Twelve-bar Blues - in Jazz

In Jazz

Jazz is considered to have some of its roots in the blues (Shipton 2007, 4-5), and the blues progression is one of several blues elements found in jazz such as blue notes, blues-like phrasing of melodies, and blues riffs. Tunes that utilize the jazz-blues harmony are fairly common in the jazz repertoire, especially from the bebop era.

A twelve-bar jazz blues will usually feature a more sophisticated — or at any rate a different — treatment of the harmony than a traditional blues would, but the underlying features of the standard 12-bar blues progression remain discernible. One of the main ways the jazz musician accomplishes this is through the use of chord substitutions - a chord in the original progression is replaced by one or more chords which have the same general "sense" or function; in this case occurring especially in the turnaround (i.e. the last four bars). One well-known artist that sang this form of jazz was Billie Holiday, and almost all well known instrumental jazz musicians will have recorded at least one variation on this theme.

The 12-bar blues form, in the commonly played key of B♭, often becomes:

Bb7 / Eb7 / Bb7 / Bb7 / Eb7 / Edim7 / Bb7 / Dm7 - G7 / Cm7 / F7 / Dm7 - G7 / Cm7 - F7 //

Transposed to the key of C:

C7 / F7 / C7 / C7 / F7 / Gbdim7 / C7 / Em7 - A7 / Dm7 / G7 / Em7 - A7 / Dm7 - G7 //

where each slash represents a new measure, in the jazz-blues. The significant changes include the Edim7, which creates movement, and the III-VI-II-V or I-VI-II-V turnaround, a jazz staple.

There is however no standard form of jazz blues, and several common variations. For example, the diminished chord in bar 6 is often omitted, and many turnarounds are possible. An example turnaround using chromatic chord movement could be:

Dm7 / G7 / C7 - Eb7 / D7 - Db7

Another variation has the cycle concluding on the dominant chord as in a standard blues. This feature introduces a tension that propels the listener's expectation toward the next chord change cycle. Here is an example:

C7 - A7 / Dm7 - G7

Count Basie's version of the blues progression, which came into wide use, demonstrates several of these variations (shown here in the key of F):

F7 / Bb7 Bdim / F7 / Cm7 F7 / Bb7 / Bdim / F7 / D7 / Gm7 / C7 / F7 / Gm7 C7 /

Alto sax great Charlie Parker introduced a fluid chord sequence for jazz blues, using tritone substitution and chromatic chord changes typical of the be-bop era. It has come to be known as Bird Blues, after his nickname, "Yardbird," or more simply, "Bird."

Bird blues progression(Spitzer 2001,64)

IM7	VIIm7♭5 III7♭9	VIm7 II7	Vm7 I7
IV7	IVm7 ♭VII7	IIIm7 VI7	♭III7 ♭VI7
IIm7	V7	I7 VI7♭9	IIm7 V7

Play

For example, similar progressions may be found in, Parker's "Blues for Alice", Wes Montgomery's "West Coast Blues", and the non-jazz Toots Thielemans' "Bluesette", Parker's "Confirmation", and Harry Warren's "There Will Never Be Another You".(Spitzer 2001,64) Below is a common version of the Bird Blues chord sequence, shown here in F:

Fmaj7 / Em7b5 A7b9 / Dm7 Db7 / Cm7 F7 / Bb7 / Bbm7 Eb7 / Am7 D7 / Abm7 Db7 / Gm7 / C7 / F D7 / Gm7 C7 //

A more modern example is the A-section of Pat Metheny's "Missouri Uncompromised". The first 4 bars and the last 4 bars are taken from the classic blues (albeit without the dominant quality); the middle 4 bars, although completely altered, still follow the functional pattern of the blues:

• B♭/A is a suspended subdominant, which serves as a pivot point modulating to B♭ major, where it becomes an unstable form of the tonic;
• D♭/A♭ serves as a more stable version of a (now minor) tonic substitute (tonic of the subdominant is subdominant by association to the original key);
• E♭/G serves as a pivot point modulating back to A major, where it becomes the triton substitute of the tonic;
• D/F♯ and Dm/F are both subdominant, creating a natural movement from the tonic substitute above to the dominant chord in bar 9.

A / A / A / A / Bb/A / Db/Ab / Eb/G / D/F# Dm/F / E / D / A / A //