Music Banter - View Single Post - Jazz progression 2-5-1?

Burning Down · 08-23-2011, 05:24 PM

Hi and welcome to MB!

There are several different ways of using the ii-V-I progression in jazz music. Most often, this progression is used as a turn-around, i.e.: in a typical phrase like I-IV-V7-I, it can be used to go back towards I, like so: I-IV-V7-ii-V7-I.

In Beautiful Love, the ii chord is a half-diminished chord, meaning the fifth of the chord is flat. So now it's a slightly different progression. Since the piece is in F major (Bb in the key signature), the ii half-diminished (or ø) chord is spelled as G-Bb-Db-A, instead of G-Bb-D-A if it were a normal ii7 chord.

You asked if the Fmaj is still a I chord if there is a seventh added. Yes, it is. The seventh is there to add texture, and as long as it fits the progression, there's nothing wrong with it. You also asked how many ii-V7-I progressions there are in Beautiful Love. I can't give you an exact number, but after listening to the piece, I know that there are several. As I don't have the lead sheet for the song, I really can't tell you where they are located. However, you could probably find this information elsewhere on the Internet

I really hope this is the answer you are looking for!

08-23-2011, 05:24 PM	#2 (permalink)
Burning Down The Music Guru. Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Beyond the Wall Posts: 4,858	Hi and welcome to MB! There are several different ways of using the ii-V-I progression in jazz music. Most often, this progression is used as a turn-around, i.e.: in a typical phrase like I-IV-V7-I, it can be used to go back towards I, like so: I-IV-V7-ii-V7-I. In Beautiful Love, the ii chord is a half-diminished chord, meaning the fifth of the chord is flat. So now it's a slightly different progression. Since the piece is in F major (Bb in the key signature), the ii half-diminished (or ø) chord is spelled as G-Bb-Db-A, instead of G-Bb-D-A if it were a normal ii7 chord. You asked if the Fmaj is still a I chord if there is a seventh added. Yes, it is. The seventh is there to add texture, and as long as it fits the progression, there's nothing wrong with it. You also asked how many ii-V7-I progressions there are in Beautiful Love. I can't give you an exact number, but after listening to the piece, I know that there are several. As I don't have the lead sheet for the song, I really can't tell you where they are located. However, you could probably find this information elsewhere on the Internet I really hope this is the answer you are looking for!