Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
This jazzy Christmas tutorial on ‘Santa Claus Is Coming To Town’ is based on the chords and changes from the Bill Evans arrangement – check it out if you haven’t heard it already.
We simplify and shorten the arrangement into a 2 page transcription that can be downloaded below. Print yourself a copy which will be a useful supplement when watching the lesson.
The arrangement is quite challenging, containing upper structure triads and examples of suspended harmony – it’s nice to see how a master of jazz piano employs these devices in his playing.
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Bill Evans was a true innovator. He revolutionised the sound of the jazz trio and influenced jazz pianists that came both before and after him.
Upper structure triads are complex sounding altered dominant chords. They will add texture and sophistication to your playing.
Introduced by the pianist Bill Evans, the ‘So What’ chord is a minor 11th voicing that sounds great over minor chords with the 5th in the melody.
Hayden,
Thanks for this beautiful arrangement. I love it!
As I was working on it today, I noticed a few little points that I thought may help others avoid confusion while looking at it (or perhaps serve as some discussion points for theory buffs)::
Bar 2 begins with Am6 but the F is natural. Wouldn’t that be an F/A?
Bar 12 shows a D# but a D natural is played in the demonstration which I think is more fitting with the 4th/5th voicing.
Bar 22 indicates Abm6 but the D natural implies an Abdim aka E7b9/G# which leads nicely to the following Am. (V-I minor progression)
Bar 23 has a G natural but the chord is notated as D13#11 which would suggest a G# and that works nicely as well. The G natural seems to clash with the F# in the left hand but if the left hand were also changed to a G natural then you would have a Dsus here which also sounds good.
Anyways, perhaps my points are somewhat subjective but I thought I’d share my thoughts with others as I worked through this. Hopefully it’s helpful.
Regards,
Scott