The Unique Jazz Pedagogy of

Dennis Sandole

Thomas Scott McGill

 Biographical Information
• Born and Died in Philadelphia P.A. (1913-2000)
• Autodidact-He starts playing the Guitar sometime in his late teens and
quickly moves on to Piano, Theory, Composition, and Arranging. Moves
from Philadelphia to Hollywood C.A. in the late 1930’s.
• Shortly thereafter he begins playing and recording with “Name Bands”
such as Ray McKinley (1942) Tommy Dorsey (1943-44), Boyd Raeburn
(1944), Charlie Barnet (1946). (Moon, T. Oct. 2000, ‘Dennis Sandole,
Educator Who Taught Giants of Jazz’, Philly.com (online),
http://elvispelvis.com/dennissandole.htm.)
2000, ‘Coltrane’s Mentor Was Legendary Jazz Teacher’ Jazzhouse.org/The
Last Post (online),
http://www.jazzhouse.org/gone/lastpost2.php3?edit=971426621.)
• Works in Hollywood C.A. as Guitarist/Composer/Arranger for
MGM Studios and as a freelance session and live musician. It
is here that he works with musical luminaries such as Billie
Holliday and Frank Sinatra.
• Begins teaching and working on an overall concept of his
teaching literature.
• He returns to “South Philly” and begins teaching as his primary occupation at
The Granoff Studios. It was here that John Coltrane became one of his pupils
from 1946 until the early 1950’s and they “remained close”. (Porter, L. 1999.
John Coltrane, His Life and Music, Ann Arbor, MA., U.S.A: The University of
Michigan Press. pp. 52.)
• Word spreads about his unique abilities as a teacher and he becomes sough
after by many Philadelphian and East Coast based musicians. He conducts
workshops in N.Y.C. with names such as Herbie Hancock attending, but
remains based in Philadelphia as a teacher permanently.
• Authors influential guitar method book “Guitar Lore” first published in 1976.
Another book “Scale Lore” based primarily on his tetrachordal scale principles
remains unpublished.
• His students include Horn players James Moody, Benny Golson, Art Farmer,
Michael Brecker, Michael Pedicin Jr., Rob Brown, and Bobby Zankel, Pianists
Matthew Shipp, and Sumi Tonooka, bassist Stanley Clarke, Jazz Bagpipist Rufus
Harley, and Guitarists Jim Hall, Joe Diorio, and Pat Martino. (Ratliff, B. and
Moon, T. 2000 http://elvispelvis.com/dennissandole.htm).
 Teaching Outline and Approach

• Lessons are bespoke original compositions based on modern

harmonic and melodic concepts written specifically for each
student.
• Primary emphasis on harmony and melody with rhythmic
aspects as part of an overall compositional concern.
• Accepted virtually all instruments and vocal students as
material is conceptual and lessons are written with each
instrument in mind.
• Mr. Sandole rarely if ever played during lessons.
• Lesson plans consisted of four designated weeks labelled A, B,
C, and D broken down into three subsections (A1, A2, A3 etc.)
 Some General Topics of Study-Compositional Devices

• Compositional Device on Bass Line

• Compositional Device on Substitution of Note
• Compositional Device on Alteration of Note
• Modes
• Development of Augmented and Diminished Triad
• Substitute Chords
• Bitonal Scales
• Synthetic Scales
• Polychords
• Alternate Triads (Maj, Min Aug, Dim.)
• Deceptive Resolutions
• Two Augmented Scales Simultaneously
• Two Diminished Scales Simultaneously
• Harmonisation of Exotic Scales
• Neapolitan on each Chromatic Note (Major, Minor, Aug, Dim.)
• Doubly Chromatic Chords and Scales
• 1st Four, 2nd Four, and 3rd Four bars of Blues
 Monthly Lesson Plan
A Week:
1. Compositional Device
• Piano, Horns, Vocals-All Keys
• Guitar and Bass-Every String/Every Finger on
starting pitch(s)
2. Arpeggio- Verticalisation of Scales (exotic or
synthetic)
3. Voicing of Chords-”Reduction” of A1.
• All instruments-Melody in every voice of chord
B Week:
1. Compositional Device
2. Ear Training -Singing of exotic or synthetic scales
at fixed intervals. (Fixed Do, Moveable Do,
Neutral Syllable).
3. Rhythm Studies-2 bar Rhythm Study-largely
African or Latin American Rhythms applied to
8 or 9 consecutive notes from A1 harmonised
with A1 chords in any order.
C Week:
1. Compositional Device
2. Extended Phrase-Transcription
3. Sight Singing-Fixed Do, Moveable Do, Neutral Syllable.
One line a day, sing the line of that particular day.
D Week:
1. Compose original melody and chords arrangement based
on 8 bars of a standard of your choice + composition based
on 8 or 9 consecutive tones from A1, B1, and C1 forwards or
in retrograde (a possible total of 27 tones for the melody)
harmonised with chords from standard tune All instruments-
Melody in every voice
2. Composed Accompaniment and Solo
3. Exotic and synthetic scales and harmonisations to be used
for compositions and to be played on instrument and sung
“A” Week Lesson
“B” Week Lesson
“C” Week Lesson
 Similarities with Olivier Messiaen, Post War American
Twelve Tone Practice, and Vincent Persichetti
• Concept of fixed register of assigned pitches (Canteyodjaya-
1949 and Mode de Valeures et d’Intensites-1949-50) Johnson,
J. S. , 1989, Messiaen, London: Omnibus Press pp. 103, 105.)

