The Lick

Licks, or short and well-known melodic lines, come in all rhythms and keys. However, one particular lick is more represented in jazz compositions and is known as “The Lick”. “The Lick”, also written as “The Licc”, has been regarded as the “most famous jazz cliche” and remains one of the inside jokes within the jazz community.

Although no one truly knows the origin of The Lick, the earliest piece someone found containing  it was Stravinsky’s “Firebird” (1910), where it takes the form of an oboe solo. Even though we can’t pinpoint where The Lick first appears (for all we know Bach could have composed something using the rhythm or notes of The Lick), we do know that it most likely gained popularity throughout the bebop era.

John Coltrane

To understand the possible origin of The Lick, we have to dive into the world of bebop, a style of jazz that originated in the mid 1940s. Bebop songs are characterized by having a fast tempo, tons of improvisation, and complex chord progressions with rapid key changes. One bebop piece that shows such impressive chord progressions is John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps” (1960). (Well, technically it's classified under hard bop, which is another subgenre of jazz that stems off bebop). Its chord pattern is now known as the “Coltrane changes” and “Giant Steps” has been regarded by critics as the “jazz standard”. The chord pattern was so unusual that during the time of the recording, pianist Tommy Flanagan had trouble keeping up with the tempo while improvising. Coltrane's legacy has continued to live on, as a jazz musician's ability to improvise over the Coltrane changes has become a "rite of passage" for them. There’s a good video explaining the technicalities of “Giant Steps” on Vox, so I’ll spare you the technical details.

What makes bebop and jazz so fascinating is that entire bebop works would sometimes be improvised from start to finish. While other types of music, like 1930s swing, favored orchestrated arrangements, bebop typically highlighted improvisation. Bebop players such as Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker would not only consistently play at 300bpm, but they would also often improvise as well. This can be seen through Charlie Parker’s “Anthropology”, where Parker (saxophone) and Gillespie (trumpet) take off at around 300bpm.

Now that we know a bit on the style of bebop, we can examine why The Lick became one of the most well known licks. Personally, I believe that its popularity arose from a Reddit meme post, but jazz history provides some alternative answers. Since bebop pieces are usually at a very fast tempo, improvisation happens at a fast rate. This allows musicians to reference multiple licks in their work, as licks are often short, melodic, and easy to play. Additionally, one of the only methods to learn jazz was to listen to records and emulate what the musician had played, which allowed The Lick to proliferate and enter the jazz vernacular.

So, what exactly is The Lick and how is it used? The Lick is a short melodic line that allows the musician to easily navigate a ii-V-i chord progression by using the pattern 2 3 4 5 3 1 2. For instance, in C Major, the notes of The Lick would be “D E F G E C D”, which would take the musician through a Dm7-G7-Cmaj7 chord progression. Music isn't really music without listening to it, so have a listen: The Lick in All 12 Keys.

Even though The Lick is now most commonly used for comedic effect, there has been a serious composition for it by David Bruce called “The Lick Quartet”. People have also made compilations on their sightings of The Lick. After all those videos, if you can’t get enough of it, here’s a website that has 242 instances of The Lick people have found in music ranging from a Nokia ringtone to recent pop music.

Next time you listen to a jazz or bebop piece, try looking out for The Lick or other similar jazz cliches and you’ll be surprised how many times they show up.


https://www.reddit.com/r/Jazz/comments/2djmol/1_2_3b_4_2_7b_1/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bebop
http://www.openculture.com/2015/09/a-great-supercut-of-the-lick.html
http://www.ethanhein.com/wp/2011/the-lick/