This Gospel Organ Move Is Pure Genius

[00:00:00]So, I go down these rabbit holes of watching gospel Hammond organ players and my mind is always blown. I'm obsessed with harmony and the way these cats play changes is is unbelievable. It's so melodic, but there's also a lot of counterpoint, counter lines, reharmonizations, key changes, so many things going on.

[00:00:21]One of my favorites I've talked about before is Dr. Wendell Lowe from Chicago, but has been in Columbus, Ohio for a long time.

[00:00:29]And I knew him because I played with his son, Wendell Lowe II, who is an incredible drummer.

[00:00:34]And they're all multi-instrumentalists, but that's that's how I knew his son.

[00:00:38]Anyways, I've I've watched this video hundreds of times. It's It's like 5 and 1/2 minutes long and he's he's doing his thing in church.

[00:00:47]And there's so many moments so many little little moments that are so packed with information that it's it's honestly kind of shocking.

[00:00:58]So, this is a moment that I actually kind of hadn't dissected before. And it's so quick, but the the more I listen, the more I realize there's there's some serious stuff happening in this little passage.

[00:01:12]So, he's in the key of E flat.

[00:01:14]And he's he's basically going to do a move that starts in E flat and ends in E flat, but the way he gets there is is incredible.

[00:01:22]So, the start of the video basically gives a 5-1 in E flat to give you the the key, the tonal center, and then the move happens. So, let's take a look.

[00:01:35]>> [music] [music] [music] >> Okay.

[00:01:51]Let's listen to that again.

[00:01:56]>> [music] [music] >> Wow.

[00:02:06]So, um I'm going to do my best to uh recreate that. I'll play that. Oh, here we go.

[00:02:20]>> [music] [music] >> Do that again.

[00:02:35]>> [music] >> Good lord, what is happening? Oh my gosh. So, we we he starts off and he does this a lot where he he starts with these sort of cluster voicings and then it all each voice starts to spread out and go in you know, really is is logical when it comes down to it, but there's there's some twists and turns that are not typical of, you know, I guess jazz harmony or pop harmony.

[00:03:13]So, we start off with uh a type of quartal voicing. I've got an F and a [music] G, which is a second, and then a G and a C, which is a fourth.

[00:03:25]Um this is an inversion of a quartal voicing. So, we have F G C.

[00:03:30]And then it goes down a whole step [music] to E E flat F B flat.

[00:03:38]Then down a minor third to D C G. That's all in the key of [music] E flat major.

[00:03:48]>> [music] >> And think of all this as a melody.

[00:03:53]>> [music] >> So he's harmonizing a melody [music] in the key of E flat with these same voicings, a second and a fourth.

[00:04:06]>> [music] >> And then the voices start moving from here. So we land on this C D G. [music] And both middle uh the bottom and the middle voice go down a half step. So I have B D flat [music] G.

[00:04:23]Then that resolves to an E flat [music] major second inversion. So Amazing stuff.

[00:04:38]And I I would start to quantify this as hint to hinting at a 5-1 in the key of E flat. I mean, we really don't get it as obvious [music] as that, but when we have this voicing B D flat G, those are definitely some colors over B flat 7 that would be fair game.

[00:04:59]So it'd be the flat 9, sharp 9, [music] and a 13, which is a very typical uh tension resolution. But it's it's more implied because you don't [music] really have the tritone, you don't have the third and seventh. But you do have voices that resolve to each other. So if you look at each voice, I've got middle >> [music] >> the G stays.

[00:05:20]>> [singing] >> So that's the melody.

[00:05:23]The B string, the middle melody goes >> [music] [music] >> That's a cool little um magic melody that resolves. And then of course [music] we have the fully descending on the bottom.

[00:05:46]Without the top melody, the voices do this.

[00:05:50]>> [music] >> So, you have some cool contrary motion with voices.

[00:05:56]Um that's kind of how I deal with that. So.

[00:06:04]And [music] that's cool. That's all basically E flat going to E flat. Then we go down a whole step to D [music] flat second inversion.

[00:06:15]And now we have a G flat chord in root position.

[00:06:21]Then a B 13 [music] sus. So, let's look at that. So, D flat major >> [music] >> with an F the third on the top.

[00:06:31]And then [music] a G flat major.

[00:06:36]This is a four-note voicing. So, we've gone from three notes to four notes for the first [music] time as far as what I can tell.

[00:06:42]And that's a straight-up G flat major.

[00:06:44]So, 1 3 5 1.

[00:06:47]And then that goes to B [music] 13 sus. B E A D flat A flat.

[00:07:01]Listen to the bottom note.

[00:07:03]>> [music and singing] >> And then the top note.

[00:07:06]Together.

[00:07:08]>> [music] >> Amazing contrary motion.

[00:07:14]Let's listen to that much again from tippy top of the recording.

[00:07:24]It's the 5 1 in here.

[00:07:28]>> [music] >> Woo!

[00:07:41]It doesn't stop there because okay, what the heck we have a B Let me turn this off.

[00:07:46]We're in Oh, didn't go away.

[00:07:50]It's like what key are we even in here? I'll get there because this [music] B13sus goes right down to B flat [music] altered.

[00:08:01]Um which is the five in the key of E flat. So let's look at that move first of all. [music] So that's flat six. B is a flat six [music] in the key of E flat. So we've got a flat six sus chord.

