Why don't you do right

[KirkP]

1941 Lil Green & Big Bill Broonzey is pretty much three chords.

1942 Goodman/Peggy Lee is more like the OP’s chart.

Fake books are only suggestions. I try to listen to various versions of a tune before deciding how I want to play it.

[ragman1]

It was a casual comment about a different version.

Sorry, didn't realise you were talking about a different version. I suppose the bass can go anywhere you want it to :-)

[KirkP]

Ok, so the 6 is Bb and the tritone is E. But the Bb is a major chord and the 'actual' E is the 2 and a minor chord.

Major chords aren't usually tritoned. But let's say in jazz we can do anything we like and pretend it's a dominant. Then, sure we can tritone it and put E7 where the Bb was.

It’s common practice in I VI II V progressions to play the II as a 7th chord. It works because II7 is the the secondary dominant of the V7 chord. Now replace II7 by its tritone sub (bVI7) and you have the OP’s chart.
Of course, this harmonization only works if it’s consistent with the melody and the bass line.

[ragman1]

It’s common practice in I VI II V progressions to play the II as a 7th chord. It works because II7 is the the secondary dominant of the V7 chord. Now replace II7 by its tritone sub (bVI7) and you have the OP’s chart.
Of course, this harmonization only works if it’s consistent with the melody and the bass line.

Right, one assumes a secondary dominant and then subs it. Mmm, no wonder jazz learners get bewildered

[KirkP]

Right, one assumes a secondary dominant and then subs it. Mmm, no wonder jazz learners get bewildered

I know, it’s easier to just say “approach the V7 from a half-step above.” I heard Bucky Pizzarelli used to tell students to “move the chord around,” which may have been old school way of describing it. Or maybe he was referring to inversions — I’m not sure.

[ragman1]

I know, it’s easier to just say “approach the V7 from a half-step above.”.

I don't know what's happened to Get Ready, he seems to have gone...

Look, I know all about this stuff. I know about sec doms, tritones, and all that. Of course it's easier to say move the chord around, it's the simplest way, especially on a blues.

That's the whole point. But there's also the technical explanation which I always think is slightly beside the point. When you move from A7 to Bb7 and back it's just another way to break up the A7 by playing its V, E7. Happens all the time. But I suppose it's good to understand why it works.

But I keep saying that it's not the Bb7 which is in question here and never was. The problem is the Bm7b5 after the Dm6. Why bother to invert it? Presumably to infer a descending bass - B-Bb-A. I mean, that view is supported by the fact that almost all the recorded versions ignore it and play C, much stronger.

But I've been looking at the song a lot more closely. Actually the Dm6 sound is important, it's what gives it its special flavour. Playing the 3-chord trick is fine, it works, but technically it should have the Dm6 feel to it (even though it makes it a bit plaintive). It's why Joe Pass pops in the B natural (from D melodic) and it sounds just that wee bit odd.

It's also why the OP is in some confusion as to what to play over it. I've tried it several times. It's not that simple because it's only over the first bar that it happens, then it reverts to harmonic, or blues, or whatever one feels. Not so easy.

I got round the chords by playing Bm7b5 right from the start, the whole of the first bar. That works - IF that's the version one wants to play and not the Dm-Dm/C one. Or even the Dm-DmM7-Dm7-Dm6 one! And so on.

So I'm telling him (I'm a bit concerned with his absence) not to think in terms of just one scale. D melodic maybe over the first bar then borrow from whatever sounds good after that - melodic, harmonic, pentatonic, blues, etc etc. Experiment and see. Forget "which scale" - just use the notes you've got to the best. Or dump it and do the simple version.

[matt.guitarteacher]

IMO the good news/bad news of minor is that it has that minor funkiness with weird scales and such which can make it seem overwhelming , but on the other hand, you can get away with playing straight up arpeggios in a way which doesn't work as well in major. ...The changes themselves are good enough basically.

And yeah, if the OP comes back, that's the big thing in jazz: it's more about arps and chord tones than scales anyway. The first two chords can be covered by Bm7b5. They are both versions of that chord anyway. Then, your 2 descending dominant arps. Or sign G7 for the first two chords. That gives you an arpeggio pattern : G7 G7 Bb7 A7.

If you want scales, you can basically play DMM , FMM and BbMM. But again, you have to be able to target the chord tones in that scale context anyway.

Maybe D Dorian instead of MM as well...

[MarkRhodes]

Did this this morning. Nothing fancy, but I enjoy playing it this way. Was interrupted, so this is in two parts.

[G37-R34DY]

Wow. Sorry I’ve been away and now I'm back and reading all of this. It will take a lot of time for me to make sense out of these very informative posts. I’m a beginner in jazz so...this hits me hard.
i will keep following and will bother with futile questions i am sure!

[ragman1]

now I'm back

Yo!

[Liarspoker]

It's amazing that such a simple song can generate such a lot of discussion but that's the beauty of music. If it sounds good, it is good no matter how it is played!

I'm relatively new to this tune and tried a variety of harmonic approaches but the one that I, and more importantly the singer, like is;

(Dm7 - C7) / (Bb7 - A7)
(Dm7 - C7) / (Bb7 - A7)
Bb7 / A7 / Dm9 / Dm9
Bb7 / A7 / Dm7 / Dm7

With a tag at the end of the tune.

[Liarspoker]

Here's where I am with the tune. This is the loose intro it changes each time I play it followed by the little solo section that I play between verses. Comping with the singer is four to the bar Freddie Green triads.

This is first take so fairly rough and ready.

[mr. beaumont]

Zombie thread, but fun tune.

Definitely a "riff" tune, blues it up on the descending line, nail some of those A7's, and don't ignore the Gm.

[Liarspoker]

Zombie thread, but fun tune.

Definitely a "riff" tune, blues it up on the descending line, nail some of those A7's, and don't ignore the Gm.

Tried the Gm today with the singer but Bb7 sounds better.