Jazz Piano Chords - Adding the Raised or Lowered 9th, 11th, 13th Notes

The next step in our jazz lessons is to learn to form jazz piano chords with a raised or lowered 9th, 11th, and 13th. Once we cover that issue we will be able to play s variety of jazz chord progressions which I'm going to show you in the next lesson.

In this lesson I'm going to show you what's a raised or lowered note is, then we're going to add it to a seventh chord in the II-V-I chord progression and last but not least we're going to understand how use this chord in practice by understanding how it functions in jazz standards.

In other words we're going to see which piano scale could be played when we play this jazz piano chord in a chord progression which will help us improvise with it later.

Let's start with the lowered ninth.

The Lowered Ninth in Jazz Piano Chords

In order to lower the ninth note of a chord all we have to do is lower the ninth chord in half a tone. The chord which we're going to play after omitting the root note from the bottom of the chord since it create an octave with the bass is this:

Listen to sound of the chord. It sounds quite intense.
The reason this chord sounds so intense is because of the flat 9th interval created between the bass and the lowered 9th which is as we've learn when we added the 11th chord (Click here to preview this lessons if you want to...) the most intense interval in western music.

When we played an eleventh chord we said we won't play this interval since it is too strong clashing with the 3rd note so cleary. Here the case is different. Let's see why…

Lowered 9th chords appear often in jazz music in II-V-I progression as dominant or secondary dominant chords (What's that? Click here to learn about the secondary dominant ).

The function of dominant chord in music is to create tension toward the tonic. When we play a lowered 9th dominant chord (Db in our case in G7 since we take a II-V-I in C major for example) we create a very intense tension toward the tonic.

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If we look at the voice leading in this case we'll see that lowered 9th is solved to the fifth note (G) in the tonic chromatically. The chromatic movement in music is known for its intense and dramatic effect (Click here to learn about the chromatic scale).

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Here is the same chord progression in the other common chord progression. (We like to have the 3rd or the 7th in the bottom of the chord remember? if not click here to learn about it).

Now we only have to understand where this note derives from scale wise speaking. Until today we took the extension from the major or minor scale. Where does the lowered 9th derive from?

Well, as a matter of fact two scales are possible. The first scale is the Octatonic scale (Click here to read about the Octatonic scale-coming soon).

The Lowered 9th in the Octatonic Scale

Before that such a question might have appeared in your mind... "Well, you said that I would play the lowered 9th chord when I know I have to participate the Octatonic or altered scale in playing, but how do I know I have to combine one of these scales in playing?"

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Here's an example of a song that demands the playing of a lowered 9th jazz piano chord since its melody involves that note. It's called "I Love You" by the wonderful Cole Porter.

Adding the 13th Note to lowered 9th Chord in the Octatonic Scale

Now we're going to add the 13th note of the chord to the lowered 9th jazz piano chord in order to be clear as for which scale the chord derive from so we would know what kind of scale we're expected to improvise with.

Let's start with the natural 13th which let us know that we're expected to play the Octatonic scale since it is present as part of it.

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Adding the Lowered 13th to to Lowered 9th Jazz Piano Chords in the Altered Scale

If the b9th chord derives from the altered scale we will lower the 13th in half a tone as the scale demands and play the lowered 13th as follows

Now let's explore new possibilities with the raise 9th.

The Raised 9th or Lowered 10th in Jazz Piano Chords

The raised 9th or as it often called the lowered 10th is often played in secondary dominants chords in both the Octatonic and the altered scales. In our case we'll us the raised 9th in the second degree after we substitue it with the secondary dominant of G7.

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When should we use this alteration?

Well, when we choose to play the raised 9th we make a melodic Line stepping beuatifully from the secondary dominant through the dominant and down to the tonic.
If we'll look at the voice leading we'll see that the raised 9th is being solved to the fifth note of the tonic as well in both cases.

Although both option are possible we tend to use the altered option more since it creates unity of sound between the II and the V.

The Raised 11th in Jazz Piano Chords

The raise 11th is being added as an extension very often to the tonic in the final chord of the piece. Jazz singers like to finish their melodic lines with this extension to create a jazz effect and then you as a piano player are expected to support them by playing the raised eleventh chord.

Which scale does this note derive from? This time we would use the lydian scale who has a raised 11th.

Now when I played the tonic in this situation I omitted the 3rd from the chord.
Quite a strange thing to do isn't it?

Yep, I agree but the fact is that the ear expects the 3rd so clearly that omitting it in favor of the raised 11th sound quite natural.

More so, since there are already enough extenions in the chord we can say the we play the chord in its upper structure.

That's it for today's lesson. Now we're going to talk business… I'd like us to practice a few jazz standards with these extensions we've learned. (coming soon).