The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #1

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    Why can the first chord in night and day be either Abmaj7 or Dm7b5?

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #2

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    Probably way off base here but I'll throw my mud into the soup. I see chord progressions as movement towards points of rest or clarity. Those first chords are signposts or spotlights pointing towards the C that makes the tonality of the piece. The G7 is the strongest companion chord to that C, it's the dominant sound of the key. So going to that G7, you can take your most conventional approach, a D sound of some sort, or you can also approach that G from a half step above, an Ab of some sort. Now once the root movement is established, you can go about "seasoning to taste", or inserting a chord quality that works well.
    Root movement, or dynamic root movement is the most important thing we perceive, in my opinion. Chord quality can be played with as your ear perceives, and then you can find a theoretical way to justify it.
    Cole Porter was quite clever in this piece, using chords that imply minor then leading them to a resolution that's major, playing with the yin yang, or black and white of harmony to make shades of grey. I like that about this piece.

    I'll admit that lots of times I'll play Ab7#11 to G7, or D-7b5 to Db7#11, or any number of chords that eventually point to and lead into the Cmaj 7. The root movement takes you there, the chords provide the colour along the way.
    But that's just one take on it from someone that has no respect for what's proper.

    David

  4. #3

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    In some versions the first chord is a Dm11b5. xx5658. Which is a Dø plus the melody note G.

    But, as you say, some versions have it as AbM7. It's probably a matter of taste. Dm11b5 and Abm7b5 are direct subs for each other.

    Both Dø and AbM7 come from the C harmonic minor scale, which is the parallel minor of C major, so it's just a straightforward modal interchange.

    The AbM7 is certainly a much simpler and purer sound than the Dø or even AbM7b5.

  5. #4

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    Incidentally, most theory discussions don't dwell much on the first chord, it's mostly what happens in bar 9 and thereafter...

  6. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by TruthHertz

    I'll admit that lots of times I'll play Ab7#11 to G7, or D-7b5 to Db7#11, or any number of chords that eventually point to and lead into the Cmaj 7. The root movement takes you there, the chords provide the colour along the way.
    But that's just one take on it from someone that has no respect for what's proper.

  7. #6

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    Because jazz

  8. #7

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    Also
    The Bb dominant scale

  9. #8

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    For solo guitar, I've been playing, at least during the first pass through the melody, like a Bb6/Ab, which is an Abmaj7#11 sound but it has the F in there too.

  10. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
    For solo guitar, I've been playing, at least during the first pass through the melody, like a Bb6/Ab, which is an Abmaj7#11 sound but it has the F in there too.
    How do you finger that?

  11. #10

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    Surely

    4 x 3 3 3 3?

  12. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by christianm77
    Because jazz
    :-) I was going to say "because parallel minor", but I like that.

  13. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by guitarboy
    Why can the first chord in night and day be either Abmaj7 or Dm7b5?
    They both function as subdominant in minor keys. That chord, resolving to G7 - C implies a "borrowing relationship" from parallel minor - C minor.

  14. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by matt.guitarteacher
    :-) I was going to say "because parallel minor", but I like that.
    Ah but the op asked why can it be either of those chords and we aren’t decided on one version? In which case my answer seems as good as any.

  15. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by christianm77
    Surely

    4 x 3 3 3 3?
    Yup. One of my favorite chord shapes for playing solo...

    Porter's music is full of fun harmonic ambiguity...what's the first chord in Dream Dancing?

    This fun stuff almost makes up for the verse of "Night and Day." Almost.

  16. #15
    Since I posted I experimented with many different chords from both the keys, C major and C minor as the first chord and most of them work. I also have thought of the pre-dominant chord reasoning. matt.guitarteacher mentioned sub dominant but I think you mean pre-dominant. The ii chord mostly precedes the dominant, the VI in minor i’ve seen also in major seventh or dominant 7th quality preceding the dominant. Someone mentioned that Abmaj7th and Dm7b5 we’re substitutes for each other but I don’t agree. I thought chords had to have at least 3 common tones to substitute for each other like in major the ii and vi can be substituted for I.

