Quick question about a chord

[vance h]

I have been learning "The Look of Love" from the Real Book, V II (Low voice), and am puzzled by a chord: F-7/Bb. Could this be a misprint? I thought that when a note was specified as the bass note (e.g., Bb), it was one of the notes occurring in the chord (in this case Ab, C, or Eb from the F-7 chord). Thanks for your help on this.

[max_power]

It doesn't have to be. Look at the context of that bass note: why is it there?

[Banksia]

That's Bacharach, isn't it? In his tunes you will find a lot of 11ths and sus4ths, often in the bass. I doubt that it's a misprint. If you look at some of his other ballads, What the World Needs Now, Odds and Ends, etc, I think you'll find this is quite common.

[ksjazzguitar]

Agreeing with the others... yeah those kind of chords happen all the time in modern music. Perhaps you got your notion that it must be "one of the notes occurring in the chord" from the classical music inversion system that we learned in basic theory. But modern music is much more free than that.

That particular chord is often used in place of a Bb7sus.

Peace,
Kevin

[vance h]

Thanks, all, for clearing this up for me. It really helps to get an answer so quickly.