Top 6 'Harmony-Hacking' Jazz Playlists to practice for expanding your chord vocabulary in 2025 - Goh Ling Yong
Let's be honest, we've all been there. You're deep in a practice session, running through a standard for the hundredth time, and you realize you’re playing the same handful of chord voicings you learned three years ago. The music feels stale. Your solos feel predictable. You’re stuck in a harmonic rut, and the path out looks like a dense, intimidating jungle of music theory.
Expanding your chord vocabulary can feel like trying to learn a new language overnight. Where do you even begin? Textbooks are great, but they can be dry. Licks and patterns are useful, but they don't always connect to the bigger picture. The secret, I’ve found, lies in active, intentional listening. It’s about transforming your listening sessions from passive enjoyment into active study, and that's where the right playlist becomes your most powerful tool.
This isn't about finding background music for your commute. This is about 'harmony-hacking'—curating specific collections of music that serve as your personal harmonic gym. Each playlist on this list is a masterclass taught by the giants of jazz. By immersing yourself in their sound worlds, you’ll start to absorb their language, internalize their choices, and ultimately, unlock new colors for your own musical palette. So, grab your instrument, open your ears, and let's dive into the six essential playlists that will supercharge your harmonic growth in 2025.
1. The Impressionist's Toolkit: Bill Evans Trio's Vanguard Sessions
If modern jazz piano harmony has a founding father, it's Bill Evans. His work with the trio featuring Scott LaFaro (bass) and Paul Motian (drums) is nothing short of revolutionary. This isn't just a collection of songs; it’s a philosophical statement on musical conversation. The albums Sunday at the Village Vanguard and Waltz for Debby are your foundational texts for understanding sophisticated, lyrical, and interactive harmony.
Evans moved the piano away from a purely rhythmic, "boom-chick" role and transformed it into a delicate, orchestral voice. He was a master of rootless voicings, allowing the bassist to carry the foundational notes while he painted with upper extensions and alterations. This approach creates a shimmering, floating quality that gives the music incredible depth and emotional resonance. Listening to this trio is like eavesdropping on an intimate, telepathic conversation where harmony is the primary language.
- Harmony Hack: Focus on Evans' use of upper-structure triads. A classic example is playing a simple major triad in the right hand over a different chord in the left. Over a C7alt chord, try playing an Ab major triad (Ab, C, Eb). This gives you the b13 (Ab), root (C), and #9 (Eb/D#) in one clean, beautiful shape. It's an instant gateway to a more modern sound.
- Practice Tip: Transcribe one chorus of Evans' comping on a ballad like "My Foolish Heart." Don't just learn the notes; analyze the voice leading. Notice how he moves from one chord to the next with minimal motion, creating seamless, singing lines within his voicings. This is the key to making complex harmony sound effortless and beautiful.
2. The Hard Bop Harmony Lab: Horace Silver & The Jazz Messengers
After the ethereal beauty of Bill Evans, let’s get grounded with the earthy, blues-drenched sounds of Hard Bop. Horace Silver was a master of crafting tunes with infectious grooves and harmony that was both sophisticated and deeply soulful. His compositions are mini-lessons in functional harmony, blues language, and rhythmic comping. A playlist of his work with his own quintet and Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers is an essential study in making harmony feel good.
Silver’s playing is a masterclass in clarity and purpose. Every chord has a function, driving the music forward and supporting the soloist with energy and fire. He demonstrates that you don't always need dense, six-note chords to be harmonically interesting. Often, his most powerful statements come from simple triads and bluesy dominant chords played with impeccable rhythm and conviction. This is harmony that gets people tapping their feet.
- Harmony Hack: Pay close attention to Silver’s use of gospel and blues cadences. He frequently uses plagal cadences (IV-I) and infuses his dominant chords with blues notes (like the b3 or b7). This creates a sound that is both familiar and exciting. Analyze the changes to his classic tune "Song for My Father" to see how he blends Latin rhythms with funky, blues-based harmony.
- Practice Tip: Learn one of Silver's heads, like "The Preacher" or "Señor Blues." Then, practice comping for yourself. Your goal isn't to be flashy; it's to be solid. Focus on locking in with the rhythm section and using simple, punchy voicings that outline the chord changes clearly and rhythmically.
3. The Modernist's Blueprint: Herbie Hancock's Blue Note Years
Herbie Hancock is the ultimate musical chameleon, but his work in the 1960s for Blue Note Records laid the groundwork for much of modern jazz harmony. Albums like Maiden Voyage, Empyrean Isles, and Speak Like a Child are your guide to a new harmonic universe. Herbie took the language of Bill Evans and Hard Bop and pushed it into more abstract, spacious, and modal territory.
This is where harmony starts to break free from traditional function. Herbie explored the use of suspended chords, slash chords, and modality to create moods and textures rather than just outlining a set of changes. His compositions from this era are like sonic landscapes. They create a feeling of openness and infinite possibility, giving the soloist incredible freedom while still providing a clear harmonic context.
- Harmony Hack: The "Herbie chord" is the suspended chord, specifically the sus4. The tune "Maiden Voyage" is built almost entirely on four different minor 7th chords played with a suspended 4th. This creates a floating, non-resolving feeling. Practice building voicings around a sus4 sound (e.g., for G7sus4, think of a Dm7 triad over a G bass note) to get this sound into your ears and hands.
