Tritone substitution. It's classic, yet modern!

Lets talk about big band..

When we listen to big band, usually we find that there are a lot of weird chords jumping around, pop out suddenly and vanish during the second stanza (although 1st and 2nd stanza are the same in melody). These may be tension notes, or tritone (for my limited music knowledge)!

Often, jazz players use tension notes, and are made up of 1-3-5 (basic chord notes) -7-9-and the sequence goes on till it repeats again (tension notes). The second rule they use is the root-elimination, 5th-elimination, 3rd-stays, 7th-stays and chosen tension note(s)-stays.

One funny thing occurs: Since there is no root, no 5th, the chord played (together with tension notes) will sound like some other chord, say:

C7: C-E-G-Bb....Eliminating root and 5th: E-Bb
F#7: F#-A#-C#-E......Eliminating root and 5th: A#-E or Bb-E.

Can you see that? So, instead of using C7, some composer tends to use F#7 to substitute C7, and you see these in many r&b songs. With the root and 5th retained, F#7 gives a more 'funky' feel to the overall composing!

If playing a progression like:

|C |Am |F |G7 |C |

it can be alter to
|C |Am |F |C#7 |C |

or
|C--Bb7 |Am--F#7 |F-F#dim7 G#7|G7-C#7 Bdim7 |C---|

or
|C-Bm7b5-E7-Bb7 |Am-A-C#dim7-D#7 |
|Dm9-F#dim7- |C#7-Bdim7-G13-G13b|C--- |

Just try la.. it's fun!

Music shift?

Suddenly i have a thought: baby boomers and music style revolution.

During World War 2 (WWII), many men died as they fought in a battle. This ended up causing a phenomena where there was an unbalanced ratio of adults to children. Slowly when these children grew up, they became the main part of the society. But, do you think they will prefer the classics-classical & big band- or the new born rock and roll?

Big bands and classical orchestras are formed by a band of 'old' musicians, who talked about the deep theories in music and the fine progressions and arrangements. Usually they made the gentlemen style, quiet but meaningful. This is contradicted to the rock 'n' roll, funk, r&b or hippies which were made up of good-looking young players, who also share the same interest as other baby boomers around the country.

It's almost the same for today.

Rock music has a more energetic feel, which is preferred by teenagers. Loud music, heavy beats and opportunities to dance around freely..

Since there were no 'market' already, the classical orchestra and big band slowly vanished. Teens tend to follow their teen idols and no adults were there to preserve the fine classics.

~~But, as well, there were many other factors that causes the shift, such as high cost of maintain a band made up of more than 30 members. During the war, some fine players in those big bands had lost their life as well, causing a discouraging situation.~~

Is there any significance on "throwing away an old idea and come out with a whole new idea"? As in "throwing away the well established classic and roar out a ROCK N ROLL tiger", and this tiger is the one that influence the most on todays' music.

Since we are not throwing away any idea, we continue to establish a firm theory on the particular music as:

baroque to romance
delta blues to cool/fusion jazz
rock 'n' roll to alternative rock.
The next generation will lead to...?

Three different theories (but similar), two great shifts in the main direction, one cause...