House of Harmony – Lesson from Saxophonist Bob Mover

Bob Mover on the BetterSax Podcast

My guest today is the great Bob Mover. A virtuosic saxophonist who performed with Chet Baker, Charles Mingus, Lee Konitz and countless others. I met Bob in 2005 in New York, while I was repairing saxophones on 48th street. I was fortunate enough to get to learn a lot from him at that time.

The full version of our very interesting conversation can only be heard on the Better Sax podcast, which you can find anywhere you get podcasts.

You can check it out below!

House of Harmony

In this excerpt selected for YouTube, Bob Mover explains to us his house of harmony.

It’s his metaphor for understanding jazz harmony in a remarkably simple way.

I remember when Bob first explained the House of Harmony to me and drew a diagram of it on a sheet of paper, several pieces of the harmony puzzle suddenly fell into place in my mind. Stuff I had been studying for years in music school and books was all at once easy to understand.

Any student of jazz improvisation will benefit greatly from what you’re about to hear and when you want to learn more like this from Bob Mover, go check out his online workshops that he runs every Saturday. You can sign up here. Believe me, Bob has a beautiful way of explaining things that will stick with you for a very long time.

Bob Mover is also a sort of historian and chronicler of the jazz scene. In this single conversation he mentions dozens of important players in the musical timeline. I actually made a list of all the names that you’ll find at the bottom of this article. I’ll admit – that I did have to look up a number of them who I wasn’t familiar with and I’m personally grateful for all the additional knowledge Bob lays on us here.

Please enjoy my conversation with Bob Mover.

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And if you want more great BetterSax interviews, be sure to check out this conversation with Bob Reynolds.

List of names mentioned:

Charlie Parker, Roland Kirk, Bill Evans, Roy Eldridge, Richie Kamuca, Ira Sullivan, Walter Piston, Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Stan Getz, Zoot Sims, Wynton Kelly, Kenny Dorham, Sonny Rollins, Lee Konitz, Jaki Byard, Al Cohn, Phil Woods, Bud Powell, Thelonius Monk, Jimmy Lyons, Cecil Taylor, Saul Frompkin, Don Byas, Coleman Hawkins, Art Tatum, Bud Powell, Hank Jones, Al Haig, Dodo Marmarosa, Joe Albany, Albert Dailey, Kenny Barron, Warne Marsh, Lennie Tristano, Lester Young, Count Basie, Jerry Coker, Allen Rock, Duffy Jackson, Bill Pierce, Mark Colby, Melton Mustafa, Ramblerny Music camp, Roger Rosenberg, Mike Brecker, Randy Brecker, Eddie Cleanhead Vinson, Shelly Manne, Brooks Kerr, Tony Castellano, Mulgrew Miller, Walter Davis Junior, John Bennett, Bernie Senensky, Cory Weeds, Sam Noto, Isaac Raz, Antoine Drye, Steve Kenyon, Emily Mover, Danny Kaye