Going up and down a scale over each chord is one thing; learning to actually weave between scales as the harmony moves is where real "changes playing" begins. This exercise is the bridge between the two.
What you'll get out of this lesson
You will learn the Octave Aways exercise: a structured way to practise resolving smoothly from one chord's scale into the next, using the nearest available note as your point of entry. This builds the kind of connected, coherent lines that sound like genuine jazz phrasing rather than a sequence of isolated scale runs.
How the exercise works
The pattern is: ascend an octave of the first scale, find the nearest note of the next chord's scale, descend an octave from there, then find the nearest note of the final chord's scale and ascend an octave. Over our ii-V-I in E♭: start on F, ascend an octave of F Dorian, go to the nearest available note of B♭ Altered, descend an octave, then find the nearest note of E♭ Major and ascend an octave. The resolution point — where you move from one scale into the next — is the crucial moment. That is where you learn to hear how the scales connect.
Practice it starting on every degree of F minor, and that will take care of everything else. You don't have to worry about where you start on the B flat 7 or the E flat 7 — just learn how to weave your way from F minor into those other keys.
Why we use the Altered scale here
The reason we use B♭ Altered rather than B♭ Mixolydian on the V chord is deliberate: Mixolydian shares most of its notes with F Dorian and E♭ Major, which makes the resolution points feel trivial. The Altered scale introduces genuinely different notes — flat 9, sharp 9, flat 5 — which means you have to work harder to find the nearest note as you cross the bar line. That difficulty is the point; it trains your ear and your fingers to navigate real harmonic distance.
Taking it further
Once you can run Octave Aways starting from every degree of F Dorian, take the exercise to other ii-V-I keys. Then apply it to progressions with more varied chord-scale relationships — anywhere the scales change meaningfully from chord to chord is good territory for this exercise.
Your homework
Practise Octave Aways over F minor 7 — B♭7 (Altered) — E♭ major 7, starting on the root of F Dorian. Once that is comfortable, work through starting on the 3rd, 5th, and 7th of F Dorian. Listen carefully to the moment of resolution as you move from one scale to the next — that connection point is what you are training.