Jazz Standard: Misty by Erroll Garner | Harmonic Analysis

00:12:46
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaURD1ohdUI

Summary

TLDRIn this video, Justin performs a harmonic analysis of the Jazz standard 'Misty,' elaborating on chord origins, key signatures, and scales for solos. He highlights sequences including 2-5-1 and secondary dominants, offering insights into modal interchange. By dissecting various chords in the composition, he explains their functions and introduces the importance of understanding harmonies for improving jazz improvisation. He encourages viewers to practice analyzing other standards.

Takeaways

  • 🎶 Analyze the harmonic structure of 'Misty'.
  • 🔑 The key is E flat with three flats.
  • 🎵 Identify key chords like E flat major 7 and B flat minor 7.
  • ➡️ 2-5-1 progressions are key in jazz harmony.
  • 🔄 Secondary dominants provide tension in progressions.
  • 🌐 Modal interchange enriches chord diversity.
  • 📝 Understanding chord functions aids improvisation.
  • 💡 Practice analyzing other jazz standards for skill improvement.
  • 🎸 Look for dominant seventh chords during key changes.
  • 📈 The analysis enhances recognition of chord progressions.

Timeline

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    Justin discusses the harmonic analysis of the jazz standard 'Misty,' explaining the origins of the chords, their key signatures, and introducing concepts like modal interchange. He starts with the key of E-flat major, breaking down the chord progression while emphasizing the importance of recognizing chords not in the key, particularly dominant seventh chords, to identify key changes. Justin highlights key sequences like 2-5-1 and common jazz progressions, providing examples and explaining their significance in constructing jazz harmony.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:12:46

    In the second section, Justin further elaborates on secondary dominants and the role they play in jazz harmony. He lists the specific chords again and explains their relationships within various keys. He introduces modal interchange as a broader concept involving different scale interpretations that can lead to unique harmonic variations. Justin concludes by emphasizing the value of practicing harmonic analysis on different jazz standards to develop improvisational skills and quickly identify harmonic movements in music. He encourages viewers to perform their own analyses for deeper understanding.

Mind Map

Video Q&A

  • What is the key of the song 'Misty'?

    The song 'Misty' is in the key of E flat.

  • What does 2-5-1 mean in jazz?

    2-5-1 refers to a common chord progression where the ii chord (2) leads to the V chord (5) and resolves to the I chord (1).

  • What is modal interchange?

    Modal interchange is a harmonic concept where you use chords from a parallel mode or key to add variety and complexity to a progression.

  • What are secondary dominants?

    Secondary dominants are chords that act as a V chord for a chord other than the tonic, typically used to create tension and lead into that chord.

  • Why is harmonic analysis important?

    Harmonic analysis helps musicians understand key centers and chord functions, which is essential for improvisation and creating musical ideas.

  • What should I do to improve my harmonic analysis skills?

    Practice analyzing various jazz standards independently to gain familiarity with chord progressions and key changes.