• Use of 9, 10, 11, and 12 tone aggregates as modes rather than

as a serial unit. (Richard S. Hill, Ernst Krenek, George Perle.)

• “New scales may be so built with similar or dissimilar

tetrachords that the tonic is not repeated at the first octave.
When the tonic is missed and the tetrachords are continued, a
two octave scale or multi-octave scale may evolve”.
(Persichetti, V. 1961, Twentieth Century Harmony: Creative
Aspects and Practice, New York, N.Y. U.S.A.: W.W. Norton &
Company Inc. pp. 48.)
Scale Lore--Tetrachords
Scale Lore-Polytonal Scales
“D Week Lesson”
Substitute Chords
Modes and Alternate Triads
Harmonisation of Exotic Scales
Bitonal Scales
Polychords
Doubly Chromatic Chords
 Innovations in Jazz Guitar Pedagogy
• “Every String-Every Finger”. The concept of being able to begin all scales,
arpeggios, phrases, etc. from every finger starting on every string.

• Consecutive or Directional Picking.

• System of “Chord Families” or permutations of groups of string sets of four

strings from which to base a systematic method for chordal playing. (1234,
2345, 3456, 1235 ,2346, etc.). Slawek, S. 2009, ‘Hindustani Sitar and Jazz
Guitar Music: A Foray Into Comparative Improvology’ in Solis, G., & Nettl,
B. (eds) Musical Improvisation; Art, Education, and Society. Chicago, IL.
U.S.A.: University of Illinois Press, pp. 207-208, 211).

• Using every voice within a chord to play melody, not just the top voice.

• Writing for guitar in a role other than full chords and single line soloing
only.
 Influence on Coltrane’s Work

• “By 1951 or 1952, John Coltrane was familiar with Nicholas Slonimsky’s
Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns which he had learned about
from his theory teacher Dennis Sandole, who was interested in scalar
approaches to music”. (Collier, J. 1978, The Making of Jazz : A
Comprehensive History, Boston, U.S.A.: Houghton Mifflin Co. pp. 432)
• “Sandole also exposed Coltrane to what the former called ‘exotic scales-
scales from every ethnic culture.’ Coltrane absorbed the principles of
Nicholas Slonimsky’s influential Thesaurus of Scales and Melodic Patterns,
but he also partook of Sandole’s Scale Lore, an unpublished book that
differed from Slonimsky’s in that it was less analytical and more aural in
approach; It embodied an open and eclectic outlook, which enhanced
Coltrane’s own searching inclinations, his constant pursuit of new sounds,
form, and technique. Coltrane hand-copied the book’s useful pages and
evidently remained close to Sandole for many years.” (Whaley Jr. P. 2004,
Blows Like a Horn: Beat Writing , Jazz, Style, and Markets in the
Transformation of U.S. Culture, Boston, U.S.A.: Harvard University Press.
pp. 187.)
• “Sandole, a legendary figure, and teacher, became a mentor to Coltrane.
Sandole remembers Coltrane fondly ‘He used to take two legitimate
(classical) lessons per week, not one. He was superbly prepared for each
one. He was superlatively gifted, you know. I mostly teach a maturing of
concepts, and it involves advanced harmonic techniques you can apply to
any instrument. Coltrane went through eight years of my literature in four
years. And we became excellent friends—we had dinner together once a
week.”

• (In reference to thirds relationships of chords –eg. “Giant Steps,

“Countdown”, etc.)

“Suspecting that Coltrane’s teacher at the Granoff School, Dennis Sandole,

may have been interested in thirds relationships, David Demsey wrote to
him and received the written response that ‘Coltrane and I had probed
into third relationships also... deceptive resolution, chromatic root
movement, (equal) divisions of the octave’ and other ‘extended harmonic
devices’. So Sandole had started Coltrane along this road”. (Porter, L.
1999. John Coltrane, His Life and Music, Ann Arbor, MA, U.S.A: The
University of Michigan Press. pp. 51, 146-147.)
• “Coltrane was theory-mad. He had studied third-
related harmonic relationships with Dennis Sandole
at the Granoff School, and, as we have seen, there
was a hint of the device in his composition “Nita”,
recorded on Paul Chambers’ Whims of Chambers
three years earlier.”
• “Meanwhile, Coltrane was making his lines faster,
more complex, drawing more on his early lessons in
scales from Dennis Sandole, and possibly from his
conversations with the Chicago saxophonist John
Gilmore”. (Ratliff, B. 2007, Coltrane: The Story of a
Sound, London, Faber & Faber pp. 51-52, 129).
 Thank you
• T. Scott McGill
• Contact: handfarm1@aol.com