Here is another improvisation of mine – I’ve called it Light and Dark. It is a jazz ballad, coloured by blues and gospel influences, with a slow stride bass. The title reflects the interplay between luminous major 7th and 9th chords, and shadowy, gritty inflections of blues notes. The piece has a pensive and conversational quality, exploring a gentle tension between melancholy and optimism.
As well as using blues scale based melodies and some chromaticism, there is a moment during an interlude section where I have used the Mixolydian flat 6 mode as a chord-scale pairing. You can hear another improvisation of mine (in a modal style, rather than a jazz ballad) that uses the Mixolydian flat 6 mode as the primary sound world, as opposed to a chord-scale pairing: Threshold in D – Piano Improvisation Through Shifting Modes
Further listening
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