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  • 00:00:05
    hey how you doing Justin here today we
  • 00:00:07
    are looking at the harmonic analysis for
  • 00:00:10
    the Jazz standard Misty so we're just
  • 00:00:12
    going to be talking about where the
  • 00:00:13
    chords are coming from what keys they're
  • 00:00:14
    in gives you a little bit of an idea of
  • 00:00:16
    some of the scales and arpeggios you
  • 00:00:18
    might use if you were solo and we're
  • 00:00:20
    also going to have a brief look at a
  • 00:00:21
    little idea called modal interchange
  • 00:00:23
    which we'll probably come back to and
  • 00:00:24
    revisit uh in more depth later on but I
  • 00:00:26
    thought I'd give you a kind of a little
  • 00:00:28
    taster of that just in case you're
  • 00:00:30
    interested so uh let's get to a closeup
  • 00:00:32
    and see if I can't make your brains
  • 00:00:33
    explode okay let's start off with this
  • 00:00:36
    Misty tune then and have a little look
  • 00:00:37
    at what's going on harmonically um so
  • 00:00:40
    first thing again you check the key
  • 00:00:42
    signature here you got three Flats
  • 00:00:43
    that's showing you that it's E flat uh
  • 00:00:46
    easiest way to do that is just to look
  • 00:00:47
    at the second to last flat and whatever
  • 00:00:49
    note that's on is the key signature the
  • 00:00:51
    key rather so this one's in the key of V
  • 00:00:54
    flat so I've written out here the chords
  • 00:00:56
    in the key of E flat uh now this Tunes
  • 00:00:59
    kind of a famous one for analyzing uh in
  • 00:01:02
    regards to a thing called modal
  • 00:01:03
    interchange which I can explain a little
  • 00:01:05
    bit later on but I want to just go
  • 00:01:07
    through as if that's not harmonic
  • 00:01:09
    interchange first of all and just uh get
  • 00:01:11
    a little bit of an understanding of
  • 00:01:13
    what's going on in in the most basic
  • 00:01:15
    kind of way of analyzing a song so uh
  • 00:01:18
    first chord EF flat major 7 in the key
  • 00:01:19
    of E flat that's going to be a one chord
  • 00:01:22
    there so nice and simple now the next
  • 00:01:24
    chord that we've got is a B flat minor 7
  • 00:01:27
    and that's not in the key it should be B
  • 00:01:29
    flat 7 if we're in in the KY of flat
  • 00:01:30
    still um and whenever you've got a key
  • 00:01:33
    change a really good idea is to look for
  • 00:01:34
    dominant seventh chords and funnily
  • 00:01:36
    enough the next chord that we've got is
  • 00:01:38
    an EF flat 7 so uh the E flat 7 here
  • 00:01:42
    this is a five chord because dominant
  • 00:01:44
    seventh chords are always five chords
  • 00:01:46
    because we only have one in the key now
  • 00:01:48
    uh the thing that you want to be
  • 00:01:50
    thinking first of all now is E flat 7 is
  • 00:01:52
    the five chord of what key uh and if you
  • 00:01:55
    said A flat major 7th you would be
  • 00:01:58
    correct so uh if we're in a flat major
  • 00:02:01
    7th what's the two chord so think upper
  • 00:02:04
    tone from a flat and you get B flat
  • 00:02:05
    chord two is a minor chord so we got B
  • 00:02:08
    flatus 7 blow me down we've got a B
  • 00:02:10
    flatus 7 preceding the five chord which
  • 00:02:13
    is that lovely thing that you see so
  • 00:02:15
    often in jazz the old 2 five going to
  • 00:02:19
    the one chord but it's also worth noting
  • 00:02:22
    that this a flat major 7 is functioning
  • 00:02:24
    here as a four chord as well okay so
  • 00:02:27
    it's kind of got two rolls here it's the
  • 00:02:29
    one cord it's part of that 251 but it's
  • 00:02:32
    also a four chord in the key of EF flat
  • 00:02:35
    major so uh now we've got another and we
  • 00:02:38
    look at here we're kind of thinking that
  • 00:02:40
    we're back in E Flat and we've got this
  • 00:02:42
    a flat minus 7 well hang on a flat major
  • 00:02:45
    7th in the key V flat so well we must be
  • 00:02:47
    in a different key again the secret is
  • 00:02:50
    always look for the dominant 7th wayy we
  • 00:02:52
    got a dominant 7th right there so d flat
  • 00:02:56
    7 is the five chord of what key if if
  • 00:02:59
    you said g flat you would be correct so
  • 00:03:02
    this is definitely a five
  • 00:03:04
    chord and uh if we were in G flat we
  • 00:03:07
