Blue For Pep

By Michael Pettersen

Composed March 31, 2006 - the 95th anniversary of Freddie Green's birth. "Pep", short for "Pepperhead", was Freddie's nickname. The chord changes for "Blues For Pep" have at least one tritone interval in every measure, and all six tritones that exist in Western music are used at least once in this tune. The tritone interval is the 3rd and 7th of a dominant seventh chord; there are only six tritones, not twelve, because each tritone is an inversion of the tritone that is up (or down) a diminished fifth. Example: the tritone of C-Gb, the 3rd and 7th of Ab7, is also C-F#, the 7th and 3rd of D7. "Pep" employed a tritone, played on the 4th string and 3rd string, more than any other chord voicing. It is feasible that he used this tritone voicing on every tune he played over his 50+ year career in jazz.

Blues For Pep