Bird changes

Bird Blues progression

The Blues for Alice changes, Bird changes, Bird Blues, or New York Blues changes, is a chord progression, often named after Charlie Parker ("Bird"), which is a variation of the twelve-bar blues.

The progression uses a series of sequential ii–V or secondary ii–V progressions, and has been used in pieces such as Parker's "Blues for Alice". Toots Thielemans's "Bluesette", ^[1] Freight Trane written by pianist Tommy Flanagan, and Parker's "Confirmation" ^[2] also have similar progressions.

Structure

A simple blues progression, in C, is as follows:

A typical blues progression in jazz, in C, is as follows: ^[3]

The Bird Blues progression, in C, is as follows: ^[4]

In roman numeral analysis, this is represented by

IM7	viiø7   III7	vi7    II7	v7     I7
IV7	iv7    ♭VII7	iii7    VI7	♭iii7  ♭VI7
ii7	V7	IM7   VI7	ii7     V7

This can be viewed as a cycle of ii–V progressions leading to the IV chord (F⁷ in the key of C major), and the tritone substitution of the dominant chords leading by half-step to the V chord (G⁷ in C). ^[4]

C:	Am:	G(m):	F:
IM7	iiø7     V7	ii7      V7	ii7      V7
F:	E♭:	D:	D♭(m):
I7	subii7subV7	subii7subV7	subii7subV7
C:
ii7	V7	IM7    VI7	ii7     V7

Sources

1. Hatfield, Ken (2005). Jazz and the Classical Guitar Theory and Applications, p.182. ISBN   0-7866-7236-6.
2. Umble, Jay (2011). Mbgu Jazz Curriculum: Payin Your Dues with the Blues, p. 62. ISBN   9781610653145.
3. Jacobs, Sid (2011). The Changes, p. 12. ISBN   9781610651684.
4. Baerman, Noah (1998). Complete Jazz Keyboard Method: Intermediate Jazz Keyboard, p. 63. ISBN   0-88284-911-5.