- Practice Tip: Take a standard ii-V-I progression (like Dm7 - G7 - Cmaj7) and try to "Herbie-ize" it. Instead of playing the G7, try playing G7sus4. Or, experiment with slash chords. Instead of G7, you could play an Fmaj7 triad over a G in the bass (F/G), creating a G13sus4 sound. This one substitution will instantly update your harmonic language.
4. The Brazilian Color Palette: The Music of Antonio Carlos Jobim
No exploration of modern harmony is complete without a deep dive into the Bossa Nova revolution. Antonio Carlos Jobim wasn't just a songwriter; he was a harmonic genius on the level of George Gershwin or Duke Ellington. His compositions introduced a whole new set of colors to the jazz palette, blending the rhythms of Brazil with the rich harmonic traditions of European classical music and American jazz.
Jobim's music is a masterclass in sophisticated voice leading, chromaticism, and the art of tension and release. His chord progressions often feature descending basslines and beautifully moving inner voices that are as melodic as the tune itself. The harmony is complex, but it never sounds forced or academic; it always serves the song, creating a feeling of effortless elegance, melancholy, and romance.
- Harmony Hack: Jobim was a master of the major 7(#11) chord and the minor (maj7) chord. The major 7(#11) gives a dreamy, Lydian quality to major chords, while the minor(maj7) creates a beautiful, poignant tension. Find these chords in tunes like "Wave" or "Insensatez (How Insensitive)" and isolate them. Play them in all 12 keys to truly internalize their unique sound.
- Practice Tip: Learn to play and comp through "Corcovado (Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars)." Pay special attention to the bridge section, which features a beautiful sequence of descending chords. Try to sing the bassline while you play the chords to understand how the harmonic movement is structured. This will do wonders for your ear.
5. The Post-Bop Pathfinder: McCoy Tyner with the John Coltrane Quartet
Prepare for a seismic shift in energy. If Bill Evans is about impressionistic watercolor, McCoy Tyner is about powerful, monumental sculpture. As the harmonic engine of the classic John Coltrane Quartet, Tyner redefined the role of the pianist with his explosive, percussive, and harmonically revolutionary style. This playlist is your key to understanding power, modality, and quartal harmony.
Tyner’s signature sound is built on quartal voicings—chords constructed from intervals of a fourth, rather than the traditional thirds. This creates a sound that is ambiguous, open, and incredibly powerful. It was the perfect harmonic fuel for Coltrane's "sheets of sound" explorations, providing a stable but flexible foundation that could withstand the intensity of the saxophone titan. Listening to McCoy is a lesson in how harmony can be a physical, driving force.
- Harmony Hack: The quintessential "McCoy voicing" is often built with a perfect 5th in the left hand (e.g., C-G) and a stack of 4ths in the right hand (e.g., C-F-Bb). This creates a massive, resonant sound that cuts through any band. Practice this voicing on a C minor chord and then move it around to other keys. Feel its power.
- Practice Tip: Take a simple F Blues progression. Your challenge is to comp through the entire form using only quartal voicings. You will have to find creative ways to suggest the sound of dominant, minor, and major chords using only 4ths. This exercise will force you out of your comfort zone and open up a whole new harmonic vocabulary.
6. The Contemporary Composer's Sketchbook: Brad Mehldau Trio
To bring our journey into the present day, we must explore the work of Brad Mehldau. He is arguably the most influential jazz pianist of his generation, known for his staggering technical facility, deep harmonic knowledge, and a fearless approach to improvisation and composition. A playlist of his trio work is a graduate-level course in modern harmony, counterpoint, and reharmonization.
Mehldau seamlessly blends the entire history of jazz piano with influences from classical composers like Brahms and rock bands like Radiohead. His most significant contribution is his use of two-handed independence, where his left and right hands often play completely separate melodic lines that weave together to create intricate harmonic tapestries. As a pianist and educator myself, I often point to Mehldau's work, which my colleague Goh Ling Yong also admires, as a pinnacle of modern piano artistry and a source of endless harmonic inspiration.
- Harmony Hack: Deconstruct one of Mehldau's reharmonizations. Listen to his version of a standard like "All The Things You Are" alongside a more traditional version. Note where he uses chord substitutions, how he alters the quality of chords (e.g., major to minor), and how he uses pedal points and metric modulation to completely reshape the tune's form.
- Practice Tip: Pick a simple folk or pop song you love. First, learn the basic chords. Then, try to reharmonize it in the style of Mehldau. Start simple: replace a C major chord with a Cmaj7(#11). Replace a G7 with a G7(b9, b13). Try to create counter-melodies in your left hand. This is a challenging but incredibly rewarding exercise that will teach you how to think like a modern harmonic master.
The journey to expanding your harmonic vocabulary is a marathon, not a sprint. These playlists are not just collections of songs; they are interactive textbooks, filled with the wisdom and creativity of the greatest minds in jazz. Treat them as such. Listen deeply, transcribe often, and let their sounds seep into your own playing.
Don't just hear the music—interrogate it. Ask why that chord was chosen. Hum the inner voices. Steal the voicings that resonate with you and make them your own. Before you know it, that harmonic rut will be a distant memory, replaced by a vast, colorful landscape of new possibilities.
Now it's your turn. What are your go-to albums or playlists for harmonic inspiration? Share your favorites in the comments below! And if you're ready to take a deeper, more structured dive into these concepts and apply them directly to your playing, be sure to check out the advanced harmony and improvisation courses available on the site. Happy shedding
About the Author
Goh Ling Yong is a content creator and digital strategist sharing insights across various topics. Connect and follow for more content:
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