Jazz harmony

Dominant seventh chord on C: C7 Play (help·info).

Jazz harmony is the theory and practice of

how chords are used in jazz music. Jazz
bears certain similarities to other practices
in the tradition of Western harmony, such
as many chord progressions, and the
incorporation of the major and minor
scales as a basis for chordal construction.
In jazz, chords are often arranged vertically
in major or minor thirds, although stacked
fourths are also quite common.[1] Also,
jazz music tends to favor certain harmonic
progressions and includes the addition of
tensions, intervals such as 9ths, 11ths, and
13ths to chords. Additionally, scales
unique to style are used as the basis of
many harmonic elements found in jazz.
Jazz harmony is notable for the use of
seventh chords as the basic harmonic unit
more often than triads, as in classical
music.[2] In the words of Robert Rawlins
and Nor Eddine Bahha, "7th chords provide
the building blocks of jazz harmony."[2]
The piano and guitar are the two
instruments that typically provide harmony
for a jazz group. Players of these
instruments deal with harmony in a real-
time, flowing improvisational context as a
matter of course. This is one of the
greatest challenges in jazz.

In a big-band context, the harmony is the

basis for horn material, melodic
counterpoint, and so on. The improvising
soloist is expected to have a complete
knowledge of the basics of harmony, as
well as their own unique approach to
chords and their relationship to scales. A
personal style is composed of these
building blocks and a rhythmic concept.

Jazz composers use harmony as a basic

stylistic element as well. Open, modal
harmony is characteristic of the music of
McCoy Tyner, whereas rapidly shifting key
centers is a hallmark of the middle period
of John Coltrane's writing. Horace Silver,
Clare Fischer, Dave Brubeck, and Bill Evans
are pianists whose compositions are more
typical of the chord-rich style associated
with pianist-composers. Joe Henderson,
Woody Shaw, Wayne Shorter and Benny
Golson are non-pianists who also have a
strong sense of the role of harmony in
compositional structure and mood. These
composers (including also Dizzy Gillespie
and Charles Mingus, who recorded
infrequently as pianists) have
musicianship grounded in chords at the
piano, even though they are not performing
keyboardists.

The authentic cadence (V-I) is the most

important one in both classical and jazz
harmony, though in jazz it more often
follows a ii/II chord serving as
predominant. To cite Rawlins and Bahha,
as above: "The ii-V-I [progression] provides
the cornerstone of jazz harmony"[2]
The ii-V-I ( Play ii-V-I (help·info)) may
appear differently in major or minor keys,
m7-dom-maj7 or m7♭5-dom♭9-minor.[3]

Other central features of jazz harmony are

diatonic and non-diatonic
reharmonizations, the addition of the
V7(sus4) chord as a dominant and non-
dominant functioning chord, major/minor
interchange, blues harmony, secondary
dominants, extended dominants, deceptive
resolution, related ii-V7 chords, direct
modulations, the use of contrafacts,
common chord modulations, and
dominant chord modulations using ii-V
progressions.
Bebop or "straight-ahead" jazz, in which
only certain of all possible extensions and
alterations are used, is distinguished from
free, avant-garde, or modern jazz
harmony.[2]

Chord symbols
Analytic practice in Jazz recognizes four
basic chord types, plus diminished seventh
chords. The four basic chord types are
major, minor, minor-major, and dominant.
When written in a jazz chart, these chords
may have alterations specified in
parentheses after the chord symbol. An
altered note is a note which is a deviation
from the canonical chord tone.

There is variety in the chord symbols used

in jazz notation. A jazz musician must
have facility in the alternate notation styles
which are used. The following chord
symbol examples use C as a root tone for
example purposes.
 Chord
Equivalent tones in
Name Audio
symbols example
key
major
CΔ, CM7, Play (help
C E G B seventh
Cmaj7 )
chord

C7 C E G B♭ dominant Play (help
seventh )
chord
minor
C E♭ G Play (help
C-7, Cm7 seventh
B♭ )
chord
C-Δ7, minor/major
Play (help
CmM7, C E♭ G B seventh
)
C⑦ chord
 half-
C∅,
C E♭ G♭ diminished Play (help
Cm7♭5, C-
B♭ seventh )
7♭5
chord
fully
Co7, C E♭ G♭ Play (help
diminished
Cdim7 B )
7th chord
C7sus C F G B♭ dominant or Play (help
minor )
suspended
4th chord

Most jazz chord symbols designate four

notes. Each typically has a "role" as root,
third, fifth, or seventh, although they may
be severely altered and possibly use an
enharmonic spelling which masks this
underlying identity. For example, jazz
harmony theoretician Jim Knapp has
suggested that the ♭9 and even the ♯9
alterations are functioning in the root role.

