Mulgrew on Woody Shaw- the 'blue major third'

Woody Shaw is one of my favorite musicians on any instrument. He had one of the heaviest harmonic concepts in Jazz music. His compositions were as interesting as his trumpet playing. His use of synthetic and exotic scales was amazing. The Woody Shaw Aebersold is just about my all time favorite and just about the hardest. In this interview Mulgrew Miller he talks about playing with Woody Shaw and Woody's harmonic concept. He says that there were many elements to Woody's style besides just pentatonics. One of Woody's signature devices was the use of the major third over a minor chord. This is classic Woody all the way. He hits the major third and then slides down to the flat third, then he usually resolves the line by going to the root. Play some pentatonics moving stepwise then do the major to minor third thing, now you sound like Woody. Normally we don't think about using a major third over a minor chord or a major seventh over a dominant chord. Each and every note can be used on every chord. You just have to know how it wants to resolve, or it's 'tonal gravity' as George Russell would say.