"Falling Grace" and the Neapolitan Sixth Chord in Jazz

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What the heck is a "Neapolitan Sixth Chord" anyway?

"Falling Grace" by Steve Swallow is one of the classics... I remember hearing the Gary Burton and Chick Corea recording of this tune back when I was just getting into jazz vibraphone.

I didn't realize how logical the structure of the composition was until my jazz improv class teacher pointed it out (Garry Dial at Manhattan School of Music). Thanks Garry!

I had learned about 'Neapolitan 6th chords' in my classical theory class at Ithaca College before I was at MSM, but hearing a jazz teacher talk about it really helped me understand it - and suddenly everything I learned in the normal theory class made sense.

These compositional devices are things that we can USE in daily music making - they don't have to live on in boring textbooks or lectures about "why so-and-so was great"...

It's something we can practice, just like Blues, Rhythm Changes, or Coltrane Changes. And it's beautiful.

In this video I explain what a Neapolitan 6th chord is, then I analyzed the song 'Falling Grace'.. then I improvised several choruses over the tune on the vibraphone.

I hope you enjoy!

-Tim