Harmony and Voice Leading in Jazz Improvisation: Formulating an Analytical Framework For a Comparative Analysis of a Bill Evans and Herbie Hancock Performance of Hancock's "Dolphin Dance"

Abstract

Through the development of an analytical framework that addresses voice leading in both tonal and modal settings, improvised performances based on a repeating jazz lead sheet progression can be analyzed, categorized, and compared according to their implied harmonic content and adherence to the harmonic possibilities inherent in the lead sheet. The proposed framework, grounded in jazz theory, is used to analyze two performances of Herbie Hancock's Dolphin Dance, one each by Bill Evans and the composer. Five passages, representing both tonal and modal settings, are examined according to the voice leading criteria proposed in the framework. This thesis addresses 1) the various jazz scores necessary for analysis -- including a third abstract score that encapsulates the infinite possible ways to realize a lead sheet; 2) the evolution of modal jazz; and 3) the reduction of transcribed improvisations to progressions of implied harmonic sonorities connected through voice leading.