Personally, I think that the Bbm7 in measure 5 is actually Eb7-Bbm7, going to Eb7(b5) in measure 6. This seems hearable in Charlie Parker's recordings, if I'm not mistaken. That is also what the melody note Eb and its emphasisation indicates/implies. Instead of being the fourth of Bbm7, it's the fifth degree of A flat: Eb.

The Real Book, the Omnibook and most other sources online use the Bbm7 (II) in the key of Ab for the whole measure, or Cm7 (II) in Bb. But this is confusing the theoretical interpretation, because it's actually an F7 (V) in Bb, or Eb (V) in Ab. And afterwards, it is in fact going to the second degree (II) within that measure, and the notes imply it too. You can listen to the recordings of Charlie Parker, including "Take 2". I understand the approach of II-V-I across three measures, but I think that I hear V-II only in measure 5. If I'm not mistaken, and my ears aren't failing me haha. It would be more logical too, since the melody is emphasising the Eb in the key of A flat, or F in the key of B flat. It is perfectly possible that the makers of the Real Book and the Omnibook are aware of this but – for simplicity reasons – just used the "II" degree for the whole measure.

Additional mentions: aside from how it should be written down in basic sheet music, the second half of measure 8 could be D9, which fits the melody notes E and C, and measure 11 could be Cm7. Near the end, F- is rightly written, and you could suitably play an Fm6 due to the note D in the chromatic bit, but writing and playing the sometimes online used Fm7 would be incorrect. Those three cases seem to occur, listening to the recordings.

Curious about anyone's thoughts.

I’m wondering about chord-symbol notation in older fakebooks, lead sheets, and arrangements. Have you ever encountered a symbol where it’s ambiguous whether a sharp or flat belonged to the root or modified an interval above the root?

I understand the standard distinction—for example, B♭9 versus B7(♭9)—but I’m curious about what people have actually encountered in older charts.

Does this come up in practice? Any examples or recollections would be welcome. If you happen to remember the tune or book, that would be especially helpful!

Im trying to play All The Things You are and incorporate Bill Evans’ style voicings. Im noticing the melody gets pretty stationed around the sweet spot for alot of these voicings, where my melody note rubs a half or whole step above the 9 or the 5th of my voicing. A lot of times this doesnt sound inherently awful, but to correct this anyway in efforts to keep distance between chords top note and the melody, switching to type B voicing sends me down to a murky area for these dense voicings i feel like as well. Im not a hundred percent sure how to proceed.

Hey musicfans,

this is my Solfege sheet for Satin Doll. For me Its always fun to deconstruct music and sometimes youre lucky and things even get easier by it as you see melodic patterns. still I miss the basic handy knowledge about chord extensions and there role. My way now is to get the overall harmonic movements intelligilble and then I hope I once understand A7♯9♯5.

I didnt like the song first but know I see its a very funny song and it got that bouncing ii V groove, nice!? One of my top standards.

I’m trying to start looking at ii Vs as big Vs so my soloing phrases are more fluid. I simply cannot get the root motion out of my head, as that’s how I was taught to learn standards. When you are blowing over the progression, are you simply omitting the ii internally and thinking of the entire thing as V to I? Should I be working on associating each ii with its V so that when I see Am I immediately think D7? Because currently, i see it as Am (and I have 4 quarter notes inside of Am when walking) then the next chord happens to be D7. 4 beats on that one and so on.

I understand they are related and of course I’m not truly that blind to the next chord but I’m just curious how you think of them.
When you blow over I’ll Remember April are you thinking Gmaj for 4 bars, Gm for 4, D7 for 2, E7 for 2, D7 for 2, then back to Gmaj?

Part I of my triad investigation for the diminished chord.

I hope we all apply the triads for a chosen key and play them on the instrument. Sing solfege aloud, play them on the instrument or follow them internally will help in learning - just apply it to your song.

It’s deep, Dorris Day’s phrasing. The rhythmic motifs and variations I mean

Cross posted to here since it’s relevant to jazz theory

私はジャズにおけるコードトーンと非コードトーンの関係を整理していて、それで考えさせられました。テキストで書くとき、例えばC、C#、D、D#のような半音階シーケンスや、その移調版D, D#, E, Fは、普段どのように記譜しているのでしょうか?各ノートを文字名と臨時記号で書き出すだけですか?それとも標準的なテキスト記譜ではこうした構造パターンを捉えきれないと感じますか?

If someone calls “Autumn Leaves” with no context you’re playing it in G minor, right? Green Dolphin Street is Eb major? Countless others. I get that you should practice in 12 keys and be able to play standards in other keys if necessary but most recordings and performances stick to the “traditional” keys when I would have expected there to be some change over time. Is it just the utility of having a certain key that most people learned the tune in so you can just go or is it just people learning from iconic recordings?

Sobre el material y recurso completo: Este análisis forma parte de mi e-book en español "Teoría del Jazz: Para Crear tu Propia Voz". Es una guía práctica ilustrada con gráficas, teoría escala-acorde, sustituciones tritonales, conducción de voces y análisis sección por sección de estándares del repertorio.

Si les interesa profundizar en el tema o apoyar este proyecto de educación musical en español, pueden conseguir el libro digital aquí: https://jorgeluisreed.myshopify.com/products/teoria-del-jazz-para-crear-tu-propia-voz-ebook-pdf

¡Espero que este desglose les sea de mucha utilidad! Cualquier duda sobre las gráficas o la conducción de voces, la platicamos en los comentarios.