Definition and Usage of the Be-Bop Minor Scales (part 1): the Be-Bop Melodic Minor Scale

In this article, the purpose of which may be regarded as solely didactic, some simple strategies finalized to mastering the Be-Bop Melodic Minor scale are suggested. Moreover, their application to jazz improvisation is herein discussed. We start from the mere definition of the scale, extended along two adjacent octaves, in ascending and descending motion. Subsequently, the metric characteristics of the scale are highlighted, proposing performance, in descending motion, beginning at the chordal notes (tonic, modal, dominant) and at the sixth (superdominant). Moreover, by exploiting some artificis typical of the Be-Bop idiom (such as chromatisms and approaches), we show how the scale may preserve its metric peculiarities even if it is performed beginning at the remaining tensions, including the major seventh (fundamental tension). Lastly, by resorting to the concept of harmonization, we expound a simple method finalized to combining the Be-Bop Meodic Minor scale with the seventh arpeggios derived from the Melodic Minor Scale (ascending motion) or, equivalently, from the Ipoionian (Bachian) Scale.