Bird changes
The Blues for Alice changes, Bird changes, Bird Blues, or New York Blues changes, is a chord progression, often named after Charlie Parker ("Bird"), which is a variation of the twelve-bar blues.
The progression uses a series of sequential II-V or secondary II-V progressions, and has been used in pieces such as Parker's "Blues for Alice". Toots Thielemans's "Bluesette"[1] and Parker's "Confirmation"[2] also have similar progressions.
Structure
A simple blues progression, in C, is as follows:
| C | C | C | C | | F | F | C | C | | G | F | C | C ||
A typical blues progression in jazz, in C, is as follows:[3]
| C7 | F7 | C7 | C7 | | F7 | F7 | C7 | Em7 A7 | | Dm7 | G7 | C7 A7 | D7 G7 ||
The Bird Blues progression, in C, is as follows:[4]
| CMaj7 | Bm7b5 / E7 | Am7 / D7 | Gm7 / C7 | | F7 | Fm7 / Bb7 | Em7 / A7 | Ebm7 / Ab7 | | Dm7 | G7 | CMaj7 / A7 | Dm7 / G7 ||
| I | viiø / III7 | vi / II7 | v / I7 |
| IV7 | iv / bVII7 | iii / VI7 | biii / bVI7 |
| ii | V7 | I / VI7 | ii / V ||
This can be viewed as a cycle of ii-V progressions leading to the IV chord (F7 in the key of C major), and the tritone substitution of the dominant chords leading by half-step to the V chord (G7 again in C).[4]
C: Amin: G(min): F: | I | ii / V | ii / V | ii / V | F: Eb: D: Db(min): | I7 | subii / subV | subii / subV | subii / subV | C: | ii | V7 | I7 / VI7 | ii / V ||
| Chord function | Number | Roman numeral | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tonic | T | 1 | I |
| Subdominant | S | 4 | IV |
| Dominant | D | 5 | V |
Sources
- ^ Hatfield, Ken (2005). Jazz and the Classical Guitar Theory and Applications, p.182. ISBN 0-7866-7236-6.
- ^ Umble, Jay (2011). Mbgu Jazz Curriculum: Payin Your Dues with the Blues, p.62. ISBN 9781610653145.
- ^ Jacobs, Sid (2011). The Changes, p.12. ISBN 9781610651684.
- ^ a b Baerman, Noah (1998). Complete Jazz Keyboard Method: Intermediate Jazz Keyboard, p.63. ISBN 0-88284-911-5.