Outside (jazz)

This article is about the jazz technique. For the record label, see Outside Music. For the music genre, see Outsider music.

Side-slipping complementation: C7 chord/Lydian dominant scale (chord-scale system) and complement  Play (help·info).

Original progression above; side-slipping on rhythm changes B section below  Play (help·info).

Side-slipping through distant ii-V  Play (help·info).

In jazz improvisation, to play outside, or out, is to intentionally stray from the key or chord changes of the song form. The term refers to a soloist taking some of the harmonic liberties of free jazz within a hard bop or modal context.^[1] There are various approaches to outside playing, including "free" playing, as well as the superimposition of alternate harmonic material including side-stepping^[2]. However, "having essentially the same meaning, these terms [side-slipping and outside playing] refer to events in a solo where the improviser is deliberately playing 'out-of-the-key' for the sake of creating tension".^[3]

Side-slipping or side-stepping (planing, parallelism) is a type of outside playing in which a soloist super-imposes a scale a half-step above or below the "inside" or standard consonant scale for the given chord or key.^[2][4]

In the example on the rhythm changes B section to the right, the (heptatonic) scale for each chord would be:

E7 - E mixolydian
A7 - A mixolydian
D7 - D mixolydian
G7 - G mixolydian
C  - C major

Thus the non-scale notes, in this case a pentatonic scale based on a root note one half-step down, would be:

E7 - E♭ major pentatonic
A7 - A♭ major pentatonic
D7 - D♭ major pentatonic
G7 - G♭ major pentatonic
C  - C♭ major pentatonic

One technique used for sideslipping is the addition of distant ii-V relationships, such as adding a ii-V a half-step above the original ii-V. This increases chromatic tension as it first moves away and then towards the tonic.^[2]

Examples of outside playing may be found in the work of John McLaughlin, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, and Scott Henderson, among others,^[5] with outside playing being characteristic of Coltrane's mature style.^[6]

See also

• Bar-line shift
• Chord substitution
• Constant structure
• Parallel harmony

Sources

1. ^ "Outside [out]", The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz;, 2nd Edition, Oxford University Press, 2007 
2. ^ ^{a b c} Lawn, Richard and Hellmer, Jeffrey L. (1996). Jazz: Theory and Practice, p.119. ISBN 0882847228. This technique [adding a ii-V a halfstep above the original] is often employed by soloists as a form of "sideslipping," or "sidestepping," which is playing chromatically outside of the chord changes.
3. ^ Coker, Jerry (1991). Elements of the jazz language for the developing improvisor, p.83. ISBN 9781576238752.
4. ^ Morgan, David; Edward Berger, David Cayer, Henry Martin, Dan Morgenstern (2002). Annual Review of Jazz Studies, Volume 11. Superimposition in the Improvisations of Herbie Hancock: Scarecrow Press, Inc.. pp. 79. ISBN 0810845350. "Side slipping is defined [in Liebman, David (Advance: 1991). A Chromatic Approach to Jazz Harmony and Melody, p.173.] as a 'half-step up or down movement away from what is given melodically or harmonically.'" 
5. ^ Fisher, Jody (1995). Complete Jazz Guitar Method, p.50. ISBN 9780739025901.
6. ^ Martin, Henry and Waters, Keith (2011). Jazz: The First 100 Years, p.271. ISBN 9781439083338.