All The Things You Are - Harmonic Analysis

Chords:

Major 7 = 1, 3, 5, 7

Minor 7 = 1, b3, 5, b7

Dominant 7 = 1, 3, 5, b7

Augmented 7 = 1, 3, #5, b7

Diminished 7 = 1, b3, b5, bb7

Fm7 - F, Ab, C, Eb

Bbm7 - Bb, Db, F, Ab

Eb7 - Eb, G, Bb, Db

Abmaj7 - Ab, C, Eb, G

Dbmaj7 - Db, F, Ab, C

G7 - G, B, D, F

Cmaj7 - C, E, G, B

Cm7 - C, Eb, G, Bb

Bb7 - Bb, D, F, Ab

Ebmaj7 - Eb, G, Bb, D

D7 - D, F#, A, C

Gmaj7 - G, B, D, F#

Am7 - A, C, E, G

F#m7 - F#, A, C#, E

B7 - B, D#, F#, A

Emaj7 - E, G#, B, D#

Caug7 - C, E, G#, Bb

Dbm7 - Db, Fb (E), Ab, Cb (B)

Bdim7 - B, D, F, Ab

Eb7 - Eb, G, Bb, Db

C7 - C, E, G, Bb

The piece begins in the key of F minor for the first 2 bars but quickly changes to Ab major in bars 3 and 4. Bars 3 and 4 make up a perfect cadence (V-I) in Ab major. (Dominant 7 chords being the ideal chords to pull back to the I chord.) The entire line makes up a vi, ii, V, I progression - a progression common amongst jazz music. A diatonic V to I progression in the key of F minor would be Cm to Fm. Here it is Eb7 to Abmaj7. The first note in the melody line is Ab, which could also hint at it leading to Ab major.

The second line begins with a Dbmaj7. This acts as a pivot chord. A pivot chord is a chord that appears in two different keys and is used to modulate from one of these keys to the other. It could be seen as the IV chord of Ab major but in this instance it plays another role. It acts as the II chord in a II V I (common jazz progression) that brings it into the key of C major. This progression also holds a V to I progression (a perfect cadence) meaning a strong modulation. In order to modulate to C major from Ab major, the G7 acts as a secondary dominant. A secondary dominant is a non-diatonic dominant chord that is used to modulate into a new key. In this case, the G chord in the key of Ab major would be the vii chord - Gm7b5. The spelling of this is 1, b3, b5, b7. In order to change it into a dominant to pull towards the Cmaj7, the b5 and b5 notes are increased by a semitone to create the new spelling of 1, 3, 5, b7; this makes a G7 chord. Secondary dominants allow smooth modulations due to only one or two notes being changed from the original chord. The B natural and E natural in the melody of bar 6 and 7 combined with the repeated Cmaj7 chord reinforce the new key.

All the chords between Cm7 in bar 9 and the Gmaj7 in bar 15 make up a cycle of fifths. This is where the chords ascend, or in this case descend, by a 5th. With each chord movement from Cm7 to Gmaj7, a descent of a 5th can be seen. The Cm7 in bar 9 is the parallel minor of Cmaj7. This is a subtle transition to the ear because only the 3rd (E) and the 7th (B) are flattened to make the new spelling of C, Eb, G, Bb. The melody also follows this pattern by descending a semitone from E to reach Eb. This Cm7 acts as the vi chord in another vi, ii, V, I progression. However, this time it is in the key of Eb major rather than Ab major. Similar to the naturals in bars 6 and 7, bars 11 and 12 include D naturals in the melody to emphasise the new key.

Bar 13 contains another pivot chord - Abmaj7. It is the IV chord of Eb major but also acts as the II in another II, V, I to bring it into the key of G major voa a secondary dominant - D7. This line has exactly the same chordal structure as bars 5-8 except this time it's in the key of G major instead of C major.

The chords in line 5 are identical to line 4, with the exception of the Am7 in bar 17 that replaces the Abmaj7. The appearance of this Am7 creates a diatonic ii, V, I towards the Gmaj7, remaining in the key of G major. This means that the chords in bars 14-20 are all diatonic to G major.

Line 6 starts with a diatonic ii, V, I progression that leads into the key of E major. The F#m7 also acts as a pivot chord from G major, although diatonically it would be F#m7b5. The next chord is a Caug7. This chord is also known is C7#5 which is only one note away from C7. The chord it leads into is Fm7, which is the parallel minor of F major, which would be ideal for a C7 to lead into. Also, if the chord is regarded as just Caug (C, E, G#), this includes exactly the same notes as Eaug7. If the Fm7 is regarded as just Fm, the notes in it are F, Ab (G#), C. This means that to reach Fm from Eaug, only one note, the E, needs to be sharpened to become F. With the E chord before it only needing to sharpen the 5th (B) to make an Eaug chord, this makes a subtle progression to the ear.

Line 7 has exactly the same melody and chord structure as the first line. Line 8 begins with a Dbmaj7 into its parallel minor, Dbm7. It then descends chromatically until it reaches Bbm7 on the next line. The Bdim7 in bar 32 is used as a chromatic passing chord. Finally, line 9 includes another ii, V, I progression bringing it back into the key of Ab major. The next two optional chords, G7 and C7 are used as a turnaround to bring the bpiece back to the beginning. The G7 is a secondary dominant which would suaully pull to a C chord. However, the C has been substituted for C7 which pulls to the Fm7 at the beginning with a perfect cadence. G7, C7, Fm7 also acts as a II, V, i.