It Don’t Mean Anything

TEXT: Doug McKenzie ([email protected])
TEXT: Live played improvised solo piano midi - minimal editing. Annotation added after to explain some of the techniques used.
MARKER: On Gm, a chromatic descending bass from root
MARKER: Root and chords suggest 3/4  briefly
MARKER: Displaced (anticipated) root of next chord on beat 4 instead of 1
MARKER: On Gm, a chromatically rising 5th in chords
MARKER: Another anticipated root of next chord on 4 (ahead of the beat)
MARKER: Deliberately 'corny' phrasing
MARKER: On Eb, chromatically rising 10ths on E, F,F#
MARKER: 'Whole tone' 7th chords (stack of major 2nds) first on Db7, then C7
MARKER: Chord subs-Em7b5,Eb7,Bb/D,Dbdim,Cm7,BMaj7 - with Bb common tone on top
MARKER: On BbMaj7,stack of perfect 4ths - RH plays top 3 notes, LH bottom note
MARKER: Quote from other Ellington(?) song
MARKER: 10ths as triplets - RH reaches down to play the 10th
MARKER: On F7,the 10ths descend from the 3rd and 5th instead of rise from  root and  3rd
MARKER: Easy LH stride using descending root that keeps hand in one position
MARKER: Deliberately discordant chords (using whole tone clusters)
MARKER: Both hands play together - no stride LH - deliberately offbeat rhythm
MARKER: More displaced chord roots - Monk?
MARKER: LH bass notes play on the 'ands' while chord on beat - kind of shuffle rhythm
MARKER: More stacked 4ths
MARKER: Typical (Peterson-esque?) repeating blues lick
MARKER: RH briefly moves to a double time feel
MARKER: Same melodic idea shifted down in steps to fit changing harmony
MARKER: On C7 to F7, 10ths step up diatonically to F7
MARKER: Common way around circle of 5ths chords using 10ths continues from F7 to Bb7
MARKER: On Gm7,a nice Minor 11th voicing when the melody is the 11th on a m7 chord
MARKER: The RH plays a triad (F triad), LH plays a 3 note cluster(Bb,C,D)
  • Path: Disklavier Jazz 2/130-It Don't Me Anathing.mid
  • Size: 20 KB
  • Updated: January 31, 2026

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