[00:08:15]So we have a dominant [music] sus.

[00:08:18]Um to five.

[00:08:20]That's not too crazy.

[00:08:23]>> [music] >> Uh Um that flat six chord you know, is going to come from really the five up a half step. So B13sus [music] is the five of E, but it doesn't resolve to E. It doesn't go goes >> [music] >> down a half step um to B flat, but we keep the melody. So the 13 becomes the flat seven.

[00:08:50]Then we get the root B flat. Um and there's uh sharp five, flat [music] nine, flat five.

[00:08:59]Right? So B flat altered. So B13sus is the five of E. B flat seven [music] altered is the five of E flat.

[00:09:09]And then 13 flat nine [music] voicing, B flat rootless.

[00:09:15]We're going to have A flat, D, G, B.

[00:09:19]Basically G triad up top [music] and A flat on the bottom.

[00:09:22]The middle voice on the B string >> [music] >> does this walk down.

[00:09:29]Down to E. So that's 13 [music] down to flat five.

[00:09:36]And when it gets to that flat [music] he plays a straight up tritone sub, a B flat seven, so E7.

[00:09:44]And I'm doing E [music] D G sharp, so that's one flat seven three.

[00:09:50]>> [music] >> I like to put the open G, which is the sharp nine, next to that.

[00:09:54]Another E.

[00:09:55]Um cuz that's where the line went.

[00:09:56][music] And then this is the flat five of E7.

[00:10:03]So an E7 Sorry, so like an E E7 [music] sharp nine flat five.

[00:10:11]And then he resolves.

[00:10:14]Lovely [music] E flat major seven voicing, E flat major 13.

[00:10:18]E flat C [music] D F B flat.

[00:10:22]Keeps that B flat on top. Now we have one 13 [music] seven nine five.

[00:10:28]So there's no third, but it's it's really nice and [music] bright.

[00:10:32]And and open. So >> [music] >> This is those top voices.

[00:10:45]>> [music] >> And for the B sus >> [music] >> So that's five [singing] five five one, right? All of that is essentially your tension resolution in different shapes, going from B flat altered to B flat 13 [music] flat nine to an E an E7 uh sharp nine flat five to >> [music] >> E flat major home.

[00:11:17]So going backwards [music] we really rely on circle of fourths. So after the E flat chord it goes down to D flat to G flat [music] to B sus. If you look at the root motion, D flat, G flat, B. That's like you know, that's moving in fourths.

[00:11:37]That looks like a 2-5-1 on its own, but obviously the qualities are not indicative of a 2-5. But, we're moving in the circle of fourths, and that's where Western music likes to gravitate towards. So, we have a D flat, which [music] is the five of G flat, which is the five of any sort of B chord. So, they all flow into each other. And the melody helps us out.

[00:11:59]>> [music] [singing] [music] >> The melody is really what what tethers our ear, and that's how these organ players often, when you see them shed or or do these moves or or play hymns and songs, they're following a melody that that is very crystal clear and doesn't tend to do a lot of leaps or jumps, but the harmony underneath is swirling and undulating and going in and out out of keys and doing reharms and and inversions and all the things that we love.

[00:12:37]So, let me uh play the whole thing again.

[00:12:43]>> [music] [music] >> Oh my god, that's just so good.

[00:12:54]And in essence, I'm going to break down the um the Roman numerals real quick. So, this is all the first three [music] you know, it's E flat stuff. Like, I don't need to really call each of them chords. They're harmonizing a melody in E flat. So, whole five, one.

[00:13:13]Now, we [music] move down a a whole step. So, we have uh flat seven [music] going to flat three, going to flat six going to five five flat two, one. [music] Again, home.

[00:13:32]Five, [singing] one, flat seven, flat [music] three, flat six, five, five, flat two, one.

[00:13:41]>> [music] >> Just like unbelievable stuff.

[00:13:45]And what? How long is that? Like 8 seconds or something? Let's pull it up and and listen again. Whoop, that's not what I want.

[00:13:53]>> [music] [music] >> Wow.

[00:14:06]And that's from a full five and a half minute video. And I'll I'll link that in the in the description here because it is a tour de force. It is one of my favorite musical experiences ever. I'm so glad someone captured it.

[00:14:19]And there's so much to glean.

[00:14:21]But I think that the takeaway for me is how you know, these organ players at a high level are always thinking of a great melody that's singable.

[00:14:32]And voicings that sometimes can be small and compact and very large and orchestral.

[00:14:43]But the way they move in and out of them is following voices that are contracting or expanding and and adding.

[00:14:51]And oftentimes there's going to be counterlines in voices that you know, might be targeting some certain extensions for sure.

[00:15:00]Um all the dominant sounds are very altered or the 13 flat nine. That's all very common if you have a tension resolution type situation.

[00:15:12]And everything is always some sort of arc around the circle, meaning you're at home.

[00:15:21]Well, I I use the home friend dentist.

[00:15:22]You're at You're home friendly place and you go to your friend's house. They might be chill, you're hanging out. Uh then you got to go back home, then you got to go to the dentist. Ah, that sucks. I definitely want to leave that and get back home. So, whatever that circle, that trajectory is, that's essentially what it's going to do in a very very unique and enigmatic way. So, check out Wendel Low.