Wayne Naus' Book
(excerpt from the Preface)
I n 1993 I began developing a harmonic analysis course at Berklee College
of Music focussing mainly on the unique melodic, rhythmic and harmonic
characteristics of the contemporary jazz and fusion group, the Yellowjackets.
In the course, a comparative analysis was also made with other composers
such as Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, Pat Metheny, Scott Henderson (of
Tribal Tech), Bill Evans, Mike Brecker, and Eddie Gomez. It became apparent
that the music written by these composers shared similar harmonic and
melodic characteristics which made their style unique but much different
from traditional standard tune-style composition. Having come from a
more traditional background myself, I quickly discovered that the criteria
which I used to identify and analyze the characteristics unique to standard
tune composition was inadequate to justify and analyze the characteristics
in tunes written by the aforementioned composers. Through the process
of teaching the Yellowjackets course, a new set of criteria began to
emerge which more accurately reflected the characteristics unique to
the music of these composers...........
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