    want to know what the two chord is we
  • 00:03:08
    think upper tone that g flat that goes
  • 00:03:10
    to a flat two chords and minus 7s a flat
  • 00:03:12
    minus 7 blow me down we've got another
  • 00:03:16
    25 okay but this time it's not resolving
  • 00:03:18
    because it should go to uh g flat major
  • 00:03:21
    but it's not so it's just a a static 25
  • 00:03:24
    it's not changing the key well it's
  • 00:03:26
    changing key for that little bar but
  • 00:03:27
    it's not resolving to its one
  • 00:03:30
    we're going back to E flat major 7 being
  • 00:03:33
    the one okay now C Minor 7 let just have
  • 00:03:38
    a look oh that's a six chord we got one
  • 00:03:41
    6 F minor it's a two
  • 00:03:45
    chord and B flat 7 is the five chord
  • 00:03:48
    okay so this is a really common uh chord
  • 00:03:51
    sequence again in jazz 1
  • 00:03:53
    1625 even you'll even find a whole
  • 00:03:55
    lesson on different chord substitutions
  • 00:03:57
    for that particular sequence uh cuz it's
  • 00:03:59
    so popular so uh few things that you're
  • 00:04:02
    looking out for there that you want to
  • 00:04:03
    learn about where and apply to other
  • 00:04:05
    Jazz standards as soon as you got a
  • 00:04:07
    chord that's not in the key start
  • 00:04:08
    looking for a five chord because there's
  • 00:04:10
    very often a five chord around when it's
  • 00:04:11
    changed key that'll give you the little
  • 00:04:13
    indicator as to what key you might be in
  • 00:04:16
    now and it'll help you find your two
  • 00:04:18
    pretty soon you'll start to recognize
  • 00:04:19
    two fives anyway because they're so
  • 00:04:21
    common in jazz um so you'll end up with
  • 00:04:24
    this 251 the one function is the four
  • 00:04:26
    cord as well now we've got this 25 which
  • 00:04:29
    doesn't resolve to the one chord then a
  • 00:04:32
    16251 back in our home key now we've got
  • 00:04:35
    uh the next little bit which is another
  • 00:04:37
    turnaround here we've got a g minus 7
  • 00:04:40
    which uh oh it's a three
  • 00:04:43
    chord and then we've got this C7 now C
  • 00:04:47
    minus it should be C minus 7 in this can
  • 00:04:50
    and as I said C7 is always a five
  • 00:04:53
    chord okay now C7 is the five chord of
  • 00:04:57
    what key and you would hopefully know
  • 00:05:00
    that it's the 54 of the key of f okay
  • 00:05:03
    and we're going to an F now it's going
  • 00:05:05
    to an F minor not an F major but it's
  • 00:05:07
    still a five going to a one and this is
  • 00:05:10
    a classic case of what we call a
  • 00:05:11
    secondary dominant so uh if I just keep
  • 00:05:14
    analyzing for a second the F minor 7 is
  • 00:05:16
    a two
  • 00:05:18
    chord and the B flat 7 is the five chord
  • 00:05:21
    still in the key of E flat okay so um
  • 00:05:24
    the three chord and the one chord are
  • 00:05:26
    very very similar with the notes in them
  • 00:05:28
    so uh you quite often uh you might get a
  • 00:05:31
    E flat major 7 C7 that kind of chord
  • 00:05:34
    sequence uh and if it was a C Minor 7 it
  • 00:05:37
    would be a
  • 00:05:39
    1625 okay so if we look at G minus 7
  • 00:05:42
    being a substitute for the E flat major
  • 00:05:43
    7 if we imagine that's E flat major 7
  • 00:05:45
    for a second E flat major 7 C Minor 7 F
  • 00:05:49
    minor 7 B flat 7 it's the same 1625 that
  • 00:05:53
    we had here but C7 is the five chord
  • 00:05:56
    going to f okay and this is the one this
  • 00:05:59
    is the chord that we call a secondary
  • 00:06:01
    dominant and again there's a whole
  • 00:06:03
    lesson on those uh on the website that
  • 00:06:05
    you might want to check out because
  • 00:06:07
    secondary dominants are a very very
  • 00:06:09
    common uh chord and and a very common
  • 00:06:12
    idea in these kind of jazz sequences in
  • 00:06:14
    fact sometimes you could have that as
  • 00:06:16
    being an F7 as well and have uh in fact
  • 00:06:19
    that could be a G7 so that could be G7
  • 00:06:21
    C7 F7 B flat 7 yeah it's not in this
  • 00:06:25
    case and some of that was going to you
  • 00:06:27
    know screw with the melody a little bit
  • 00:06:28
    which wouldn't sound so nice
  • 00:06:30
    particularly that making that a G7 that
  • 00:06:31
    would sound pretty rough I imagine but
  • 00:06:33
    uh definitely here you could you could
