Rhythm changes
It’s common practice in jazz, to take an existing chord sequence and use this as a template to create a new original melody. In jazz education, these new pieces are called contrafacts. Well-known examples include Charlie Parker’s Ornithology, with the changes taken from How High The Moon; Tad Dameron’s Hot House, or Lee Konitz’ Subconscious Lee, both derived from What Is This Thing Called Love. Even Wes Montgomery’s Four On Six is based on the changes of George Gershwin’s evergreen Porgy And Bess standard, Summertime.
But one piece that stands head and shoulders above all others in terms of contrafact action is another Gershwin classic, I’ve Got Rhythm. Charlie Parker alone produced at least a dozen compositions based on this simple 32-bar sequence, structured in four eight-bar groups and arranged in the popular AABA form. These include, Chasing The Bird, Anthropology, Dexterity, Moose The Mooch and many more. While Parker was by no means the first, his influence can’t be overstated, so
