Anthropology Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Chord progression

Analyzed excerpt

Section: A1 · Bars 1–4

Bb G7 | Cm7 F7 | Dm7 G7 | Cm7 F7

This is a short excerpt quoted for analysis, not the full chart, and this composition is very likely still in copyright. Published versions and recordings disagree with each other about the rest of the tune, and often about these bars too.

The books behind this page

Every one of these tunes is assembled out of the same handful of harmonic resources. Jazz Harmony is those resources, explained in the order in which they build on each other.

Start here Project 03 · Harmony

Harmonic analysis

Key

Bb major

Tonal center

Bb

Confidence

Medium

Chords analysed

8

Chord	Roman numeral	Function	What it is doing	Confidence
Bb	I	Tonic	Bb is the tonic of Bb. It is where the progression is at rest.	High
G7	V7/ii	Dominant	G7 is functioning as V7/ii: a secondary dominant. It is the dominant of C, not of the home key, so it borrows the pull of a V-I and points it at ii instead.	High
Cm7	ii	Predominant	Cm7 is the ii chord of Bb: the classic predominant. It prepares the dominant and almost always moves to it.	High
F7	V7	Dominant	F7 is the dominant of Bb. Its third and seventh form a tritone, and that tritone is what makes the tonic feel due.	High
Dm7	ii/ii	Predominant	Dm7 is the ii of a secondary ii-V. Together with G7 it prepares C, so the pair tonicizes ii without leaving the key. Also readable as iii.	High
G7	V7/ii	Dominant	G7 is functioning as V7/ii: a secondary dominant. It is the dominant of C, not of the home key, so it borrows the pull of a V-I and points it at ii instead.	High
Cm7	ii	Predominant	Cm7 is the ii chord of Bb: the classic predominant. It prepares the dominant and almost always moves to it.	High
F7	V7	Dominant	F7 is the dominant of Bb. Its third and seventh form a tritone, and that tritone is what makes the tonic feel due.	High

What the analyzer found in it

ii - V7Cm7 - F7

A ii-V pointing at Bb, which never arrives. The preparation is complete, the resolution is not.

ii/ii - V7/ii - iiDm7 - G7 - Cm7

A complete minor ii-V-i in Cm, with the half-diminished ii and a dominant that borrows its leading tone from harmonic minor.

ii - V7Cm7 - F7

A ii-V pointing at Bb, which never arrives. The preparation is complete, the resolution is not.

half cadenceF7

The progression stops on the dominant of Bb — a half cadence. It is unfinished on purpose.

High, medium and low next to each numeral are judgements about musical context, not probabilities. A low rating marks a bar that can honestly be read more than one way. How the ratings are decided →

Why this example matters

In Bb major the excerpt reads I – V7/ii – ii – V7 – ii/ii. Inside those 8 chords there is a complete ii-V-I and at least one secondary dominant. Play it slowly with only two voices — the third and seventh of each chord. In G7 those are B and F, and watching where that pair goes next tells you more about the progression than the root movement does. The excerpt above is note for note the same as the one quoted on Oleo, Rhythm-a-ning and Moose the Mooche, so the reading below is identical on those pages too. That is not a shortcut: these tunes really are built on the same harmony, and what separates them is the melody written over it. The same device turns up in Stella by Starlight, How High the Moon and Ornithology, in other keys and at other tempos.

How the rest of Anthropology goes

The opposite approach to Oleo on identical harmony. Where Rollins left silence, this head fills all thirty-two bars with continuous eighth notes, changing direction at points that have nothing to do with where the chords change. The bridge is the standard cycle, and the melody runs straight across it without marking the arrival of any of the four dominants — which is the point. If you can hear the form while playing this line, you have stopped needing the harmony to tell you where you are.

Anthropology on record

Credited to Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, recorded in 1945, and also circulated under the title “Thriving on a Riff” — the same music appearing under two names is common in this repertoire and usually reflects who was being paid on which session. It is one of the standard proving pieces: calling Anthropology at a session is a way of finding out quickly whether everyone present can navigate rhythm changes at tempo without a chart.

Analyze this progression

Take these bars into the analyzer and interfere with them. The fastest way to learn what a chord was doing is to remove it and read what the analysis says instead.

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Anthropology — Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Chord progression

The books behind this page

Jazz Harmony

Harmonic Narrative

Jazz Guitar Comping

Harmonic analysis

What the analyzer found in it

Why this example matters

How the rest of Anthropology goes

Anthropology on record

Analyze this progression

Related

ii-V-I

Secondary dominants

Stella by Starlight

How High the Moon

Ornithology

Jazz chord progressions