Never dominant

[fierlion]

I am a classicaly trained pianist in transition to jazz (working through three note voicings/modal scale work). Any thoughts on avoiding the dominant--favorite alternate voicings/chords etc? How can I create that arc from tonic to intermediate to dominant...without ever using the dominant? My teacher says to avoid the V at all costs, cause it swings better... huh?

 

[Pete Thomas]

IMO nothing in a dominant stops anything swinging, but you can make it a less obvious V7 - I cadence with extensions, esp an 11th without the 3rd

provided you don't need the leading note
bIImaj7 (Dbmaj7 - C)
bVII7 (Bb7 - C)
IVm6 (Fm6 or Fm maj7 - C)

All these are what i call modal interchange as they are derived from modes.

You might get some good answers on rec.music.bluenote newsgroup