Jazz chord progression

I'm not a pianist, so it's hard for me to work with chord progressions, i.e. the fact that I'm ending on B9. What do you think of the progressions?

Edit: Lead Sheet

Any chance of a MIDI? I'm game for sitting and humming a few chords to myself in my head, but there's just so many there...

Okay, here's a (tweaked) automatically-generated MIDI of the progression.

Too me it doesn't sound that jazzy. It seems too static to be jazz, but I believe that is from the constant 7th notes and 9. I suggest adding 13th and 6ths in there to add more flavor!

I am not sure what you are trying to do. Give this lead sheet to a jazz bebop trio or quartet and they will play it. But, way way different from what is in the midi.

If you give the melody to a solo instrument, have a bass play a walking bass line through the roots of the chords, an optional piano making the chords clear then it sounds like jazz, imo.

To me a jazz tune is created by having some chords and a melody. Specifying anything beyond 7ths isn't needed. The melody can be anything. Then the chords should be ii-V-I's through different keys, ornamented with some variations and additions.

The melody on the score is gone in the piano version you made. But the score has a C to Gb, thats a tritone interval. It sounds terrible.

Piano voicings, forget the roots, put then in the bass. Voice leading 3ths become sevenths of the next chord, and sevenths become thirds of the next chord is a rule that often works nicely.

Notating the notes of a swinging rythm for the piano to make it sound like jazz is impossible.

Really, composing for jazz is very minimal. Make up a meldoy, get some chords. Hand it to a group and see what they make of it and if they like it. At least that is my vision on jazz.

Well, I'm new here, a friend told me about this place (Mike Milillo). To be honest, I don't know much about composition, but I do know a bit about Jazz. I kicked the hammond up and messed with the lead sheet a bit. IF I were playing this one, I'd probably "fix" a few chords along the way as I played, for example, I wouldn't play a B7 behind the Bb and Ab triplet there, and although we jazz guys like to let things unresolved a lot for endings, I'm not sure I'd have the guts to end this on a B9 chord. There's a rule us jazz guys have that goes soemthing like this, you can use any note any time as long as you have a reason for using it. I don't think I'm "out there" enough to have a "reason"to try and use the b9th to end this though. You did use a II-V right in the beginning there (Cmin-F) and somewhat with the D min-G, and you had a II-V-! right before the Am. THose definitely give it a jazz feel. And as far as the tritone objection above, I think you classical guys refer to that as "The Devil's Interval" if i'm remembering right? Us jazz guys use that all the time for a bit of tension, only we call it a flatted fifth.

I listened to the midi file, they are usually kind of stiff, it's hard to get jazz out of them. However, that piano only break was definitely swinging.

Hmm I always heard a m2 called the devil's interval.

i always thought the devils interval was a diminished 5th...

btw, some of those tremolo chords are v fast for playing..

I'm not a pianist, so it's hard for me to work with chord progressions, i.e. the fact that I'm ending on B9.

also, on the first ending... tjhe Bbm7 to Eb7 sounds like it´s going nowhere.. you are using a progression of I melodic minor to it´s 4th degree and it´s not functioning as the five but as the 4th and then it goes to Bmaj at the beginning.. I would say you should use a neapolitan chord or a Cmin7 dorian... u are making the ear to believe that we are about to get out of Bm and that´s not what you want, you want them to believe is going to the minor instead of "getting out" from it.. but it goes to major instead...

that´s why a lot of jazz players use the Cm7b5 to F7alt resolving to the BbMaj7... the Cm7b5-F7alt is creating an alteration that makes you feel you are going to Bbmin.... but instead you resolve to a stronger chord like the Bb Maj.... but what you did is the opposite.. Eb7 is the 4th of Bb minor and that wants to resolve to Ab

This has been an unintentionally hilarious thread, like watching brain surgeons trying to treat a grazed knee.....

LOL as they say. :(

The chord progression as written is an incredibly common bebop sequence.

The chords could be more heavily altered with flat nines and flat or augmented fives but they fundamentally make perfect jazz sense apart from the 1st and 2nd time bars, as a few people have tried to point out.

The tune doesn't 'end ' on a B9 - that is merely another method of returning to the tonic from a half step above. It is a substitution for F7b5 with the b5 in the bass.

Try this for the 1st and 2nd time bars :

( Bb Bdim Cm7 F9 ) ( Bb/D Dbdim Cm7 F7b5/B )

There are many permutations of these changes - called ' turnarounds ' in standard jazz.

well said. :)