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Exercise
— switch — The Cycle Shells with Color Rootless Voicings Bud Powell Left Hand The Turnaround Tritone Substitution Reharm the V Diatonic Sevenths Secondary Turnaround Minor ii–V–i Minor ii-V-i with ♭9 Minor Turnaround Diatonic 7ths in Minor Backdoor Progression Twelve-Bar Blues Minor Blues Bird Blues Blues Stride LH Blues Walking Bass Rhythm Changes Boogie Blues Shuffle Rhythm Changes Bridge Blues Rootless (Evans) Coltrane Changes Blues Pedal Point Standard Intro Blues Block Chords Two-Handed Comping Blues Freddie Green Charleston Comping Bebop Blues Comp Freddie Green Comping Blues Guide Tones Walking Bass Charleston Blues Tritone-Sub Walking Bass Bud Powell Blues Drop Two Two-Handed Modern Blues Stride Bass Stride with Melody Quartal Voicings Upper Structure Triads Hybrid Voicings Kenny Barron Voicing Sus Chord Vamp The Mu Chord Maiden Voyage Chord 4-Way Close Pedal Point Lydian Vamp Phrygian Vamp Bossa Nova Guide Tones Bebop Scale Dominant Bebop Dorian Bebop Bebop Minor The Enclosure ii-V-I Lick Pentatonic Patterns Plain Locrian Melodic Minor Dorian ♭2 Lydian Augmented Lydian Dominant Mixolydian ♭6 Locrian ♮2 Altered Scale Harmonic Minor Phrygian Dominant Half-Whole Diminished Whole-Tone Scale Minor Blues Major Blues Aeolian (Natural Minor) Dorian Mode Ionian (Major) Lydian Mode Minor Pentatonic Mixolydian Mode Phrygian Mode Whole-Half Diminished
Take the iii-vi-ii-V-I turnaround and make the vi chord a
secondary dominant instead of a diatonic m7.
For C major, that changes the Am7 to A7 — a dominant 7 chord
that functions as the V of Dm (the ii chord). The result is a
chromatic half-step in the voice leading (the 3 of A7 is C♯,
one semitone above C, the 7 of Dm).
This is the most common version of the iii-vi-ii-V-I in actual
jazz repertoire. Standards like Fly Me To The Moon ,
I Got Rhythm 's A section variations, and countless others
use VI7 instead of vim7. The shells are nearly identical to the
plain turnaround — only one voice of the second chord changes,
by a half-step.
VI7 = V/ii Secondary dominant of the ii chord.
Difference One voice of VI7 sits a half-step above its vi m7 counterpart — the 3 of VI7 vs the ♭3 of vi.
Jump to
C F B♭ E♭ A♭ D♭ G♭ B E A D G
C
3
2
X
O
O
O
G
7
3
2
1
O
O
O
E
m
7
2
O
O
O
O
O
1
3
X
O
O
O
D
m
7
2
1
1
X
X
O
A
7
F
3
2
1
X
X
O
C
7
3
2
4
1
O
O
A
m
7
2
1
X
O
O
O
2
1
3
X
X
O
G
m
7
1
3
1
1
1
1
3fr
D
7
B
1
3
2
4
X
X
F
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
D
m
7
2
1
1
X
X
O
C
m
7
1
3
1
2
1
X
3fr
G
7
3
2
1
O
O
O
E
1
2
3
4
X
X
B
7
1
2
1
3
1
X
G
m
7
1
3
1
1
1
1
3fr
F
m
7
1
3
1
1
1
1
C
7
3
2
4
1
O
O
A
1
1
1
3
X
X
E
7
1
3
2
4
X
X
C
m
7
1
3
1
2
1
X
3fr
B
m
7
1
3
1
2
1
X
F
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
D
4
3
1
1
1
X
A
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
4fr
F
m
7
1
3
1
1
1
1
E
m
7
1
2
3
4
X
X
B
7
1
2
1
3
1
X
G
4
3
2
1
X
X
D
7
2
3
1
4
X
X
B
m
7
1
3
1
2
1
X
A
m
7
1
3
1
1
1
1
4fr
E
7
1
3
2
4
X
X
B
1
3
2
4
X
X
F
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
D
m
7
1
2
3
4
X
X
C
m
7
4
2
1
X
O
O
G
7
1
3
1
2
1
1
4fr
E
3
1
2
O
O
X
B
7
2
1
3
4
X
O
G
m
7
1
3
1
1
1
1
4fr
F
m
7
1
3
1
1
1
1
C
7
2
3
1
4
X
X
A
2
1
3
X
O
O
E
7
2
1
O
O
O
O
C
m
7
4
2
1
X
O
O
B
m
7
1
3
1
2
1
X
1
3
1
2
1
1
F
7
D
1
2
3
X
X
O
A
7
1
3
X
O
O
O
F
m
7
1
3
1
1
1
1
E
m
7
2
O
O
O
O
O
2
1
3
4
X
O
B
7
G
4
3
2
1
X
X
2fr
D
7
2
1
3
X
X
O
B
m
7
1
3
1
2
1
X
A
m
7
2
1
X
O
O
O
2
1
O
O
O
O
E
7
The Daily Drill
Hear the chromatic step
3 min Play one key. Compare to the regular turnaround (#5) in the same key. Only one note changes — the 3rd of the VI7 (vs. the ♭7 of the vi m7) — but that single chromatic half-step gives the whole progression a different forward lean. 10 min Cycle three keys at a time. The pattern is identical to plain turnaround except for the second chord's top voice. 4 min Try alternating: one chorus of regular turnaround, one chorus of secondary turnaround. The ear hears the chromatic difference instantly. 3 min Apply: play bars 1–4 of rhythm changes in B♭ as Dm7 - G7 - Cm7 - F7 - B♭ (see the rhythm-changes exercise). That iii → VI7 → ii → V is exactly this pattern in the wild. Why secondary dominants work A secondary dominant is a chord that's the V of something other than I . The VI7 here is the V of the ii chord — its 3 (C♯ in A7) resolves chromatically down to the ♭7 of Dm7 (C), while its ♭7 (G in A7) falls a whole step to the ♭3 of Dm7 (F). A leading-tone resolution landing right on the ii's defining shell tones. That's why jazz standards are full of secondary dominants — they create constant tonicisations without ever leaving the home key.
Same skeleton, one chromatic note. The chord pulls forward; the form keeps moving.