How Kenny Burrell Harmonizes “Satin Doll” (part 1)

Added: 2026-06-04

[00:01:17]Hello and welcome to this jazz guitar lesson. I'm Chris Whiteitman. Thanks for joining me. Today we are looking at Kenny Burell's version uh of Duke Ellington's Satin Doll. And this is from uh Kenny's album Lotus Blossom. This is a great example of how to harmonize a melody in a guitar trio situation where you don't have another harmonic instrument, right? So we have guitar, bass, and drums on this cut. And it's a particularly good example of applying drop two voicings. So for a large percentage of harmonization, he is using drop two voicings. So if you've worked on your drop two voicings, but you haven't applied them in a musical context yet, this is going to be a great example. All right, so let's take a look at what's going on. So there is a four bar introduction which is basically um the Ellington introduction maybe slightly different rhythms and Kenny is using the interval of the sixth to harmonize this melody in the introduction and it sounds like this. 1 2 3 4 1.

[00:02:35]So I'm starting with uh the melody not on E and I'm harmonizing it with the interval of the sixth sixth below E. So we have G and E and he slides in on the end of beat one. So it's syncopated 2 3 4 1 and right one and and then he jumps down to C and now we have harmonization with an E. So that's a minor 6. This was a major 6 interval. We're moving to a minor 6. And then we're going to move up to D and F.

[00:03:11]So that first measure one and two three F. And then we have the exact same uh notes, different rhythm. So in bar two, it comes in on the down beat of one 2 3 4 1 2 and Right. So you put those two measures together. 2 3 4 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1 2 and. And then bar three is just like bar one. 2 3 4 1 and two and three and. And then we have this finish where he moves chromatically from E up to G. And the way he harmonizes that is E gets harmonized with the G.

[00:03:57]And then the shape is going to change to the minor 6 shape. We have F and A, F sharp and A sharp to G and B.

[00:04:09]And again, that's very similar to uh Ellington's original introduction that he played on piano. So those are the first four bars. And I'll play it again with the metronome. I'm going to put it on 96.

[00:04:23]1 2 3 4.

[00:04:35]All right. All right. So, that takes us into the first melody statement. Uh, we can look at this as an A section, right?

[00:04:44]This is an a 32 bar form. Uh, it's going to be a a ba. They're all eight bar sections. And so, I'm going to play the first eight bars with the metronome and then we'll break down each voicing and talk about it.

[00:04:58]One, two, three, four.

[00:05:21]All right. So the first harmony is D minor 7 and the melody note is A on top of that. And what he does is he actually uses an F major 7. This is a drop two root position. F major 7 F C E A.

[00:05:41]But the bass player is playing D. And so we're thinking about this in relation to a D root. And that would give us a D minor 9. Right? So, we're getting a nice color. Um, but again, it looks just like an F major 7 if you know that drop two.

[00:05:58]It's functioning as a D minor 9. And he does a really nice uh aesthetic thing where he just he just slides down a half step and right back. Right.

[00:06:13]And then the harmony changes to G7 and he moves to a G13.

[00:06:20]Right. And that's F, B, E, and then G on the top. That's the melody.

[00:06:29]And then right back to D minor 9.

[00:06:33]And this is a big chunk of of uh what he does in this tune because it's 3A section. So you're going to get a lot of this motion.

[00:06:45]All right.

[00:06:47]1 and 2 3 and four and 1 and 2 and 3 and and then that is a sequence. It's going to move up a whole step and you're going to do the same thing now thinking about E minor to A7.

[00:07:04]And what he does is he actually slides in uh to the E minor 9 from a half step below.

[00:07:12]Right? Again, this looks like a G major 7, but when you put E in the bass, E minor 9, right? So, he approaches on the end of beat four, preceding the down beat of E minor. So, 1 2 3 4 and 1 and 2, right? 2 3 4 and 1 and 2 3 and All right. So E minor 9, I'm sliding back down to E flat minor 9. Back to E minor 9 to A13, back to E minor 9. Right? And that A13 has G, C sharp, F sharp, and A. Right?

[00:07:58]And then we have the E minor 9 syncopated coming on the end of one. 1 and two. Back to the A13 on beat three.

[00:08:07]and then back to E minor 9 on the end of beat three. Okay, so let's put the first four measures of the A section together.

[00:08:17]1 2 3 4.

[00:08:29]All right, so this takes us into bar five of the A section. uh it's going to be bar nine on the chart because of the four bar intro if you're looking at that. And the most common uh harmony at this point is going to be some type of A minor with the D in the melody. So A minor 11 or A minor 7 flat 5 with the 11, but Kenny uses a sub here.

[00:09:00]So he uses an E flat uh major 7 with a six and a nine, which is really cool. I like it. Um and but I think it's important to understand the the rationale behind this. Why E flat? Well, if you had a half diminished a minor 7 flat 5, embedded in that chord is an E flat 6, right?

[00:09:24]So he's basically using that E flat. He's putting it in the root and then building out a lush voicing uh of an E flat 69 with a major 7. So we have E flat, G, which is my your third, C, which is your sixth, F is your nine, B flat is your fifth, and D is your major 7. Right? So I think of it as an inversion um of a minor 7 flat 5. It doesn't correspond uh exactly uh but it is a really nice sub. So that's what he plays uh in place of the A minor and then he moves right to D7 and I have D and then your dominant 7th which is C. F sharp is your third.

