Nuages Harmony

[CyanFusion]

Hi guys this is my first post here

I have just bought a book of Django transcriptions and started learning Nuages (in F) and am having trouble understanding the place of the Dflat7/6 in the composition. Its sounds beautiful but i was just wondering if there was a name for using that chord in a tune? sharp 5 in the same key or a modulation to the minor?
Thanks

[JonR]

It's (arguably) a tritone sub for G7, secondary dominant of C (ie V/V in key of F).
It's similar to what's known as a "German 6th" in classical music, a type of augmented 6th chord.

The bVI7 chord is also common in minor keys, esp in blues. In a major key, it does have a slight sense of coming from the parallel minor, but of course the b7 of the chord is chromatic in either scale.
In the classical augmented 6th, that note (B natural in this case) would go up a half-step, while the root (Db) went down, resolving to the octave of the dominant (C-C). In jazz and blues, it more usually goes down with the rest of the chord to the V7.

The attraction in a tune like Nuages is that 3 notes of the tonic maj7 will all descend a half-step to 3 notes of the bVI9 chord:

Fmaj7 Db9
-5-----4----------
-5-----4----------
-5-----4----------
-3-----3----------
--------------
--------------

- and that goes on down to C9 of course. In Nuages, he also contrives the neat trick of coming out of the bridge via the minor IV chord back to I, so you then get this series (potentially):

Bbm Fmaj7 Db9 C9
-6----5-----4---3-------
-6----5-----4---3-------
-6----5-----4---3-------
-3----3-----3---2------
----------------------
---------------------

How cool is that.

The ideal improvisation scale on the Db13, btw, is lydian dominant (Ab melodic minor). That's all the chord tones, plus G, root of the chord it's standing in for.


Oh, BTW, welcome to the site!

[CyanFusion]

Excellent answer thankyou!