Old school reharmonization of jazz songs

Question

I'm wondering how to reharmonize a jazz song using a traditional jazz style that avoids modern substitutions and extensions.

As an example, I've got this score here. You can see the two reharmonizations on the first two A sections that I tried on the score below, but am not totally satisfied. On the one hand, I don't want to just sit on the same chord all the time, but the challenge is that there is a lot of chromaticism in the melody that makes it hard for me to think of straightforward chords using circle of fifths type ideas. I want to use 30s style harmony, which is closer to classical, rather than jazz. The original A section harmony is on the bottom two lines.

Can anyone help me out with some ideas and general techniques for achieving a traditional jazz reharmonization?

Answer 1

Consider taking advantage of the basic movement of the melody: G-F-G-F and D-C-D-C. For example, FM7-F6-FM7-F6 Em7b5-C7/E-Em7b5-C7/E Gm7-C7/G-Gm7-C7/G FM7-F6-FM7-F6. Note that the Em7b5 is perfectly fine in 30s American Songbook music.

Answer 2

tl;dr - General approach

To get a more traditional jazz reharmonization:

• add chords in spots where the melody pauses (e.g., where a horn would fill)
• utilize back-cycling, chromatic bass movement, and tritone substitutions
• preserve important chords that are central to the song
• when substituting chords, don't change the original harmonic function

Here's a basic method:

1. Write out the most important chords that define the song's harmony. Different people will come up with different essential chords, and that's great--there's more than one good way to reharmonize a song.
2. Add chords back in using the techniques above.
3. Check the chords you've added against the melody to make sure the two don't clash.

An example: You're the Cream in My Coffee

Using the method above, here's a pretty straightforward reharm for the A section of You're the Cream in My Coffee:

| F | Aø Eb7 D7 | Gm C7 | Aø Eb7 D7 |

| Gm Db7 C7 | F7 E7 Eb13(b9) D11 | Db7(b9) C7 | F D7b9 Gm C7b9 |

Walking through the process

Let's take it one step at a time.

Step 1: Write the crucial chords of the A section. This is just my own attempt.

| F | | C7 | |

| C7 | | C7 | F |

Step 2: Approach the V7 chords. In m. 3, I'll add the relative ii chord, Gmin. In m. 7, for a greater sense of finality, I'll lead into C7 with Db7 (a tritone sub of the V chord to C7). In m. 5, I'll do both (because it pairs well with the melody). You can think of all this as forms of back-cycling.

| F | | Gm C7 | |

| Gm Db7 C7 | | Db7 C7 | F |

Step 3: Approach the ii chords. Let's approach the Gmin chords in m. 3 and 5 with the relative iii-iv. For added interest, I'll lead into the D7 with a tritone sub:

| F | Aø Eb7 D7 | Gm C7 | Aø Db7 D7 |

| Gm C7 | | Db7 C7 | F |

Step 4: Add a turnaround at the end. So that m. 8 leads back into m. 1, I'll add a vi-ii-V turnaround.

| F | Aø Eb7 D7 | Gm C7 | Aø Eb7 D7 |

| Gm C7 | | Db7 C7 | F D7 Gm C7 |

Step 5: Add chromatic bass movement. Let's add some chords to m. 6. Even though m. 7 starts with Db7, I'm thinking "m. 7 is basically Gm-C7, and so the last chord of m. 6 should be D7." Then I work backwards: the V of D7 is A7, the V of A7 is E7, etc. Use tritone substitutions to achieve chromatic bass movement:

| F | Aø Eb7 D7 | Gm C7 | Aø Eb7 D7 |

| Gm Db7 C7 | F7 E7 Eb7 D7 | Db7 C7 | F D7b9 Gm C7 |

Step 6: Check the chords against the melody. We can add alterations so that the chords don't clash with the melody:

| F | Aø Eb7 D7 | Gm C7 | Aø Eb7 D7 |

| Gm Db7 C7 | F7 E7 Eb13(b9) D11 | Db7(b9) C7 | F D7b9 Gm C7b9 |

We're done! This is a pretty good, straightforward reharm.