Jim Hall’s solo on Cole Porter’s "You’d Be So Nice To Come Home To" from the 1975 album Concierto (CTI) showcases the guitarist’s compositional approach to improvisation.  Hall’s use of motivic development, space, intervallic lines and legato technique are on full display as he creates a two-chorus solo over this 32-bar, ABAC-form song in G minor.
     The solo begins with a two-measure break that contains intervallic skips of perfect fourths, minor 6ths, a minor 7th and an octave.  In bars 6-10, Hall develops a rhythmic and melodic motif based on an eighth-note/dotted-quarter-note rhythm.  This motif contains intervallic skips of fourths, fifths and a minor 6th as well as several over-the-barline cross rhythms.
     From measures 13-17, Hall plays two melodic ideas that are more tertian and chromatic in structure.  He executes the two ideas using legato hammer-ons and pull-offs.  Another intervallic motif appears in bars 17-22.  This time it’s a series of descending major 6ths played in a quarter-note rhythm.
      Hall develops a new rhythmic and melodic motif in measures 23-30.  Angular intervallic skips of fourths and fifths continue throughout the phrase in bars 31-33.
     In measures 34-41, Hall devises an extended rhythmic and melodic motif consisting of a descending Bbmaj7 arpeggio played over the Gm7 chord and a descending Abmaj 7 arpeggio played over the FM7 and Bb7 chords.  The rhythm begins simply with quarter notes and eighth notes, but Hall expands it by playing the motif in a more complicated figure and rhythmically displacing it across the bar line.  He executes the motif with legato technique using pull-offs and downward pick sweeps.  Hall then plays a diatonic melodic line consisting of more intervallic skips over the Ebmaj7 chord.
     Hall plays a more horizontal phrase in bars 43-46.  Over the D7b9 chord, Hall plays a G melodic minor scale starting on A, with an added non-diatonic note (F) functioning as the #9 of the D7 chord.  The horizontal shape of the phrase continues with a chromatic melodic line over Am7b5 and D7b9 chords.  Hall then superimposes a Gm9 arpeggio over the D7b9, anticipating the Gm7 chord two beats early.
     In measures 55-57, Hall executes a melodic line with legato hammer-ons and pull-offs. The melodic structure of the line is stepwise and tertian.  Measure 56 is reminiscent of the motif found in measures 42 and 43.  Both motifs are played over an Ebmaj7 chord.
     In bars 59 and 60, Hall plays a simple eighth-note rhythmic motif consisting of major thirds, fourths and a fifth alternating with quarter rests.  This motif is similar intervallically and rhythmically to the motif found in bars 23-30.  In measures 64 and 65, Hall plays an ascending Bb minor triad superimposed over the F7.  This is executed with an upward pick sweep.  Finishing the e solo in measures 66 and 67, Hall plays an intervallic line derived from the Bb blues scale.  The line is executed with upward pick sweeps, pull-offs and hammer-ons.
    Guitarist Timothy Cummiskey is a member of the Jazz Studies faculty at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio where he teaches jazz guitar and jazz ensemble.  He is also an active performer in the central and Northwest Ohio area.  He presents a clinic on Jim Hall’s Innovations and influence on contemporary jazz guitar styles at the International Association of Jazz Educators 1998 convention New York. 

70 Down Beat February 1998