Portrait of Jennie

[awelles]

I'm fairly new to jazz guitar and I want to arrange a standard in a chord-melody style. I've chosen the ballad "Portrait of Jennie" becuase I think it's a very pretty melody. Before I think about arranging it, I'm trying to get my head around the harmony of the piece.

I'm looking at the real book changes.


Before the A section officially starts, I'm guessing that we can put a ii-V leading to the I in the first bar. But I'm not quite sure what the first chord is. "Eb dim maj7"? Is that a diminished triad (Eb Gb A) plus the major seventh (D)? And what exactly is the function of this chord? Is it just to lead into the Ebmaj7? Can I just play "Ebdim7 Ebmaj7" for the first bar instead (it sounds better to my ears). Then bars 2 and 3 are a ii-V-I leading to Ab, which then goes minor in the next bar and then the bVII (of Eb). I think this is called a "backdoor ii-V" and I'm not sure of the theory of it exactly but I can hear that it sounds right and pulls towards the I. Incidentally I see that there's a descending guide tone line of G-Gb-F in these bars (2nd and 3rd bars of A section), which is nice.

Then theres a couple of "I-vi-ii-V" s with a iii substituted for the I, so the last four bars of the A section are simple enough.

But then as we end the second A and go into the B section, I don't know exactly what's going on. Then in the first half of the B section it sounds like some quick modulations may be taking place? and then from the G7 I guess it's a drawn out "I-vi-ii-V" (again with a iii for the I diatonic sub) and we're back in Bb intime for the A section again.

Well thanks for reading all that!
Can anyone help me to fill in the blanks?

P.S. Apologies if this is in the wrong area of the forums.

[awelles]

I found another version of the changes which seems simpler:

A
|Ebmaj7 |Bbm7 Eb7 |Abmaj7 |Db7 |
|Gm7 C7 |Fm7 Bb7 |Gm7 C7 |Fm7 Bb7 |

A1
|Ebmaj7 |Bbm7 Eb7 |Abmaj7 |Db7 |
|Gm7 C7 |Fm7 Bb7 |Ebmaj7 |Am7 D7 |

B
|Gmaj7 |Cm7 F7 |Bbmaj7 |Dm7b5 G7 |
|Cm7 |F7 |Fm7 |Bb7 |

A2
|Ebmaj7 |Bbm7 Eb7 |Abmaj7 |Db7 |
|Gm7 Cm7 |Fm7 Bb7 |Fm7 Bb7 |Ebmaj7 (Fm7 Bb7)|

So I'm trying to find out what's happening at the end of A1 and in the first half of B.

I noticed that bars 14-19 are almost identical to bars 8-13 of Giant Steps!

Compare:

|Fm7 Bb7 |Ebmaj7 |Am7 D7 |Gmaj7 |Cm7 F7 |Bbmaj7 |

and

|Fm7 Bb7 |Ebmaj7 |Am7 D7 |Gmaj7 |C#m7 F#7 |Bmaj7 |

So its a series of "ii-V-I"s but instead of going up in major 3rds it goes up first a major 3rd and then a minor third. Which conveniently brings us to a Bb chord (the V of Eb) Then I'm really not sure why there is a Dm7b5 chord here except that they resolve up a fourth and that ties us nicely into the III-vi-ii-V that follows. Is there any theoretical reason why the Dm7b5 chord is "allowed" to be there?

Am I on the right track?