  17. #16

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    Let's not leave out G7sus b9

  18. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by guitarboy
    Since I posted I experimented with many different chords from both the keys, C major and C minor as the first chord and most of them work. I also have thought of the pre-dominant chord reasoning. matt.guitarteacher mentioned sub dominant but I think you mean pre-dominant. The ii chord mostly precedes the dominant, the VI in minor i’ve seen also in major seventh or dominant 7th quality preceding the dominant. Someone mentioned that Abmaj7th and Dm7b5 we’re substitutes for each other but I don’t agree. I thought chords had to have at least 3 common tones to substitute for each other like in major the ii and vi can be substituted for I.
    Yeah. Jazzers talk about things in different ways. As far as common tones etc, jazzers are just as often thinking in terms of extensions. The D natural (#11 extension) over the Ab chord is heard and implied, whether it's written or not. That C, Eb, D is basically "heard" over both.

    It's difficult to try to fit all jazz terminology into classical context.

  19. #18

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    Quote Originally Posted by guitarboy
    Since I posted I experimented with many different chords from both the keys, C major and C minor as the first chord and most of them work. I also have thought of the pre-dominant chord reasoning. matt.guitarteacher mentioned sub dominant but I think you mean pre-dominant. The ii chord mostly precedes the dominant, the VI in minor i’ve seen also in major seventh or dominant 7th quality preceding the dominant. Someone mentioned that Abmaj7th and Dm7b5 we’re substitutes for each other but I don’t agree. I thought chords had to have at least 3 common tones to substitute for each other like in major the ii and vi can be substituted for I.
    I treat Abmaj7 and Dm7b5 as subs for each other - they are both subdominant function chords from Cm I suppose. I could other reasons but they might not make too much sense, other than I make this four chord link for subs:

    Bb7 —> Dm7b5 —> Fm —> Ab maj7 #11

    So I am seeing these two chords as from the Bb7 (in this case mixolydian scale.) We could use Bb7 here too. A Bb7sus4 is probably the most obvious.

    That might not make a huge amount of sense, but it works great for swapping chords and lines in for different contexts.

  20. #19

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    I often play G7sus. Bassist probably plays a D, but you never know. I like the G7susb9 played xx6533 and then play the C69 xx7533 (so, a V-I, not a ii V I). Nice voice leading. The bass goes down one step to C and the guitar moves one note, Ab to A on the D string.

  21. #20

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    The original chord is Abma7, so if you want the most correct chord, that is it. The Dmi7(b5) became popular due to the original Real Book which was known for less than perfect transcriptions. By changing the Abma7 to the Dmi7(b5) you turn the bass movement into a classic II-V-I but you lose the flavor of the bIVma7 which is much more exotic. The Real Book had a tendency to overuse II-V’s because it was supposedly more “jazzy.”

  22. #21

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    I think the logic behind the real book version is that they wanted everything to be a ii v I

  23. #22

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    They were educationally disadvantaged :-)

  24. #23

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    Why not play Abmaj7/D?

    It might be worth pointing out that the Dm7b5 does not in fact fit the melody. Really it should be Dm11b5.

    Anyway, putting that major on that half dim is a really good sub, sounds very hip.

  25. #24

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    Quote Originally Posted by setemupjoe
    The original chord is Abma7, so if you want the most correct chord, that is it. The Dmi7(b5) became popular due to the original Real Book which was known for less than perfect transcriptions. By changing the Abma7 to the Dmi7(b5) you turn the bass movement into a classic II-V-I but you lose the flavor of the bIVma7 which is much more exotic. The Real Book had a tendency to overuse II-V’s because it was supposedly more “jazzy.”
    Thanks. That's probably the exact right answer to the OP's question. Always refreshing :-)


    (I tried to google the question but couldn't find it, hence the technical answer, but I knew what I should have been answering. The answer is usually because it was the composer's original chord)

  26. #25

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    Both in this recording and in the film, the first chord is definitely an Ab maj of some description. But, you know, original chords change as the song becomes popular with jazz players and then the changes become the norm.