"Fever". (A-6)

[Jazz+]

The coolest version ever of that one chord song (A-6) "Fever"

 

 

[video:youtube]

[Barryjam]

I hear three chords in that Fever.

[MathOfInsects]

Six if you count the key change.

 

EDIT: FWIW, I think the bass in that song defines the second chord as distinct from the first (in this case, a move to C and back to Am), but that's a whole different topic I suppose.

[I-missRichardTee]

I hear three chords in that Fever.

 

Well how about two chords, if we assume bass player on his fifth degree is a V!

Where is the 3rd chord?

[MathOfInsects]

I hear three chords in that Fever.

 

Well how about two chords, if we assume bass player on his fifth degree is a V!

Where is the 3rd chord?

 

Intro hits V to bVII pretty strong.

[Jazz+]

It really just A-6 on the choruses and moving 3rds over A-7 for the intro and the verses. . Listen to what Joe Sample actually plays. The V VII bass walk up is played as a single note unison , not as chord change, it is simply a lick, a bass walk up type turnaround, it sounds bad if you play E G chords there... Joe never does that. He doubles the bass lick never chords it. Sample,s piano comping transcription available.

[PianoMan51]

I think that a black and white judgement of One Chord vs. Multiple Chords is just a starting point for musicians.

 

Let me give an example on just the notes: C-D-E, and let's say we're in the key of C.

 

Back in school they would call the D a 'passing tone'. Okay. And so we can say the C and E are chordal tones for a C major triad and the D is passing. So we just think of this as a melody line or 'lick' on a C major chord.

 

But if I'm not in school and I'm playing early to mid-20th century pop or jazz tunes, then I might harmonize the note D with a G7, G9 or G7b9. Play the lick quickly and you can create that George Shearing sound with locked hands. Cmaj7, G7b9, Cmaj7.

 

Or, if I'm playing second-half 20th century pop or jazz tunes I might take a more modal approach and harmonize the note D with a Dm11. Cmaj9, Dm11, Cmaj9.

 

Or if I'm playing rock-based songs, I might play C, Dm, C with no voice leading to simplify the harmony in order to keep it from sounding like that 'old fashioned stuff our parents listened to'.

 

Or if I'm playing in folk group I might go back to the beginning and just play a C chord because nobody in the band knows 'those jazz chords'.

 

 

 

Now take the example tunes in this thread. It's really easy to view them as using only one chord. (Somebody calls 'Shotgun' in Bb). But I don't hear this song as being just a single Bb chord. Each time the sax plays D-D-Eb-D I hear the harmony go Bb-Bb-Ab-Bb. Somebody else in the band might hear it as Bb-Bb-Eb-Bb.

 

When I play these songs, they actually take a lot more listening and 'deciding what notes I'm going to play' than songs that have very clear and delineated harmonic parts. Because in my 'ear' I hear implied harmonies. And they might be different than the implied harmonies the bassist or soloist hear. And, since the nature of these songs is minimalistic, it takes a lot of self control to NOT play all the harmonies I hear in my mind.

 

These 'one-chord' tunes are probably easier for those of us who were brought up in genres where you learn by listening and copying, rather than more classical genres where you learn by reading and perfecting.

 

 

[MathOfInsects]

Listen to what Joe Sample actually plays. The V VII bass walk up is played as a single note unison , not as chord change, it is simply a lick, a bass walk up type turnaround, it sounds bad if you play E G chords there... Joe never does that. He doubles the bass lick never chords it. Sample,s piano comping transcription available.

 

Hmmm...those are definitely chords at the beginning (12 second mark)--power chords using the I and V of the bass tonic, first over E, then over G, then over A. (So: B and E over E, D and G over G, and E and A over A.) It's a very specific and unmistakable harmonic shift to the V (and then the bVII) on the way back to the A. And actually if you're calling it a turnaround, it would seem to imply exactly that kind of harmonic kick-back to the I.

 

One important thing that I don't hear happening is Sample spelling out an Am over those bass notes. If he did, sure, I could see the argument that it's just a bassline under a single static harmony. But with those power chords--and by not stating otherwise--it sounds as a pretty decisive announcement of a V.

 

I get where you're coming from with the song, of course, and it does feel a bit like a one-chord tune, even to someone who hears that as a V.

 

As I said earlier, I think there's another question raised by that obligato bassline during the verses, which is: what do you make of the second bass note, the C. Does it imply a harmonic shift to the relative major © for that measure, or function as an inversion for the Am? I personally hear it as something in between: I don't think adding an A to the C chord makes it sound wrong (the argument for it continuing to be an Am chord over a C bass), BUT...I also think that if a bass player omitted that C and stayed on A, it would sound like a reharm--a shift from the movement to the relative major. So I think, odd as it sounds, it's really Am-Cmaj6-Am7-Am7 etc, in the verses, until the decisive V chord turns it around at the end of the verse form.

 

 

[Jazz+]

Ain't no happy C major happening in "Fever", plain and simple.. and that bass riff in bar 7 is "N. C."

Yes, Joe uses parallel 5ths but Joe never plays a 3rd..to be a "chord" technically requires more than 2 parallel 5ths in unison with bass part. It indeed sounds the Dominant ,but not in the chordal sense, but in the bass sense. If someone plays bar 7 with an actual Dominant chord as a true triad it would sound so lame and even worse if followed by an actual bVII chord. That would ruin Fever.

