Jazz Improvisation: Antecedent-Consequent Phrases

Summary of idea presented in Reno De Stefano’s article in Just Jazz Guitar, May 2001

The idea in the article is to construct bebop phrases over II-V-I progressions from two pieces:

1. An Antecedent Phrase which spells out the change from II to V and outlines the change from the 7 of the IIm7 chord to the 3rd of the V7 chord. In the key of C, this means moving from C to B, also known as the guide tones.

2. A Consequent Phrase which outlines the change from the V7b9 to the I, by moving from the 3rd of the V7 to its b9 and then resolving to the 5 or 3 of the I chord.

For example:

The two phrase are then pasted together to form one compound phrase:

Another similar example:

The two phrases are then pasted together to form one compound phrase:

The article goes on to give some more musical examples of using this technique to weave through changes. Highly recommended reading.