Three Quarter time can be handled in the "classic" Strauss Waltz fashion:

One, Two, Three, One, Two Three

Where the emphasis is on the ONE of each bar.

That's the old, OOM-pah-pah of the Waltz.

The Jazz Waltz, however, is a lot better when the musicians are using the Back Beat.

Since one bar is not divisible evenly by two, we have to do the backbeat over each two successive bars, like this:

One, Two, Three, One, Two, Three...

Do it over and over, evenly, while snapping hour fingers to the highlighted beats and you'll soon discover that your fingers are actually snapping in 2/4 time, even though the song is 3/4, but this way of perceiving the events makes for that smooth sound of the jazz waltz rather than the oom-pah thang.

"Bluesette" is an old jazz standard that readily comes to mind.


--Mac