The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
  1. #1

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    Hello,

    I'm working on transcribing Grant Green's "Jan Jan" from the "Live At The Club Mozambique" album. The beginning's pretty much C minor pentatonic, but then, at around 0:33 there's a contrasting section that goes F -> G# -> A# -> C# (all major chords).

    What's the thinking behind that, and why does it fit in so well with the rest of the song? Clearly it's not a diatonic thing, the all-major chords imply chromatic passing chords (there's a "Jan Jan" version where they go F -> F# ->G -> G#, A# -> B -> C -> C#), but I'm having trouble understanding the thought process behind this progression. Modal interchange (between what)? Has the F starting point been chosen because C is the V of F?

    Thanks, any help is appreciated!


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  3. #2

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    I hear C7(#9) instead of Cmi7.

    The major chords walking up are actually Bb, Db, Eb and Gb.

    It sounds like a pretty common rock device which was based off modal interchange but for the musicians playing it, they probably chose the chords because it sounded cool. Bb and Eb come from the major key and Db and Gb are from the parallel minor.

  4. #3

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    Quote Originally Posted by setemupjoe
    I hear C7(#9) instead of Cmi7.

    The major chords walking up are actually Bb, Db, Eb and Gb.

    It sounds like a pretty common rock device which was based off modal interchange but for the musicians playing it, they probably chose the chords because it sounded cool. Bb and Eb come from the major key and Db and Gb are from the parallel minor.
    Thanks! I think you're quite right about the walk-up chords. This threw me: Grant Green - Jan Jan | Petti Music Studios
    But now, playing Bb, Db, Eb and Gb over the song does work quite well.

    On the C7(#9), that's true - I was also hearing that but didn't express myself correctly: what I meant was that the intro melody line uses C minor pentatonic (a common device for blues players, playing C minor pentatonic / C blues scales over 7 chords).

    Right, modal interchange between major and minor, thanks! I wonder why the walk-up ends up so satisfyingly on that C7 vamp. There's no V of C or anything like that in that progression. Maybe it just sounds "complete" to me though and I shouldn't project.

  5. #4

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    Yeah I wouldn’t overthink it. Our ear has already heard the C7#9 as the main vamp so when we return to it after the B section it sounds like a resolution.

  6. #5

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    It reminds me a bit of the old thing Steve cropper used to do in soul arrangements when the horns would play parallel major chords with some borrowed minor chords. Midnight Hour, that type of thing.

    I imagine he based it on moving chords around the neck and it sounded good.

    see also Nirvana

  7. #6

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    I agree that this sounds like Steve Cropper/Memphis Horns ten years down the road. GG had his finger on the pulse of funk as it grooved along.

    Nice.

  8. #7

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    my organ trio has been working on this tune recently, setemupjoe has it right to my ear

  9. #8

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    Similar progressions have been used a lot in rock and fusion, so they are part of the language already.

    You could analyze it and call it a "constant structure", aka a series of the same chord type used repeatedly to create an effect, a section or a modulation. In jazz you see it often done with maj7 or min7 chord shapes.