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At the heart of jazz music is a celebration of diverse musical backgrounds. That’s because jazz tells the stories of its practitioners, each of whom bring their own musical heritage to the music. In fact, there are some notable jazz standards that mix rhythmic textures from different origins all within the same song (i.e.: “On Green Dolphin Street”). In today’s Quick Tip, Play Jazz Standards that Mix Latin and Swing, John Proulx helps jazz piano students practice navigating these so-called “transition tunes.” You’ll learn:

• Introduction
  • What is a “transition tune” in jazz?
• Jazz Standards the Mix Latin and Swing Styles
• Latin & Swing Practice Exercises for Piano
• Application Song: On Green Dolphin Street
  • A Section – Latin Feel
  • B Section – Swing Feel
  • C Section – Swing Feel
  • Complete Song From

Introduction

Jazz piano students generally learn to approach the standard repertoire according to specific stylistic frameworks. For instance, most lead sheets indicate the style of the tune in the upper left corner. Typically, a concise designation is all that is needed, such as “slow ballad,” “medium swing,” “fast swing,” “jazz waltz,” “bossa nova” and so on.

Some standards from the Great American Songbook are quite versatile and can be performed convincingly in a number of different styles. For example, recordings of “All the Things You Are” and “Summertime” range from quite slow to quite fast—and everything in between. However, today’s lesson addresses a different stylistic paradigm altogether. Specifically, there are a number of jazz standards that deliberately mix straight 8th-notes and swung 8th-notes throughout the song form. Such tunes are often described as “transition tunes.”

What is a “transition tune” in jazz?

A “transition tune” is a jazz standard in which the compositional structure switches the 8th-note groove from straight-8ths to swung-8ths at key moments in the song form. Typically, the transition is from a Latin feel to a swing feel. Examples of transition tunes include popular jam session tunes such as “On Green Dolphin Street,” “A Night in Tunisia” and “Caravan.”

Since the stylistic concrescence of “Latin to swing” is not limited just one or two obscure tunes, it warrants intentional consideration for aspiring jazz students. Specifically, jazz piano students should be aware of the most common transition tunes that have this particularity. In addition, jazz piano students should practice navigating such stylistic transitions with seamless execution.

“The key to a smooth transition is in the way you subtly ‘telegraph’ the new feel without giving it away.”¹

—Steve Houghton, Jazz Drummer, Educator & Author

Jazz Standards that Mix Latin and Swing Styles

For most transition tunes, the stylistic changes are part of the actual composition itself. For example, a transition tune typically opens with a “straight 8ths” groove for the A section. Afterward, the tune will generally transition into a swing feel for the B section. In fact, this format is common enough that some artists have even used this structure as a means of reinterpreting more traditional jazz standards.

Just how many transition tunes are there? It’s hard to say exactly, but the following list includes a dozen recordings that demonstrate the essence of today’s lesson.

The Lead Sheet Says ‘Latin’…What Should I Play?

In listening to the selections above, you may have noticed quite a bit of diversity in the “straight 8ths” portions of each tune. That’s because “Latin” is a general term that encompasses many different rhythms. For example, the A section of a transition tune could be bossa nova, samba, bolero, mambo, rumba, merengue or another groove. Nevertheless, most fake books simply indicate “Latin” for all these styles. In fact, the groove on Oscar Peterson’s recording of “Tin Tin Deo” is actually an Afro-Cuban feel called a Bembé.

Given so many sub-genres within Latin music, it can be challenging to know exactly how to interpret the A section of a transition tune. First and foremost, the historical recordings themselves are an invaluable resource in learning what to play piano on specific transition tunes. However, the common thread among the various Latin styles referenced above is a straight 8th groove with syncopations that are oriented around the clave rhythm. Sometimes, you’ll hear the pianist playing a recurring rhythmic pattern that is percussive in nature and synchronizes with the drums. On other tunes, the pianist may play comping rhythms without any recurring pattern. Still other Latin jazz recordings feature piano “padding” with longer, lush chords.

In the next section, you’ll practice playing a Latin feel on piano with a recurring bossa nova rhythm.

Latin & Swing Practice Exercises for Piano

So far, we’ve described what a transition tune is and referenced several specific jazz standards as examples. Now it’s time to play some representative rhythmic patterns that will help you navigate transition tunes in general. Afterward, we’ll apply all these rhythms to the jazz standard “On Green Dolphin Street” in the next section.

All of the examples in this piano tutorial come from the lesson sheet PDF that accompanies today’s lesson. If you are already a PWJ member, you can download the PDF and backing track from the bottom of this page after logging in with your membership. In addition, PWJ members can also easily change the key of these examples by using our Smart Sheet Music.

