In today’s post, we’ll be going over the Blue Monk lead sheet. One of many jazz musician’s favorite charts to blow some solos over. This Thelonious Monk classic from 1966 is still to this day used in many small jazz bands, big bands and jam sessions at music colleges and universities all around the world. In today’s post, we’ll be exploring everything there’s to know about this song, so that when you find yourself in a musical situation where you might have to play over it, that you feel prepared.
Overview of the Blue Monk Lead Sheet
Right off the bat, I’m gonna go through my basic checklist. Key? Bb major. Style? 12 bar blues, bit it’s leaning a little bit more to a jazz blues. Maybe not a Charlie Parker Jazz blues, but definitely a jazz blues instead of a traditional old school blues. These are the type of questions you always have to ask yourself before diving into a song like this. Because this information should already fill big knowledge gaps when it comes to figuring out how to approach a song like this.
Chord progressions
The next thing I look at is chord progressions. It just feels less intimidating and more calculative to deal with chords first. In this case, we’re dealing with a simple jazz blues chord progression. 12 bars. There are some differences with a traditional blues and a legitimate jazz blues, but it’s all very straight forward. You can play mixolydian scales over each chord, blues scales, arpeggios. You name it.
The melody
The melody is always straight forward. Play it as is. Look up versions on Spotify, and try to understand how to interpret the rhythm of the melody.
Conclusion
Take simple steps. Small steps. Recognize patterns, like this is a blues. That simple fact alone fills in a lot of gaps on how to approach this song. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out!
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