I’ve heard this ending in different jazz songs and I would love to be able to recreate it in different keys to apply to songs I already know. I’ve been trying to figure this out but I’m clueless as to what’s happening in the 4th chord that you can hear in the attached audio snippet.
Analysis: C6(9) chord falls on the last note of the song, which is C. And then in the brackets there are three ending chords (Eb7, Ab7, A7). But on the recording there are four chords being played, not three. What is happening between Ab7 and A7? I’ve figured out the notes by ear, but I do not understand what chord/extension is being played as the 4th one.
For Eb7, it’s R-3 in both hands
For Ab7, it’s L: 7-9, R: 3-7
For the mystery chord, it’s L: F-B, R: Eb, F, Ab (is it Abmin? why it’s not written in the sheet music?)
For A7, it’s L: 5-R-9, R: 7
The melody line that the chords outline is: G - B - Ab - G.
Notice that the voicings contain the exact same notes as the notation in my last post, but by labelling the chords differently, we now have a chromatically descending chain of dominant chords from the b3 (Eb) to the root. (Eb7 → D7 → Db7 → C)
We could also apply upper structure harmony…
The progression contains a string of dominant chords, and so we can experiment with the different upper structure triads. This gives us lots of different colours and tensions to choose from.
I like the sound of these colours using the same chord sequence:
Check out our course on upper structure triads for more information.
The best way to learn USTs is to apply them in context like this and you will soon get an awareness of the different upper structure triads options available to us.
Finally, check out this lesson on “How To End A Tune”
Tuomo made a 5-min masterclass lesson on common jazz outros.
Here’s the lesson:
Many of the ideas presented in that lesson are also relevant.
That’s a brilliant explanation, Hayden. Thank you.
As for G7(b9#5) → C69, I agree it makes a lot more sense rather than A7 due to V7-I motion.
I’ve just realized that what you’re saying here:
by labelling the chords differently, we now have a chromatically descending chain of dominant chords from the b3 (Eb) to the root. (Eb7 –> D7 –> Db7 –> C)
can also be seen as a tritone substitution, where we substitute G7(b9#5) with its tritone, Db? or am I taking this too far and overcomplicate this progression?
Thank you.
