Dm7/Dm7/C change

[JazzRocker]

I've seen this min7 change in a few standards and am wondering what the significance and importance is with putting the b7 on the bass. It’s a nice sound, but is there more to it? Is there something I'm missing?

dm7 dm7/c (2 beats each)

[JohnW400]

Moves nicely to a G7/B

[JazzRocker]

Yes thanks!

[AmundLauritzen]

My thoughts:
It makes no difference for soloing since it is still diatonic. Slash chords with diatonic bass notes are more a guideline for the bassist to achieve a certain movement intended by the composer. For solo guitar, it is an advantage to be aware of this so you can get a nice bass line. When a bassist is present and you're comping, he will handle it so you can concentrate more on voice leading in the upper part of the chord.

Green Dolphin Street has this kind of change: Dm7, Dm7/C, Bm7b5, E7, Am7, Am7/G, F#m7b5 B7

It leads nicely to those minor ii-V's and the B7 gets back to the iii-VI-ii-V turnaround.

[JakeAcci]

It is nice to have the line react to that...when I see a descending bass line and I'm soloing I often try to play an ascending line to create some counterpoint.

[fep]

More often than not, when I see that I play:

Dm Dm/C

It just sounds better to me that way.

And often it will go

Dm Dm/C | Bm7b5 E7b9 | Am7

Which if you want you can play one sub and get

Dm Dm/C | Bm7b5 Ab7 | Am7

[JakeAcci]

Hey good point Fep, it can be redundant to voice the b7 when it's about to come up as the bass note.

[M-ster]

Originally Posted by fep

... Dm Dm/C | Bm7b5 Ab7 | Am7

Bb7 rather than Ab7, but we knew what you meant.

[JakeAcci]

Ab7 could work too!

[fep]

Thanks M, yes I meant Bb7...