When George Gershwin wrote “I Got Rhythm” for the 1930 Broadway production of Girl Crazy, he couldn’t have known he was changing the direction of jazz forever. But he was.
The song’s chord changes, often simply called “rhythm changes,” have become the second most common harmonic structure in jazz after the ubiquitous 12-bar blues. And for more than 80 years, rhythm changes have inspired musicians from Duke Ellington to Mike Stern to adorn its 32-bar structure with vastly different melodic finery. If there was ever a musical equivalent to the fashion world’s versatile and affordable little black dress, Gershwin’s rhythm changes would most certainly be it.
Early days
The story of “I Got Rhythm” starts with Gershwin’s music, his brother Ira Gershwin’s lyrics and Ethel Merman’s powerful voice. Merman, hand-picked by the Gershwin brothers for their newest musical, premiered the song at New York’s Alvin Theatre on Oct. 14, 1930. Here she is delivering the song with classic Broadway panache.
Repurposing
"I Got Rhythm" was memorable in its own right, but composers soon realized that its underlying harmony was too good not to reuse for their own needs. Jazz artists realized they could borrow its 32-bar chord sequence and overlay new melodies that were completely their own. Since copyright has never applied to chord changes, the compositions were considered the property of the new composer. Incidentally, this type of composition, where a new melody is layered over an existing chord structure, is called a contrafact. One of the earliest and best rhythm changes contrafacts is Duke Ellington’s "Cotton Tail."
Probably the most famous contrafact comes to us courtesy of Hanna-Barbera staff composer Hoyt Curtin. His theme to the Flintstones is instantly recognizable. Less well known, but closer to home, is Canadian jazz artist Denzal Sinclaire’s ode to healthier eating, called "Tofu & Greens."
Vehicle for expression
Improvisation is at the heart of jazz music, and there are few vehicles for improvising musicians that can beat the comfy blowing environment of Gershwin’s rhythm changes. CBC Music put a call out to prominent Canadian jazz arranger Fred Stride to find out why jazz players find it so easy to love these chord changes.
“You can play 'I Got Rhythm' in its simplest form and have fun with it or add all kinds of chord extensions and substitutions to the basic structure to create something very sophisticated sounding," Stride says. "In the end, rhythm changes are so adaptable, they just work so well in different situations. I guess you could say these chord changes are indestructible.”
The more adventurous the embellishments to the basic chord structure, the more difficult it is to whistle the original melody over a newly composed melody based on rhythm changes. Here’s a compelling and challenging second-generation adaptation of "I Got Rhythm" performed by the late Michael Brecker. He superimposes an exciting pyrotechnical solo over Sonny Rollins's rhythm changes-based jazz standard, "Oleo."
Jazz trumpeter, bandleader and composer Thad Jones gets the last musical word in this survey of the most famous chord changes in jazz. He was a big fan of the musical possibilities offered by rhythm changes, and wrote a number of compositions based on them. Here's the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra performing “Little Pixie II.”
What’s your favourite tune based on rhythm changes? Do you like your rhythm changes in basic black, or all dressed up? Have your say in the comments section.
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