The jazz chord naming system is as

deterministic as the composer wishes it to
be. A general rule of thumb is that chord
alterations are included in a chart only
when the alteration appears in the melody
or is crucial to essence of the
composition. Skilled improvisers are able
to supply an idiomatic, highly altered
harmonic vocabulary even when written
chord symbols contain no alterations.
It is possible to specify chords with more
than four notes. For example, the chord C-
Δ9 contains the notes (C E♭ G B D).

Melodic Minor Scale

Much of jazz harmony is based on the
melodic minor scale (using only the
"ascending" scale as defined in classical
harmony). The modes of this scale are the
basis for much jazz improvisation and are
variously named as below, using the key of
C-minor as an example:
 Scale
Melodic
Characteristic tones
minor Scale
chord in C- (chord
scale name(s)
minor tones
tone
in bold)
C D Eb Melodic
I-C Cm(Δ)
F G A B Minor
D E♭ F G Phrygian or
II - D Dm7
ABC Dorian ♭2♭6
Lydian ♯5
Eb F G
III - E♭ E♭Δ(♯5) or Lydian
ABCD
Augmented
Mixolydian
F G A B ♯4 or
IV - F F7
C D Eb Lydian
Dominant
V-G G7 G A B C Mixolydian
D E♭ F ♭6 or
"Hindu"
ABCD
VI - A A∅ Locrian ♯2
E♭ F G
Altered,
BCD diminished
VII - B B7alt E♭ F G whole tone,
A or Locrian
♭4

The VII chord in particular is rich with

alterations. As it contains the notes and
alterations (Ⅰ, ♭9, m3/♯9, M3, ♭5/♯11, ♭13,
m7), it is particularly important in the jazz
harmonic idiom, notably as a Ⅴ chord in a
minor key. For our example key of C-minor,
the V chord is G7, so the improviser would
draw upon the G7 altered scale (mode VII
of the A♭ melodic minor). A complete ii-V-i
progression in C-minor7 extended 9
flattened fifth might suggest the following:

D Locrian ♯2 (mode Ⅵ of the F

ii D∅
melodic minor scale)
G altered scale (mode VII of the
V G7(alt)
A♭ melodic minor scale)
C melodic minor (mode I of the C
I Cm(Δ)
melodic minor scale)

See also
Altered chord
 Bebop scale
Chord-scale system
Modal jazz
Tritone substitution

Further reading
Harmonie et orchestration pour orchestra
de danse, Robert de Kers (de) (1906–
1987), Brussels: Éditions musicales
Charles Bens (1944); OCLC 35083146 ,
930383216 , 1456272 &
OCLC 757363748 , 915601359
The Chord Scale Theory & Jazz Harmony,
by Barrie L. Nettles (born 1942) &
 Richard Graf, Advance Music (1997);
OCLC 39925889 , ISBN 3-89221-056-X
Popular and Jazz Harmony for
Composers, Arrangers, and Performers
(revised ed.), Daniel Anthony Ricigliano,
New York: Donato Music Publishing
Company (1969); OCLC 24031 ,
756982208
DOG EAR Tritone Substitution for Jazz
Guitar, by R. Ken, Amazon Digital
Services, Inc. (2012); ASIN:
B008FRWNIW

References
1. "Stacking Thirds" . How To Play Blues
Guitar. 2008-09-29. Archived from the
original on 2008-10-03. Retrieved
2008-10-06. 
2. Robert Rawlins, Nor Eddine Bahha
(2005). Jazzology: The Encyclopedia of
Jazz Theory for All Musicians, Hal Leonard,
pps. 11 , 13 , 42 ; OCLC 82480053 , ISBN 0-
634-08678-2.
3. Peter Spitzer (2001). Jazz Theory
Handbook, Mel Bay Publications, pg. 30;
ISBN 0-7866-5328-0.

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