Licks on Bricks

Sample Brick-Based Licks Constructed Using Impro-Visor

Bob Keller

Bricks, as defined in Conrad Cork’s and John Elliott’s books, are used as a convenient matrix over which sample licks can be constructed and demonstrated.

Each page indexed below provides eight or so licks over the chord progression brick given. The page contains a playable MIDI file and the Impro-Visor leadsheet file. They are in a single key, but Impro-Visor can be used for easy transposition and for changing tempo or style. The student is advised to view and play these to get a feel for chord tones, color tones, and approach tones.

Name	Chord Progression
Cadence + Dropback	IIm^7	V^7	I	VI^7
Sad Cadence + Dropback	IIm^7b5	V^7	Im	VIm^7b5
POT (Plain Old Turnaround)	I	VI^7	IIm^7	V^7
Minor POT (Minor Plain Old Turnaround)	Im	VI^7	IIm^7b5	V^7
Pullback	IIm^7	V^7	IIIm^7	VI^7
Ladybird Turnaround	I	bIII^7	bVI	bII^7
Turnaround to II + Straight Approach	I IV^7	IIIm^7 VI^7	IIm^7	V^7
Rainy Approach Turnaround	IIIm^7	bIIIo^7	IIm^7	V^7
Red Clay Turnaround	Im	bVIIm^7bIII^7(IIm^7V^7 of bVI)	bVI	IIm^7b5 V^7

Note: Dominants (⁷chords) may be altered more-or-less freely.