Help me understand this cord and it's function Song: there will never be another you Place: in the C-section, bar 28 what: a minor 2 5 cell, Am7b5 - D7 Okay, in the key of Eb, I would normally see bar 28 as a secondary minor 2 5 leading naturally into the iii cord which would be G minor. But, it's A Head fake of sorts and leads not to the iii chord but instead resolves back to the tonic cord where it begins the long turnaround. I'm not too disturbed by this as I understand that the three cord and the tonic along with the iv are in the same functional group of "home" type chords so I can see how that works. The question: That Am7b5 chord is clearly there to produce a tension leading into the turnaround, but I'm not sure how to understand and think about this. This cord is built off the b5degree of the key and I am wondering, is this odd little 2 5, or b5 chord, some kind of common device in jazz that performs a particular function in songs? I know that in this case it produces the tension needed to start into the turnaround. It's classic tension - whenever I hear it I think of Dudley do right frantically untying Nell from the railroad tracks as the train approaches. Again, what is this harmonic device and how should I think about it?

Just a taste …

After showing the work leading up to this, here is the chord melody followed by an improv. I also did a version where I comped and played the head, but it was too long - so I just end after the improv. Elements of what I played are definitely in the various previous etudes for scales, guide tones, and arpeggios. I did practice the various steps daily and eventually things began to fall into the improv. The only real plan I had for the improv, was that I wanted to start going down the scale - since the melody goes up and I wanted a contrast. I also targeted the "out" notes in the various diminished chords in the song. So I land on the Ab against the F dim, the F# against the C diminished, and C# on the E diminished - even though those notes are not diatonic to the key of the song (C). This is also different than the melody of the song which is 99% diatonic to C (except for a single G# at the end). To me, I heard those notes in the chordal movement and it felt very natural to play them.

I used iReal Pro to get the form for this song as well as listening to Mark's playing on the various components of this etude. But, there's a few places where my ears fail me and they both pertain to the modal interchange at the end of part D. First, in the sequence D flat minor, C minor, B diminished in measures 30 - 32, what court shape is being used for the B diminished cord? Please give this answer in "Guitar language", for example, X 8 6 8 8 as an F minor. Secondly, in the scales portion of the workout that follows the shell comping, over the D minor cord at the start of the modal interchange, I guess it would be bar 30, he plays what looks to me like a G flat seven scale with a raised fourth. Would this be called a G flat seven sharp 11, and more importantly,how in the heck does it fit over a D minor cord? I am confident about the notes in that scale because I put it into a piece of software to slow it way down and I worked it over until I got the notes right but I just don't understand it's function. If I can get past these two sticking points I should be good for the entire etude, so thanks for any help you can offer.

https://youtu.be/u1Rp4pRBpPs A slightly more sedate version of Tenor Madness. I added a fourth chorus of improv and changed up the COMPING a bit. This was a scratch recording from tonight's practice that came out OK. then I found myself chasing perfection so I thought I'd just stick with this one. Now it's back to the perplexing world of the 2 5 1.