Draft:Rootless voicings in jazz

Jazz music is a genre of music consisting of complex chords, lots of improvisational solos, and uncommon rhythms. Jazz also can have a wide variety of instruments, almost any.

A rootless voicing is a kind of chord that is widely used in jazz music that does not contain the root of a chord, but uses an extension of it instead. For example, playing a 3rd, a 5th, a 7th, and a 9th together will result in a rootless voicing, because the root was not played in the chord. Playing the root in the left hand is optional.

There are also other ways to play rootless voicings. The root cannot be played in the chord.

The purpose of playing rootless voicings is to free up fingers or sound more professional.

Rootless voicings started to become popular in the 1950s' by artists like Bill Evans, Ahmad Jamal, and others. Before these voicings were around, shell voicings were very common. Shell voicings usually only consist of two notes but can consist of three. Any two important notes that make up that chord can be played in a shell voicing. Examples of this include if a root and a 3rd or a root and a 7th were played. All three notes in a note shell voicing can be used.

Piano and guitars are most commonly known for playing rootless voicings, as they are some of the only instruments that can play multiple notes simultaneously.

In larger bands, other instruments will sometimes play the root that the rootless voicing is lacking.