  • 00:06:35
    make that an F7 uh if you wanted to and
  • 00:06:38
    uh it would be kind of an interesting
  • 00:06:39
    sound uh again check out the secondary
  • 00:06:42
    dominant uh lesson there so that's the
  • 00:06:44
    first time through second times all of
  • 00:06:46
    the same up to this point we've got our
  • 00:06:48
    E flat 6 this is still just a one chord
  • 00:06:50
    it's a different type of uh major chord
  • 00:06:53
    and then we've got this d flat 9 which
  • 00:06:56
    is a really interesting uh Harmony um
  • 00:06:59
    You' call it a a flat
  • 00:07:02
    77 would be the the kind of term this
  • 00:07:05
    has to do with this uh modal interchange
  • 00:07:08
    which I'll get to in a little bit uh
  • 00:07:10
    it's just kind of a A variation on a
  • 00:07:11
    five chord but uh and then we're going
  • 00:07:13
    back to the one chord we'll come back
  • 00:07:14
    and have a chat about that in a in a
  • 00:07:16
    little while so uh we've got next up a B
  • 00:07:19
    flat minor 7 should be B flat major 7
  • 00:07:22
    what's going on we look for the dominant
  • 00:07:24
    7eventh chord now you can forget about
  • 00:07:26
    that flat N9 for now that's just really
  • 00:07:27
    part of the melody E flat seven is the
  • 00:07:30
    five chord of wat key we already looked
  • 00:07:32
    at it earlier it's the five chord of a
  • 00:07:35
    flat so oh look there we're going to 51
  • 00:07:39
    wonder what the two chord is in the key
  • 00:07:41
    of a flat well blow me down it's a B
  • 00:07:43
    flat minus 7 so we've got our classic
  • 00:07:45
    251 again in the key of a flat very very
  • 00:07:48
    easy to read that one now uh here we've
  • 00:07:52
    got this little section here where uh I
  • 00:07:54
    kind of always think that the Harmon is
  • 00:07:56
    different I always think it's Aus 7 D7
  • 00:07:59
    I'm going to just pencil that in a
  • 00:08:01
    little bigger and then C Minor
  • 00:08:04
    7 to F7 that's always the way I've
  • 00:08:07
    played it might not be right but U
  • 00:08:09
    that's harmonically what I hear going on
  • 00:08:11
    a lot of times for this tune uh so we
  • 00:08:13
    end up with a
  • 00:08:14
    25 okay so again we're looking for the
  • 00:08:17
    dominant seventh chord uh and D7 is the
  • 00:08:20
    five chord in the key of G so we got two
  • 00:08:23
    five in the key of G then we've got 2
  • 00:08:25
    five again in the key of B flat again
  • 00:08:28
    let's just lose that flat N9 for now we
  • 00:08:30
    don't really need to worry about that
  • 00:08:32
    then we've got a 25 in the key of F and
  • 00:08:34
    then a 25 in the key of E flat so it's a
  • 00:08:37
    really good example of uh you know Jazz
  • 00:08:40
    Harmony moving around a little bit so
  • 00:08:42
    we've got there we're in the key of G
  • 00:08:44
    for that bar we're in the key of B flat
  • 00:08:46
    for that bar we're in the key of f for
  • 00:08:48
    that bar and in the key of E flat for
  • 00:08:50
    that bar you can see that it's really
  • 00:08:52
    moving quite a lot but uh again you're
  • 00:08:55
    probably going to be playing out of the
  • 00:08:56
    chords for that kind of thing uh you
  • 00:08:58
    could be playing out out of scales but
  • 00:09:00
    generally you want to be hitting chord
  • 00:09:01
    tones sounds a little bit better to uh
  • 00:09:04
    to my ear anyway um and then we've got a
  • 00:09:07
    repeat of the a section so one 25 1 uh
  • 00:09:11
    in the key of a flat uh the 2 five which
  • 00:09:14
    doesn't go to the one then 1 6 25 1
  • 00:09:19
    625 okay so uh that's the the general
  • 00:09:23
    kind of analysis of the tune Misty um
  • 00:09:26
    there's this thing called I wanted to
  • 00:09:27
    mention called modal interchange it's
  • 00:09:29
    kind of a fairly complex Jazz idea but
  • 00:09:32
    it just kind of it's It's a possible way
  • 00:09:34
    of explaining how the composer came up
  • 00:09:36
    with a Harmony um it could just be that
  • 00:09:38
    they played it and it sounded good which
  • 00:09:40
    is what I'd imagine is probably the case
  • 00:09:42
    really uh but uh it's interesting anyway
  • 00:09:45
    uh if you think of the key of uh we're
  • 00:09:47
    in the key of EF flat major if we think
  • 00:09:50
    that we're actually for a second we're
  • 00:09:51
