The Significance of Kenny Wheeler in the Evolution of Jazz Compozition from Diatonic Chromatic Background

It is the intention of this paper to look at some of Wheelers music from a very specific period in his career (late 1970s through to early 1980s), place it in an overall developmental process in jazz composition already underway, and to examine it using some techniques that have been devised by the author over a long period of time. It is not intended for this document to outline any sort of process that is Wheelers per se, however there is a process that will be examined here; it is that of this authors own development as an improviser. This process has had Wheeler looming over it since near the very beginning, and, as more was learned about his music along with (for lack of a better term) more mainstream music, this author found it interesting that they shared more than they differed. The differences were not so much of a kind but of a viewpoint, a viewpoint that seemed to look through the same window, but out onto a bigger landscape. This document endeavours to shed some light on the relationship of diatonicism and chromaticism, but not in a surface way. In the action of moving through this paper it is hoped that a more subtle background idea of chromaticism can be seen that is still within the realm of perceived tonality. It is an improvisers process, yet a compositional one. If one looks at each of these in terms of the manipulation of the stuff of music then they are the same. The lens through which this idea of chromaticism will be examined is what will be termed the voicing, and in defining this voicing in a very specific manner, it can be shown that it carries inside it all the structure, voice leading, functionality and coherence required for the negotiation of tonal systems, both closed (diatonic) and open (chromatic). This will be a fairly lengthy process, but one that is felt necessary in order to appreciate the local tonality vs. global chromaticism which Wheelers music exemplifies. After the process of familiarization with the voicing and some analytical techniques, two compositions of Wheelers from the late 1970s into the early 1980s will be examined using these techniques.

It is the intention of this paper to look at some of Wheelers music from a very specific period in his career (late 1970s through to early 1980s), place it in an overall developmental process in jazz composition already underway, and to examine it using some techniques that have been devised by the author over a long period of time. It is not intended for this document to outline any sort of process that is Wheelers per se, however there is a process that will be examined here; it is that of this authors own development as an improviser. This process has had Wheeler looming over it since near the very beginning, and, as more was learned about his music along with (for lack of a better term) more mainstream music, this author found it interesting that they shared more than they differed. The differences were not so much of a kind but of a viewpoint, a viewpoint that seemed to look through the same window, but out onto a bigger landscape. This document endeavours to shed some light on the relationship of diatonicism and chromaticism, but not in a surface way. In the action of moving through this paper it is hoped that a more subtle background idea of chromaticism can be seen that is still within the realm of perceived tonality. It is an improvisers process, yet a compositional one. If one looks at each of these in terms of the manipulation of the stuff of music then they are the same. The lens through which this idea of chromaticism will be examined is what will be termed the voicing, and in defining this voicing in a very specific manner, it can be shown that it carries inside it all the structure, voice leading, functionality and coherence required for the negotiation of tonal systems, both closed (diatonic) and open (chromatic). This will be a fairly lengthy process, but one that is felt necessary in order to appreciate the local tonality vs. global chromaticism which Wheelers music exemplifies. After the process of familiarization with the voicing and some analytical techniques, two compositions of Wheelers from the late 1970s into the early 1980s will be examined using these techniques.