On Green Dolphin Street Tutorial
In this lesson, we’re going to create a solo piano arrangement of the well-known standard ‘On Green Dolphin Street’, written by Bronislau Kaper.
Originally from a movie with the same name, the key is C, but many people play it in the key of Eb, which we are going to do as well. Good versions to check out are of course all different versions Miles Davis recorded, Bill Evans version, Sarah Vaughan has a great one, also check out the great version of George Shearing with Nancy Wilson.
Pedal Point
Tune follows an A B A B2 form. The first 7 bars of the A Section is all played over an Eb Pedal Point. This is a distinctive feature of the tune. We will explore some voicing and techniques that you can use to bring out this pedal point and superimpose rich harmony on top.
PDF Transcription
Download the full transcription and print out the PDF which contains all the voicings from the lesson. We cover some interesting applications of quartal harmony to fill in the space when the melody or harmony is static.
Related Lessons
We explore inner voice movement over major, minor, and dominant chords, and then we will apply this information to a well-known jazz standard.
This lesson is closely related to the ‘Pentatonic Improv’ lesson so if you haven’t already, I’d recommend you check that out first.
We have voiced minor 251 progressions with our left hand and so now it’s time to spread the notes across 2 hands to get bigger chords with more impact!
Practice Tips
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When learning a new song, I highly recommend that you listen to as many vocal versions as possible.
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It's a good exercise to sing the melody along with the records.
- This will help you become familiar with the lyrics and gain a greater understanding of the tune, the form, and how it is performed.
