Left hand rootless voicings on II-V-I

The very first things I want to share with you are the left hand rootless voicing. I began my piano jazz work with those voicings. I trained many days to master those voicings and they're still my most used voicings today.



Why "voicing" ?
Because there are lots of ways to play chords. If you see a Dm7 in a sheet it is not mandatory to play strictly D-F-A-C: you have other notes to play on a Dm7 to enhance it and give it a "jazzy" color.

Why "left hand" ?
Becauser those voicings will be used to make hear the changes while your right hand plays the melody or improvise.
Why "rootless" ?
Because when playing in a jazz band the pianist doesn't need necessarily to make ear the root of the chords: it's the bassist job ! It makes him free to color his voicings with others jazzy notes.

Those voicings are declined in 2 versions: one beginning from the 3rd and one beginning from the 7th. You'll have to make the choice between both according to the tessitura where you are.

On a minor chord with minor 7th:

beginning on the 3rd: 3rd - 5th - 7th - 9th
or beginning on the 7th: 7th - 9th - 3rd - 5th

E.g on a Dm7: 

On a dominant 7th chord:

beginning on the 3rd: 3rd - 6th - 7th - 9th
or beginning on the 7th: 7th - 9th - 3rd - 6th

E.g on a G7: 

You can see that in this voicing you don't play the 5th but the 6th. Actually the 5th of a dominant 7th chord is not the most beautiful note to play. It's more interesting and colorful to make ring the 6th.

On a major 7th chord:

beginning on the 3rd: 3rd - 5th - 6th - 9th
or : 3rd - 5th - 7th - 9th
or beginning on the 7th: 7th - 9th - 3rd - 5th

E.g on a CMaj7 : 

On the voicing beginning on the 3rd it's possible to play the 6th or the 7th. Try both: the color is very different and you'll have to adapt according to your taste.
I use the 6th when I want an "old jazz" sound (old big band like Glenn Miller's used this type of voicings). The 7th color is more modern.

Work on II-V-I :

The best way to learn this voicings is to train on the most used progression in jazz: the II-V-I (see my thread regarding II-V-I )

Let's take a II-V-I example in C tonality: Dm7 - G7 - CMaj

For the Dm7 chord let's take a voicing beginning on the 3rd : F - A - C - E
For the G7 chords let's take a voicing beginning on the 7th : F - A - B - E
You can see that with this choice you only have to move one finger !
For the CMaj7 let's take the voicing beginning on the 3rd because it's the closest to the previous G7 voicing: E - G - A - D

Variant:

The other possibility is to use the voicing beginning on the 7rd for Dm7 voicing and you get this :

Work:

I advise to work this voicing II-V-I progession on all tonalities and following the circle of 5ths (ascending and descending). If you can work with a bassist it's the best way to work without being bored and to have fun.

Good luck and good work !