HarmoniPut Kind of Blue on the turntable. Track 2, So What, at 1:32. Bill Evans comes in, the left hand lays down two chords, and something strange happens: you hear a Dm7 without a single D being played. Paul Chambers' bass does its job, the piano does the rest. Welcome to the world of rootless voicings on piano, the invention that freed the left hand of the modern jazz pianist.
Of course, someone had to think of it. For thirty years, stride piano had put the root in the left hand, sometimes in octaves, sometimes in fifths. Then Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly and Red Garland realized that root was doubling the bassist for nothing. By removing it, you free a finger to add a color. The ninth, the thirteenth, sometimes the altered eleventh. The harmony becomes denser, but the overall space breathes.
What is a rootless voicing on jazz piano?
A rootless voicing is a four-voice chord in which the root is deliberately absent. You replace it with an extension: the ninth (9), the thirteenth (13), sometimes the sharp eleventh (#11) on certain chords. The pianist plays the notes that characterize the chord, the bassist plays the one that names it.
The four typical notes of a rootless voicing for a seventh chord are: the third, the seventh, the ninth and the thirteenth. That's it. On a Dm7, that gives F (3rd), C (7th), E (9th), A (5th or 13th depending on context). Four notes, never the D. And yet you hear a Dm7 with no ambiguity.
Why? Because the third and the seventh are enough to define a chord's quality. Minor third and minor seventh: it's an m7. Major third and major seventh: it's a maj7. Major third and minor seventh: it's a dominant 7. The bassist gives the root, these two notes give the color, the extensions add the perfume.
Why rootless voicings change everything for the pianist
Three concrete reasons.
Shared space. In a jazz trio, the pianist, the bassist and the drummer split the sonic space. The bassist lives in the low register. If the pianist also lays down low roots, the frequencies overlap and everything gets muddy. Rootless voicings keep the left hand in the middle register, where the piano sounds best and where the bass isn't. Nobody steps on anybody.
Harmonic color. A traditional four-voice chord uses root, third, fifth, seventh. Ordinary. A rootless voicing uses third, seventh, ninth, thirteenth. Four tensions on top of one another. The same Dm7 suddenly sounds like a Dm9 or a Dm11, effortlessly. The color goes from postcard to Impressionist painting.
The freed right hand. When the left hand holds the full harmony with its extensions, the right hand no longer has to play those notes to suggest richness. It can sing a melody, improvise, add an extra voice. Bill Evans built his entire language on this. Brad Mehldau too. Evans' writing on Some Other Time or Peace Piece would not have existed without this distribution.
How to build Bill Evans' position A and position B
Bill Evans used two reference positions for rootless voicings, which today we call position A and position B. Both contain exactly the same notes, in a different order. You alternate them to get clean voice leading.
On a minor seventh chord (m7), here's the recipe:
- Position A: third, fifth, seventh, ninth (bottom to top). On Dm7: F, A, C, E.
- Position B: seventh, ninth, third, fifth. On Dm7: C, E, F, A.
On a dominant seventh chord (7), the fifth becomes the thirteenth to bring more color:
- Position A: third, thirteenth, seventh, ninth. On G7: B, E, F, A.
- Position B: seventh, ninth, third, thirteenth. On G7: F, A, B, E.
On a major 7 chord (maj7), same logic:
- Position A: third, fifth, seventh, ninth. On Cmaj7: E, G, B, D.
- Position B: seventh, ninth, third, fifth. On Cmaj7: B, D, E, G.
Look carefully. In every position A, the lowest note is the third. In every position B, it's the seventh. Once you've understood that, you hold the key: each chord offers two left-hand choices, and the progression dictates which one to pick.
| Chord | Position A (bottom = third) | Position B (bottom = seventh) |
|---|---|---|
| Dm7 | F, A, C, E | C, E, F, A |
| G7 | B, E, F, A | F, A, B, E |
| Cmaj7 | E, G, B, D | B, D, E, G |
How to connect rootless voicings over a ii-V-I
The golden rule, inherited from classic voice leading: alternate the positions so each voice moves by the smallest possible interval. Over a ii-V-I in C major, that gives two scenarios.
Scenario 1: start in position A. Dm7 position A (F, A, C, E), G7 position B (F, A, B, E), Cmaj7 position A (E, G, B, D). Notice that the F and the A are common between the Dm7 and the G7, and that the B stays across the G7 and the Cmaj7. The left hand barely moves. That's the secret of fluid comping.
