On his new recording, River: The Joni Letters, Herbie Hancock’s playing on “The Jungle Line” underpins Leonard Cohen’s dramatic reading of the lyrics. Herbie latches onto a repeating catchphrase, or motif, which mirrors the repetition of the title in the lyrics. In his intro, Herbie sets things up with a slightly disguised version of this motif. Let’s take a look at some of the devices Herbie employs in his improvised accompaniment.
Ex. 1. Using a metronome, play through the A major pentatonic scale shown in 1a, a five note scale using the 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 degrees of a major scale. As shown in 1b, the same pentatonic scale works over the root and fifth voicing Herbie plays for a B7sus4. Herbie also plays an A major pentatonic over a Dmaj7 chord, as shown in 1c. Practice the pattern in 1d, changing from B7sus4 to Dmaj7, while using the A major pentatonic scale over both chords.
These audio and MIDI files correspond to the lessons beginning on page 50 of the June 2008 issue of Keyboard. All files performed by Scott Healy.