“Consonance” in Tonal Jazz: A Critical Survey of Its Semantic History

Abstract

This paper considers the venerable history of efforts to define the terms “consonance” and “dissonance,” and highlights their most relevant meanings for the study of tonal jazz. While one can acknowledge a plurality of semantic diversity, none of the existing definitions taken individually can fully account for how the terms are used in most jazz parlance. Further, normative uses of the term “consonance” in the discipline of music theory can neither account for the stable harmonic sonorities that consist of chords with four or more members, nor account for the variety of chord options that can each fulfill the role of a stable sonority in the musical language of tonal jazz. To resolve the terminological problems, this approach defines consonance and dissonance as stable/passive and unstable/active harmonic entities within the musical grammar of tonal jazz, as influenced by sonorous euphony. This understanding of the terms thus embraces a pluralism of meaning that can account for the specific challenges in jazz such as its improvisational context, stylistic variety, and others. This plurality encompasses resolutions of conceptual dichotomies that have existed in different meanings of the terms since their first uses in ancient Greek sources. The article argues that because of the nature of the music, the definition of “consonance” in particular must be conceived in a relative, harmonic sense. In this approach, the article proffers three categories—or dialects—of consonant chords, based upon a sampling of jazz piano performances and pedagogical sources in jazz theory. In tonal jazz, all consonant chords include a major or minor triad in addition to one of three different possibilities of a fourth chord member: added sixth, minor seventh, or major seventh. Beyond these harmonic dialects of four‐note chords, other possibilities exist for extensions of the ninth and (sharp) eleventh. While these categories have been acknowledged by several pedagogical sources, this literature provides little or no context of harmonic function nor a systematic framework to model how the contextually stable chords behave. The idea that consonance can include chords beyond a triad is contrasted with existing literature in tonal theory, particularly extended Schenkerian theory that has been applied to jazz. While some of this literature acknowledges the stable roles played by the three primary dialect tones, almost all of them do not grant them equal status as the triadic tones in consonant harmonies. The article concludes by supporting the conclusions raised in the survey of jazz pedagogy and Schenkerian theory in a discussion of metaphoric musical meaning of tension and release.