Scenario 2: start in position B. Dm7 position B (C, E, F, A), G7 position A (B, E, F, A), Cmaj7 position B (B, D, E, G). Same logic, same fluidity, just an octave lower. Use it when you want the right hand to sing higher, so the left hand settles into the low register.
The mechanism is simple. If you start in A, you switch to B on the next chord. If you start in B, you switch to A. Over a ii-V-I cycle, that gives A-B-A or B-A-B. Always alternate. Always. That's what turns a lead sheet into a continuous sonic carpet.
The traps to avoid when starting rootless voicings
Three mistakes always come up with pianists new to rootless voicings.
Playing too low. Rootless voicings should live in the C3-C5 zone (from the C at the bottom of the treble staff to the one in the middle of the keyboard). Lower, it muddies and encroaches on the bass. Higher, it competes with the right hand. The right register is the left hand set between the two middle Cs, like Evans on Sunday at the Village Vanguard.
Holding too long. A rootless voicing isn't a legato that lasts four beats. It's placed, it sounds for a bar or two, then it moves. If you hold the same Dm7 for eight beats doing nothing, the ear gets bored. Think comping, not pad. Articulate. Breathe between chords.
Forgetting the bassist. In solo piano, playing a rootless Dm7 often gives an Fmaj7. The absent root gets interpreted as the bass of the third. If you're working alone, add a low root in the left hand from time to time to confirm the chord, or rather use a drop 2 voicing that contains all the notes. Rootless is an ensemble grammar, not a solo grammar.
Practice rootless voicings with HarmoniKeys
HarmoniKeys shows positions A and B in real time on each chord of a lead sheet, and guides you to connect them with optimal voice leading. Ideal for anchoring rootless voicings across all twelve keys.
Open HarmoniKeysExercise: 30 days to integrate rootless voicings into your playing
A short, focused program. Twenty minutes a day is enough.
Week 1. Position A only, over the seven degrees of C major. Cmaj7, Dm7, Em7, Fmaj7, G7, Am7, Bm7b5. Eyes closed every other time. The goal: for the hand to recognize the third-fifth-seventh-ninth shape without calculation.
Week 2. Same thing in position B. You'll notice that the position B of one chord is exactly the position A of the chord a third above, seen differently. That ambiguity is the richness of rootless voicings.
Week 3. ii-V-I in all twelve keys, alternating A and B. Tempo 60. No right hand. Just the left-hand connections. The voice leading should flow naturally.
Week 4. Comping over a standard. Autumn Leaves, All The Things You Are, Stella By Starlight. Put on a bass-and-drums play-along. The right hand improvises, the left hand lays down rootless voicings alternating A and B. If the left hand struggles, slow the tempo down. No shame in dropping to 80 BPM on day one.
By the end of the month, you won't go back to octave roots in the left hand, except in a ballad or a deliberate stride. Rootless voicings have become a reflex.
Going further: shell voicings, quartal, rootless with alterations
Once positions A and B are automatic, two directions open up.
Shell voicings, popularized by Bud Powell and adopted by Red Garland. You keep only the low root, the third and the seventh. Three notes, two hands, and that's it. An intermediate step between stride bass-chord and the full rootless. Very useful for fast bebop where the left hand doesn't have time to articulate four voices.
McCoy Tyner's quartal voicings, built on stacks of fourths. So What by Miles Davis, played by Bill Evans in 1959, has traditional minor rootless voicings (Dm11 in position A) coexisting with stacks of fourths (D, G, C, F). McCoy Tyner with Coltrane pushed the logic all the way: abolish the third, play the entire left hand in fourths. A modern, open, almost modal sound. That's why rootless voicings are only a starting point.
On altered dominants (7b9, 7#9, 7#11, 7b13), positions A and B get enriched: you replace a standard ninth or thirteenth with its altered version. On G7alt, the A becomes Ab (b9), the E becomes Eb (b13), sometimes the F becomes F# (#11). A few weeks of specific work are needed. It's the language of modern post-Coltrane jazz, and the logical follow-up to rootless voicings.
To dig into the progressions where these voicings live, go check out our article on the ii-V-I jazz piano and three jazz turnarounds explained through voice leading. There you'll find the natural playground of rootless voicings, and enough to string together weeks of practice without going in circles. Happy left hand.