - Performance7:4011:0911:4333:38Charles Davis memorial - Musical selection 22:00Barry Harris on WKCR-FM ¶149
How he said to practise it
In Barry’s words
Each one plays from the moment he says it. Every other moment he teaches it is listed below.
I made up a whole piece borrowing [diminished notes]... It’s something I made up.
It’s not chords that come; it’s melodies that come.
One to eight. Anybody can make up a song on that.
There are Americans who can write beautiful music.
Where this comes from
Everything above is drawn from these. Open any one to check it.
Every moment he teaches it10 moments in 4 recordings
Each time opens the transcript there; the video plays when you are online.
Jazz theory, part 4: borrowing diminished notes
Jazz theory, part 7: Monk and Stella by Starlight
- 5:00
Plays a piece of his built on the diminished; Chopin had one doing the same.
Artists House Master Class Barry Harris - Performance
- 1:04
Has a volunteer pick numbered cards, one at a time, for a new piece.
- 1:40
Composes ‘26-47’ on the spot from the numbers picked.
- 5:57
Takes another set of numbers, 1-8-5-3, and the audience sings it.
- 7:40
Plays his theme song, Nascimento.
- 11:09
Introduces a song he wrote for musicians, first for Walter Davis.
- 33:38
Says his own songs show that Americans write beautiful music.
Charles Davis memorial - Musical selection 2
- 2:00
At Charles Davis’s memorial, sings his song for musicians, written for Walter Davis.
From the lessons2 lessons, 4 points
Notes taken from Barry’s classes, each tied to the moment it comes from.
Barry’s own songs
- Idea
Barry wrote a song for musicians: it was first written for Walter Davis, and he also wrote a song for Monk. He sang it in tribute at Charles Davis’s memorial, and in a master class performance he played it along with his theme song, Nascimento.
Charles Davis memorial - Musical selection 20:552:00Artists House Master Class Barry Harris - Performance7:4011:09
- Idea
Barry also described a show he had planned around a sock and a can. The wind would blow the sock out and it would turn into Barbra Streisand, for whom he had songs in mind; then the can would roll out and turn into Jimmy Slyde, who would sing a song written for the can. At the same performance he played The Breeze Song.
Artists House Master Class Barry Harris - Performance26:2533:38
Borrowing and the classical tradition
- Idea
Barry wrote a whole piece on borrowing: instead of playing the notes of the sixth chord, you borrow the diminished notes. A blind student in his class at the Jazz Cultural Theatre suggested calling it Borrowing. Listeners say it sounds like Chopin, but Barry made it up; he saw it as a continuation of the classical tradition.
- Idea
Barry believed the classical musicians knew the scales better than many great jazz players. What we label leading tones or appoggiaturas, he says, are really borrowed notes. His example is a strange chord in Chopin’s first Ballade, which he describes as an E-flat chord made with a diminished note.
In writing8 notes
What his interviews, his students’ class notes and other teachers’ articles add.
Barry named Nascimento after a small Brazilian drummer in Sun Ra’s band who played a tall drum with a mallet, not after Milton Nascimento as most people assume.
Tom Cleary first noticed the 5-4-3-2 licks in Fiona Bicket’s analysis of Barry’s solo on Stay Right With It, a B♭ blues, where Barry uses the ‘4’ lick several times; Barry called such licks useful for getting out of trouble.
Tom Cleary (University of Vermont), Charlie Parker and Alan Turing: cracking the bebop code ¶4
Cleary also spent time transcribing the tunes and arrangements on Barry’s album Luminescence, and says he keeps learning from Barry’s recordings.
Tom Cleary (University of Vermont), What is this scale called: Charlie Parker ¶10
Barry’s 2009 album Live in Rennes includes several of his originals and an impromptu composition drawn out of the festival audience.
unknown (JazzTimes; the byline is missing on the current site), Barry Harris: Teacher Man ¶5
Jazz School Online defines borrowing, the device behind Barry’s piece: put a related diminished note in place of a note of a sixth chord, or a sixth-chord note in place of a diminished note.
Berliner’s Thinking in Jazz reports that Barry explained his theory to classical pianists by playing a Chopin melody with a diminished quality; Guillermo García-Valdecasas traces this to a Chopin passage that dissolves into diminished sevenths before settling in a new key.
A forum member notes that Barry suggests composing, even writing out, your first chorus, and that his improvisation workshops show improvising as a process of composition.
jazzguitar.be members (usernames kept per post), E-7b5 A7b9 : Jerry Bergonzi ¶161
Vera Marijt wrote her own tune, Homage, to apply Barry’s voicings, borrowed diminished notes and other material she learned from him, and included its lead sheet and a transcription in her study.
How other teachers explain it2 videos
Barry’s students, and their students, teaching it their way. A second opinion, not Barry.
- To Monk with love, by Barry Harris
Plays Barry’s To Monk With Love.
2 min On YouTube
- Nicholas Thomas - OFF MONK (Barry Harris)
Plays Barry’s Off Monk.
10 min On YouTube
Read further1 link
These open on the web.
Books and paid courses
- Fiona Bicket, ‘Approach to Improvised Lines & Harmony: An Introduction’ (26 pp): scale runs, basic motifs, solo on ‘Stay Right With It’, sixth chords long and short, major/minor 6th dim scales
student, sold on Barry’s official site — Fiona Bicket’s tutorial with a solo on Barry’s Stay Right With It (paywalled).