" N. C." : double the bass , is what is called for. So A minor is the only actual chord chord you get to play, that's part of the songs hypnotic charm.

[I-missRichardTee]

I just listene to Samples version for first time- I have Peggy Lee's in my memory,

Joe's use of fifths ( so called power chords ) built on E and G bring up interesting theory questions.

 

To me it almost doesn't matter whether you perceive it as E G harmonically

or as E G melodically as part of Blues.

To me there is hierarchy present... and that hierarchy is Tonic Minor Blues.

 

going further... say we are playing a minor blues like Thrill is Gone, by BB King.

Even though when I reach the IV minor chord... somehow, in my conception, I am still feeling Tonic Minor. I will possibly alter my solo notes to accommodate the IV minor chord, OR I may ignore the IV minor... this latitude of choosing whether to ignore or not ignore the chord tones, is based of Hierarchy.. namely

The key center is at top of hierarchy, never the individual chords.

 

I never forget what key I am in when I play a minor Blues.

The Tonic is always felt as I solo. The Tonic is more or less synonymous with the Key center or the Mode.

That is hierarchy in music

[Outkaster]

I think that a black and white judgement of One Chord vs. Multiple Chords is just a starting point for musicians.

 

Let me give an example on just the notes: C-D-E, and let's say we're in the key of C.

 

Back in school they would call the D a 'passing tone'. Okay. And so we can say the C and E are chordal tones for a C major triad and the D is passing. So we just think of this as a melody line or 'lick' on a C major chord.

 

But if I'm not in school and I'm playing early to mid-20th century pop or jazz tunes, then I might harmonize the note D with a G7, G9 or G7b9. Play the lick quickly and you can create that George Shearing sound with locked hands. Cmaj7, G7b9, Cmaj7.

 

Or, if I'm playing second-half 20th century pop or jazz tunes I might take a more modal approach and harmonize the note D with a Dm11. Cmaj9, Dm11, Cmaj9.

 

Or if I'm playing rock-based songs, I might play C, Dm, C with no voice leading to simplify the harmony in order to keep it from sounding like that 'old fashioned stuff our parents listened to'.

 

Or if I'm playing in folk group I might go back to the beginning and just play a C chord because nobody in the band knows 'those jazz chords'.

 

 

 

Now take the example tunes in this thread. It's really easy to view them as using only one chord. (Somebody calls 'Shotgun' in Bb). But I don't hear this song as being just a single Bb chord. Each time the sax plays D-D-Eb-D I hear the harmony go Bb-Bb-Ab-Bb. Somebody else in the band might hear it as Bb-Bb-Eb-Bb.

 

When I play these songs, they actually take a lot more listening and 'deciding what notes I'm going to play' than songs that have very clear and delineated harmonic parts. Because in my 'ear' I hear implied harmonies. And they might be different than the implied harmonies the bassist or soloist hear. And, since the nature of these songs is minimalistic, it takes a lot of self control to NOT play all the harmonies I hear in my mind.

 

These 'one-chord' tunes are probably easier for those of us who were brought up in genres where you learn by listening and copying, rather than more classical genres where you learn by reading and perfecting.

 

 

Very good explanation...I agree.

[MathOfInsects]

Ain't no happy C major happening in "Fever", plain and simple.. and that bass riff in bar 7 is "N. C."

Yes, Joe uses parallel 5ths but Joe never plays a 3rd..to be a "chord" technically requires more than 2 parallel 5ths in unison with bass part. It indeed sounds the Dominant ,but not in the chordal sense, but in the bass sense. If someone plays bar 7 with an actual Dominant chord as a true triad it would sound so lame and even worse if followed by an actual bVII chord. That would ruin Fever.

" N. C." : double the bass , is what is called for. So A minor is the only actual chord chord you get to play, that's part of the songs hypnotic charm.

 

I'd love some additional information about this one. Harmony is not always defined by a chord--for a stark example of this, think of the introduction to Beethoven's 5th Symphony. No one would argue that harmony is established by those unison lines. Similarly, a bass "V" topped out with a V power chord, where the ear expects a V (and where a V is written into the original composition) is about as strong a V as we have in Western harmony. It is literally the voicing created by the first four (strongest) pitches in the overtone series: I - I - V - I. No 3 is necessary for a chord to be a chord. (And no chord is necessary for there to be underlying harmony.)

 

It's subjective, of course, but my ear has no trouble at all dropping a full V and bVII chord there (actually, I hear the V as a #9 chord, which helps out the bVII), but--more significantly--one chord that would NOT work there is the Am, the I. Play an Am there and you will get a glare from the bass player for not making the change.

 

I can't quite get on board with the "No C" declaration, but as I said that is entirely debatable and subjective. I think it's an interesting case.

 

IMRT brings up a good analogue with "The Thrill Is Gone." That V written into the bassline (where the "C" is in Fever) suggests a harmonic shift that isn't really spelled out necessarily by the charted harmony, but which does seem subverted by pedaling on the I. Not quite as egregious as the Am subversion would be for Fever, but still a potential distraction IMO.

 

Interesting discussion all around in this thread.

[Raymb1]

Here's a hip arrangement of Fever, with chords by Carol Welsman.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWp0Fmz1RXM

[Jazz+]

[video:youtube]

[Donsta]

Here's a hip arrangement of Fever, with chords by Carol Welsman.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWp0Fmz1RXM

 

Thanks for the link. Sounds great!