Modulation as an Arranging Technique

Touring jazz guitar master John Stowell shows how he keeps jazz standards fresh by building modulations into his arrangements — not just changing keys, but considering the color and relationship between the keys you choose. Filmed at the home of Mike Geller in Tucson, this is a practical 28-minute class you can digest quickly and revisit for John's voicings and lines.

Three tunes, three modulation approaches

• The Days of Wine and Roses — the classic two-key arrangement Bill Evans and Toots Thielemans recorded, taking the second 16 bars up a minor third from F to Ab, with John's voicing choices and improvised choruses in both keys
• You and the Night and the Music — John's own arrangement starting a whole step above the original key (D minor), splitting the bridge between the two keys and descending chromatically back to C minor
• Isfahan — the Billy Strayhorn ballad from the Far East Suite, originally in Db; an arrangement (from bassist Steve Gilmore, via guitarist Steve Brown) that begins a half step below in C and modulates up

Along the way John explains why seeing key relationships helps you learn and retain repertoire, transpose for singers, and internalize changes faster — and points out the original Jobim keys of Triste (A) and One Note Samba (E) as further modulation territory to explore.

In addition to the main lesson, you'll receive "The John Stowell Real Book" — a 19-page collection of John's handwritten arrangements and reharmonized changes to his favorite songs, in lead-sheet-style standard notation. Full video is 28 minutes.