Latin Jazz Exercise

Our first practice exercise employs a syncopated rhythm that is a staple of the Brazilian bossa nova style. The sheet music below indicates whether each note falls “on” the beat or “off” the beat. All of the demonstrations in this section are recorded at 130 BPM.

Good job! Next, we’ll switch our focus to practicing some swing exercises for piano.

Swing Exercise 1

The swing section on most transition tunes features a walking bass line played on the double bass. For our purposes here, we’ll imitate this stylistic feature on piano with our left hand. Then, in the right hand, we’ll explore various comping rhythms. However, if you’re playing in an ensemble with a bass player, then you can leave the bass line to the bassist and play the comping rhythms with two-hand voicings instead.

Swing Exercise 1 features right-hand chords that alternate between “off” the beat and “on” the beat.

Well done…let’s try another exercise.

Swing Exercise 2

Our next swing exercise features comping figures on beat 1 and the “and of 3.”

Nice job. Let’s try another right-hand rhythm.

Swing Exercise 3

Another common swing comping rhythm is the Charleston rhythm, which features chords on beat 1 and the “and of 2.”

Good work! Let’s try one more swing rhythm example.

Swing Exercise 4

Our final swing exercise features an “on,” “off,” “off” comping pattern with chords on beat 1, the “and of 3” and the “and of 4.”

Want to explore even more rhythm exercises related to Latin and swing styles? Then check out the following courses:

🔎 Bossa Nova Rhythm Essentials (Beg/Int, Adv)
🔎 Jazz Swing Rhythm Essentials (Beg, Int/Adv)

Latin to Swing Application Song:
“On Green Dolphin Street”

For the application section of today’s lesson on jazz standards that mix Latin and swing, we’ll examine the transition tune “On Green Dolphin Street.” This tune was composed in 1947 for the MGM film Green Dolphin Street. The song was written by Bronisław Kaper with lyrics by Ned Washington.

The following recordings of “On Green Dolphin Street” are all dated within three years of each other. However, each version represents as different approach to the Latin feel within the rhythm section. The pianist on the Miles Davis recording is Bill Evans. The Jimmy Heath Orchestra rendition features Tommy Flanagan on piano.

Perhaps you’re wondering what a solo piano approach would sound like on a transition tune line “On Green Dolphin Street?” Even though that’s beyond the scope of today’s lesson, you’ll appreciate listening to solo piano recordings by Hank Jones and Cedar Walton.

Next, let’s examine the chord changes for “On Green Dolphin Street.”

On Green Dolphin Street: Lead Sheet

For today’s lesson, we’ll examine “On Green Dolphin Street” in the key of C major. The song contains 32 bars and follows an ABAC song form. As a part of the compositional structure, the A sections are performed with a straight-8th quasi-Latin feel, whereas the B and C sections are played with a swing feel. Another notable feature of the tune is that the A section employs prominent use of modal interchange over a tonic pedal note.

Alright, we’re ready to learn how to play “On Green Dolphin Street” on piano. First, we’ll practice each section individually to get a feel for playing the Latin and swing styles with these additional chord changes. Afterward, we’ll put the sections together and focus on playing the entire jazz standard with a seamless transition from Latin to swing.

A Section – Latin Feel

The following excerpt is similar to the Latin jazz practice exercise that we played earlier, except that it contains more chords. Due to the presence of the slash chords in measures 5–6, we’ll keep a fixed bass line using the notes C and G. Notice that we initiate the transition to swing halfway through measure 7.

That sounds great! Next, let’s practice the chord changes for the B section of “On Green Dolphin Street” with a swing feel.

B Section – Swing Feel

Since this excerpt is longer, it employs multiple techniques within the walking bass line. For example, this bass line incorporates root–5th–root ascent and descent, stepwise motion and chromatic approach tones. Such use of multiple construction techniques keeps a bass line from sounding mundane and predictable.

For a deep dive on how to construct professional walking bass lines, check out the following course:

🔎 Jazz Walking Bass Lines (Int, Adv)

Remember, the B section of “On Green Dolphin Street” concludes with a repeat sign, which takes us back to the A section. However, since we’ve already covered that material, let’s go straight to the C section (the 2nd ending), which we’ll also play with a swing feel.

C Section – Swing Feel

Nice job. Alright, are you ready to put it altogether? If so, then continue on to the final example below.

Complete Song Form

Conclusion

Congratulations, you’ve completed today’s lesson on Play Jazz Standards that Mix Latin and Swing. After examining and practicing the examples in this lesson, you’ll be much better prepared to navigate transition tunes with ease.

If you enjoyed this lesson, then be sure to check out the following PWJ resources:

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¹ Houghton, Steve, and Warrington, Tom. Essential Styles: for the Drummer and Bassist ; a Cross Section of Styles as Played by Today’s Top Artists. Book Two. United States, Alfred Publishing Company, 1992.

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