[00:10:18]Another flat 7 or dominant 7. Another C here. Right. So 3 4 1 and 2 3 and he hits that D. I'm getting it under the index finger. Right. 1 and 2 and 3. And then down to A flat minor 9.

[00:10:38]Here at the fourth fret I have G flat which is my flat 7. I have C flat which is my minor third. E flat is my fifth.

[00:10:48]and B flat is my ninth. So A flat minor 9 rootless. There's no A flat. You could you could grab that if you wanted to put the root in the bass if you don't have a bass player. Uh he has a bass player so he is not grabbing the root. And then this A flat minor is going to move to uh D flat dominant, right? And he plays a D flat 9 rootless. Again, if you wanted the that's what it would look like with the root. He starts with the third F. Uh, and then C flat would be your flat 7th. Um, E flat is your nine.

[00:11:25]And then the melody note is B flat, which now is the 13 in relation to D flat. Right? So those extensions, you know, I'm always um looking at them in relation to the root of the chord, not the bass note in my voicing because that's not always the root of the chord.

[00:11:46]Right? So A minor 9, D flat 9, and then he resolves to C69.

[00:11:59]Again, rootless. So E is my third, A is my sixth, D is my nine, G is my fifth.

[00:12:06]If you wanted to put the root in there to kind of hear that, that's what it would sound like. And that's the end of the melody statement uh for the first A section, but we have a turnaround, a very cool turnaround. So we resolve to C, but we have to get back to D minor for the beginning of the second A section. And he plays C.

[00:12:29]And then he goes to F to E to A. Right? This is a very common turnaround. It would be 1 4 3 six. That's analysis of the root motion against the key center of C.

[00:12:46]We're in the key of C here.

[00:12:49]Um, and what's interesting about his choices is that he plays C69.

[00:12:58]Nothing unusual about that. But when he goes to the four chord, often times we'll we will hear the four as a major or sometimes dominant in this kind of turnaround, but he makes it minor 9. So he goes C69, F minor 9, which is a really nice um variation. And then he moves to E minor 7 to A7 sharp nine.

[00:13:26]Right? So those voicings we talked about the C69, F minor 9, I have F, A flat is my third, E flat is my seventh, G is my ninth.

[00:13:40]Then the the pinky stays there.

[00:13:43]Everything else moves down a half step and I have an E minor 7. E is my root, G is my third. Uh D is my seventh and G is my third again. So this is what we call double lead voicing because we have the lead note doubled in the chord. That's an arranging term. Uh and then we finish with an altered A7.

[00:14:06]And what does this A7 do for us? It creates a cadence back into D minor.

[00:14:13]Right? So he chooses A7 sharp nine.

[00:14:16]Really nice choice.

[00:14:19]I have a root. C# sharp's my third. G is my seventh and then C or B sharp would be my your sharp nine, right?

[00:14:30]And you probably know this voicing, the purple haze voicing. It's the same four notes, just different string set, right?

[00:14:38]And so that turnaround sounds like this.

[00:14:41]2 3 4 and All right. So, let's put the whole A section together in time.

[00:14:54]1 2 3 4.

[00:15:17]All right. So that takes us to the second A section which is very similar.

[00:15:23]Um there's a few variations. We have a couple of counter lines and then uh a different type of harmonic motion where the turnaround was in the first A section. We have uh some varied harmonic motion that's going to then lead us into the bridge, the B section.

[00:15:40]So I'll play through the A section in time and then we'll break that down. 1 2 3 4.

[00:16:06]All right. So, it starts off the same. D minor 9 with the half step slide.

[00:16:13]G13 back to D minor 9. And then he adds this counter line here. We have G to E.

[00:16:23]That's it.

[00:16:34]All right. So that is A G A Fsharp and then back to E minor 9 to A13.

[00:16:44]We have our same subchange E flat major 7 with the 69 D7 A minor 9 D flat 9 with the 13 in the melody and then this new harmonic motion. He plays C69 and then we have F over G and the bass player is playing uh G in the bass. So it's giving you a G9 sus sound. So three and four and one and two and three and four back to the C69. And then we have this short little chord stab where he plays a G7 sharp five flat N.

[00:17:26]Right? And that's leading in uh to the bridge. And what we'll do, we're going to come back and do part two. We look at the bridge and then take the take the tune out. All right. So, my recommendation would be to work this up uh so you can get your technical proficiency higher and then try to play along with Kenny Bell, play along with the recording uh from his album so that you can really start to absorb, you know, his essence, his time feel, and really hone the nuances, you know, his his articulation. You know, I try to capture his tone. I love his tone. I mean, he's one of my favorite players.

[00:18:10]So, I spend a lot of time just listening and trying to emulate. There's no substitute for that process of really immersing yourself, spending time with a master. So, I hope you found this information useful. Everything we went over is available as a PDF download for my Patreon subscribers. I'll put a link in this video description for those interested in exploring a membership there. And I'll be back shortly with part two where we look at the bridge and uh take it through the end of the tune.

[00:18:43]So see you next time.