Shermy

Hi All,

I'm working on getting a tune under my belt, but having trouble understanding the chord nomenclature.

The tune is "The Maids of Cadiz" from the Miles Davis/Gil Evans recording on Miles Ahead. Here's the progression:

|Gm|Gm|Bbm6|Bbm6/Bbm7|Am7|D9(b5)|Db+9|G+7(b9)|C9|Eb9|Gm|Gm|Am7|D+7|Gm|A|Gm|A|

The vertical lines indicate each bar line, the diagonal line indicates that there were two chords in that particular bar.
For the highlighted chords above, can someone tell me the Jamey Aebersold equivalent nomenclature and/or the associated chord scale?

Thanks!!
Sherm

wilcox96

If I assume that, when you use the "+" sign, you mean to "add" that note of the chord... then, the highlighted would be as follows (in order that you have them):

Db add 9 / G maj 7 b9 / D maj 7

A great book to have on hand is " The Art of Music Copying" by Clinton Roemer :
Amazon.com: THE ART OF MUSIC COPYING The Preparation of Music for Performance: Books: Clinton Roemer

It's an invaluable guide.

Best of success to you...

lemons

Hey Shermy...

I would say that those are augmented chords. The G+7(b9) and D+7 being based off of a C and G harmonic minor scale, respectively. The Db+9 being based off a Bb melodic minor.

Just my take on it.

-Kevin

Shermy

Thanks for the reference to the book, however, I'm working with a published piece of music. It's the solo part to a full big band arrangement. If the nomenclature means what you say, why would the A chord in the last and third to the last bars be written as just A and not A+7?

My original thought is that they may be the same as these "Aebersold" nomenclature chords:

Db+9 = Db7+9 (the chord scale would be the diminished whole-tone scale Db D E F G A B Db)


____________+9
G+7(b9) = G7b9 (the chord scale again would be diminished whole-tone G Ab Bb B C# Eb F G) Why not use the same nomenclature as the Db+9? Don't they both use the same chord scale, aren't the sounds of the chords essentially the same?


D+7 = D7+ (the chord scale would be the whole-tone scale D E F# G# Bb C D)

Does that make sense wilcox96?

Can anyone tell me if this is correct?

Bear

I'm not the best but the way I read it is the D+7 is the D with the added 7. Maybe they wrote the +7 in this way (instead of D, D7, or the myriad of other ways to write it) so you would notice it and hang your hat on the note during improv, unlike something else like the 9 in the Db+9. Hope that makes sense...

Though, the more I look at it, it could be what Lemons said. An augmented G7b9.....

Vulgano Brother

I'll throw in another vote for the augmented chord. 7ths and 9ths aside, the augmented chord only occurs in nature in the whole-tone scale.

There are lots of ways to notate chords, some will write "aug" in superscript, some will write a "+" sign, some will write #5, while for others "D+9" means and added 9th (with no 7th). Some will use the "+7" to denote a major 7th.

All this really messes up Vulgano Brothers trying to actually read the changes, so when all else fails, the official Vulgano trick is to use a c blues scale and play really fast and high and loud.

If you want to do it the right way, however, sit down with a recording and play along, finding for yourself what notes work.

Have fun!

hubnub

Hey All...

Nomenclature is a funny thing, and I've had debates with a lot of cats on this.

A plus sign "+" next to a letter means to Augment the chord or raise the 5th of the chord by a 1/2 step. Now a days when you want to "add" a note (like BEAR mentioned), you literally write "add" next to the chord e.g. "Bbsus add 9". So your D+7 chord would be D-F#-A#-C. The same principle applies to the G+7(b9) chord... G-B-D#-F-Ab. Some people write minor 7 b5 chords in 2 ways also
1) the write C-*the little degree sign with a slash though it* and the number 7
2) (the best way and eliminate confusion) Cmin7(b5) or C-7(b5)

Nomenclature can be confusing.... especially with some of the older cats. I've read some chords that denote Major 7ths as a letter and the number seven with that little line drawn through the middle of the seven. Or a Letter with a little triangle to denote major 7th

If you grab a "New Real Book" published by Sheer Music, it has an appendix in it with chords....those chords in there are pretty much what gets used today. I'd be happy to PDF it to you in an email if you'd like.

Hope this helps.

bagmangood

When i've read that i've usually read it as augmented 9
I don't do that much jazz anymore, but i've had to analyze some it for classes and that's generally what the teachers would agree with

Stile442

I would agree that the + sign means augmented so raise the 5th of the chord a half step.

hubnub

You can interprit it as an aug 9th but thats where things get gray.... if you keep the general rule that "5ths" are either augmented or diminished and "9ths" are sharp or flat.... it's very clear on what is what. I'm not trying to contrdict your teachers badmangood, but there are many different ways to write these. I think Aebersold tried to nail it down at one point. I'm telling you the Sheer Real Book is where it's at.

Ask Ingrid Jensen in the Pro forum on the home page..... she'll lay it down.