    in the key of EF flat mixian so making E
  • 00:09:54
    flat 7 uh one chord we end up with a
  • 00:09:58
    whole completely different bunch of
  • 00:09:59
    cords uh which makes it kind of really
  • 00:10:02
    interesting um and it it can explain a
  • 00:10:05
    little bit where we get our B flat major
  • 00:10:07
    7 from uh B flat minor 7 sorry and uh E
  • 00:10:11
    flat 7 for that little section up here
  • 00:10:14
    where we've got the B flat minor 7 E
  • 00:10:16
    flat 7 to a flat major 7 which is
  • 00:10:19
    involved with it as well um you know it
  • 00:10:21
    is a 251 in the key of a flat but it's
  • 00:10:23
    just an interesting uh especially if
  • 00:10:25
    you're a composer to have this other
  • 00:10:27
    group of chords that you might like to
  • 00:10:29
    draw on rather than just being stuck to
  • 00:10:31
    having those chords in that key um and
  • 00:10:34
    again that that was look here as EF flat
  • 00:10:36
    Mixel liian if you look at it as E flat
  • 00:10:38
    aolan which is the same as g flat major
  • 00:10:40
    scale you get this group of chords which
  • 00:10:43
    is where you get some of your other
  • 00:10:45
    Harmony particularly your d flat nine
  • 00:10:48
    chord okay which is uh this little this
  • 00:10:52
    little F here um because that's a it's
  • 00:10:55
    it's a really interesting Harmony and it
  • 00:10:57
    gets used a little bit you know we've
  • 00:10:58
    also got the a flat to D7 here as well
  • 00:11:02
    so you can think of those things as part
  • 00:11:04
    of this modal interchange there plenty
  • 00:11:06
    of information online if you uh care to
  • 00:11:08
    look it up but uh it's not really it's
  • 00:11:10
    not exactly harmonic analysis what we've
  • 00:11:12
    been doing is the proper harmonic
  • 00:11:14
    analysis this is just a a little
  • 00:11:15
    interesting idea I thought I'd throw in
  • 00:11:17
    because it often gets uh Misty gets
  • 00:11:19
    talked about when people talk about uh
  • 00:11:22
    modal
  • 00:11:23
    interchange so there you go that is the
  • 00:11:26
    harmonic analysis for Misty uh it's a
  • 00:11:29
    beautiful beautiful song and this kind
  • 00:11:30
    of analysis stuff is really useful if
  • 00:11:33
    you're going to get into improvising
  • 00:11:35
    because you need to understand the key
  • 00:11:36
    centers and how the harmony is moving a
  • 00:11:38
    little bit is quite important again I
  • 00:11:40
    can't emphasize enough the importance of
  • 00:11:42
    doing this on your own to other Tunes
  • 00:11:44
    you know I'm doing these few standards
  • 00:11:45
    here to kind of give you a bit of a
  • 00:11:47
    taster but the more of it you can do on
  • 00:11:49
    your own and and just pick a jazz
  • 00:11:50
    standard and go through and try and
  • 00:11:52
    analyze it as best you can I think that
  • 00:11:54
    a you know such a good exercise to you
  • 00:11:56
    know help you learn the the chords in
  • 00:11:58
    the keys it'll help you recognize your
  • 00:12:00
    two fivs it'll make you think about the
  • 00:12:02
    harmony a little bit it's a it's a
  • 00:12:03
    really really good idea and you you'll
  • 00:12:05
    find the more that you do it the faster
  • 00:12:06
    you get it to the point where you can
  • 00:12:08
    kind of do it on the Fly you know if I'm
  • 00:12:10
    learning a new Jazz standard I'm I can
  • 00:12:12
    see the most of the harmonic movements
  • 00:12:14
    you know pretty much straight away as
  • 00:12:15
    I'm playing them you know with the
  • 00:12:17
    exception of some of the you know really
  • 00:12:19
    really complex modern Jazz things where
  • 00:12:21
    they're deliberately pushing the
  • 00:12:22
    boundaries of it you know uh but you
  • 00:12:25
    want to be starting off with stuff like
  • 00:12:26
    you know Juke Ellington and those kind
  • 00:12:28
    of songs as really good place to start
  • 00:12:30
    for uh getting into understanding and
  • 00:12:32
    doing your own harmonic analysis so uh
  • 00:12:34
    hope you'll join me for plenty more
  • 00:12:36
    lessons and lots more Jazz I'll see you
  • 00:12:37
    very soon take care of yourselves
  • 00:12:39
    bye-bye
Tags
  • Jazz
  • Misty
  • Harmonic Analysis
  • Modal Interchange
  • Chord Progression
  • Improvisation
  • Secondary Dominants
  • Key Changes
  • Jazz Standards
  • Chord Functions