Blue In Green first chord....

[kris]

Is the first chord Gmin7 or Bbmaj7#11?
The original recording indicates that it is G min7... but there are also versions with Bb maj7#11.

[James W]

Not G minor 6?

[Tal_175]

I am sure you know this but BbMaj6#11 is an inversion of Gmin7 (or Gmin6 as it has both the 6th and 7th). So, may be both work?

[ragman1]

both the 6th and 7th

That would be Gm13.

Bill Evans apparently plays Gm11 but after an introduction beginning on Dm. He also plays Gm9 and Gm6 during the piece, and very lovely it is too. The piece, that is, not just the chord.

[kris]

The bass player plays the note G not Bb...so where did the versions from Bbmaj#11 come from?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C97-REph0rE

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=blue+in+greep+chords

[kris]

Not G minor 6?

I mean more about the note in the bass.

[mr. beaumont]

Another Real Book drama/fiasco I suppose.

[kris]

Another Real Book drama/fiasco I suppose.

Interestingly, both versions are good for the ear...; -)

[James W]

I remember Mike Moreno saying something pendantic about this chord. I can't see the point in being pedantic about it.

[Christian Miller]

Gm13

[kris]

I remember Mike Moreno saying something pendantic about this chord. I can't see the point in being pedantic about it.

Was he pedantic about the note G in the bass?

[Christian Miller]

I remember Mike Moreno saying something pendantic about this chord.

Say it ain't so! ;-)

That said in general, New York guys in particular take the correct changes pretty seriously.

[kris]

Gm13

Really?

[Christian Miller]

Really?

You hear the G in the bass right?

Then Bill is playing a rootless voicing - 2nd and 3rd crushed in (not uncommon for him) with the upper structure 7th, 11th and 13th. Pretty Bill.

I mean you could see it as other things, but I think G-13 covers it pretty well.

[Christian Miller]

So thinking about it - he's sort of got a Gm7 shell voicing in the left hand (assuming that's how he played it) but instead of a G (root) he's swapped out an A (2nd).

I should probably practice doing that while singing the root.

See you in a bit.

[ragman1]

I always preferred starting with the BbM7#11 because it sounded more stable but I didn't do an introduction. Probably with the intro the Gm blends in better.

[Tal_175]

BbMaj pulls towards then next chord A7, acts like bVImaj going to V.

[Christian Miller]

I mean - IV can also go to V too, right, lol.

(Sometimes bVI is an inversion of IV - IVm6 in first inversion is really common especially in more songbook style harmony.)

Anyway, Chambers is on G each time around. The rootless add9 type voicing is AFIAK fairly typical for Bill Evans, so I think it's probably G-13.

[Tal_175]

I mean - IV can also go to V too, right, lol.

It's a different kind of movement. Bb to A has a tritone type of pull to it.

[Christian Miller]

It's a different kind of movement. Bb to A has a tritone type of pull to it.

It's not how I would hear or think about it, but OK, yes, While both progressions are functionally similar they are not the same of course. But in trad harmony we usually see inversions of IVm6 used on IV, bVI and II degrees (with the latter being written IIø7 or II-7b5 most often.) There's very standard ways to resolve these things.

The Bb to A one is often known as a Phrygian cadence, which makes sense. And it does appear in the tune a few bars later of course, although the first chord is definitely with a G in the bass.

What's a little bit more usual about Blue in Green is the use of the extended structure in a IVm chord. Which is where Bill's impressionism meets the usual functional choice of the IVm6, and a different type of resolution into the V chord. bVImaj9#11 is the same sort of thing, just with a different bass note. It's like jazz or something idk.

[Christian Miller]

It's like Chopin plus in a way - I can imagine Chopin melting a Gm7 into an A7b13 chord (keeping the F the same in both chords) but I think it's Bill Evans taking it one step further by adding in the E/13th as well. And moving B flat to C# and then to C natural in Gm13 A7alt Dm7? That's jazz behaviour that is.

Maybe that stuff pops up in Ravel or something?

[ragman1]

According to AI -

'In his 1979 radio interview with Marian McPartland, Evans stated that the composition originated at Davis's apartment. He recalled that Davis wrote the symbols for G-minor and A-augmented on a piece of manuscript paper and asked, "What would you do with that?".'

[pauln]

First time I heard Blue In Green was McLaughlin's version - for a couple of decades I thought he had written it...
His is transposed down a minor third to use open strings.

[Mick-7]

Same chord really, just depends on the voicing:
Gm13 = G-Bb-D-F-A-E
Bb^7#11 = Bb-D-F-A-E

Bb^7b5 & Gm6/9: | x-1-2-2-3-(0) |

In A minor, I might play:

- Am13
||---2--0---|
||---0------|
||---5------|
||---5------|
||---0------|
||-----------|

[kris]

Same chord really, just depends on the voicing:
Gm13 = G-Bb-D-F-A-E
Bb^7#11 = Bb-D-F-A-E

Bb^7b5 & Gm6/9: | x-1-2-2-3-(0) |

In A minor, I might play:

- Am13
||---2--0---|
||---0------|
||---5------|
||---5------|
||---0------|
||-----------|

and where is the note C?
In the chord Gm13 there is 11 and in the chord Bbmaj 7#11 there is 9