Confirmation Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis | Niels Dalgaard
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Confirmation
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Charlie Parker · 1946 · F major · AABA, 32 bars

Confirmation — Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Parker’s answer to the question of how many ii-V pairs fit in eight bars. The tonic is barely stated before a minor ii-V pulls the harmony towards vi, and the chain never really stops until the last A.

ii-V-I Secondary dominants

Chord progression

Analyzed excerpt

Section: A1 · Bars 1–4

Fmaj7 | Em7b5 A7 | Dm7 | 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

Jazz Harmony

From tradition to the expectation framework · For any instrument Project 05 · Harmony

Harmonic Narrative

A practical method for creating and understanding harmonic progressions through expectation Project 04 · Jazz guitar

Jazz Guitar Comping

Creating direction through harmony, rhythm and the expectation framework

Harmonic analysis

Key
F major
Tonal center
F
Confidence
Medium
Chords analysed
6
ChordRoman numeralFunctionWhat it is doingConfidence
Fmaj7bIIITonicFmaj7 is bIII — the relative major of Dm. It is a tonic-side chord, and it is the usual door between the two keys.High
Em7b5iiøPredominantEm7b5 is the iiø7 of Dm: the predominant of a minor key.High
A7V7DominantA7 is the dominant of Dm. In a minor key it borrows its major third from harmonic minor — that raised note is the leading tone.High
Dm7iTonicDm7 is the tonic of Dm. It is where the progression is at rest.High
Cm7ii/IVPredominantCm7 is the ii of a secondary ii-V. Together with F7 it prepares Bb, so the pair tonicizes IV without leaving the key. Also readable as v.Medium
F7I7TonicF7 is the tonic, but built as a dominant seventh — the sound that defines the blues. The tonic keeps a b7 and stays at home anyway.High

What the analyzer found in it

Relative keyD minor

Bars 1-3 are in D minor, the relative key. The notes are the same; the center is not.

iiø - V7 - iEm7b5 - A7 - Dm7

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

ii/IV - I7Cm7 - F7

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

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

Against a tonic of F major the passage numbers as bIII – iiø – V7 – i – ii/IV – I7. Inside those 6 chords there is a complete ii-V-I. Strip it to two notes per chord, the third and the seventh, and play it under tempo. A7 gives you Db and G; follow that pair from chord to chord and the voice leading becomes audible in a way the root motion never makes it. Once you can hear it here, it is hard to miss in Autumn Leaves, All The Things You Are and Tune Up.

How the rest of Confirmation goes

Unusually for its composer and its period, this is not a contrafact — the harmony is original. The A sections run a nearly unbroken chain of ii-V pairs that keep resolving and immediately re-preparing, so there is no bar where the harmony simply sits. The bridge steps to the flat side and works its way back by the same means. The practical consequence is that there is no resting chord anywhere in the form: a soloist who plays in phrases with breathing space has to create that space against the harmony rather than with it.

Confirmation on record

Charlie Parker recorded it in 1946 and returned to it repeatedly, including with strings. Because the changes are his own rather than borrowed, the tune is often used as evidence in the long argument about how much of bebop was new composition and how much was new playing over old songs — Confirmation is the clearest case for the first position. It has since become a standard test of bebop fluency, for the same reason Tune Up tests cadence playing: the form gives you nothing to hide behind.

Analyze this progression

Load the progression and start altering it. Every edit is re-read from scratch, so you can test a hunch about one chord without rewriting the rest.

Open in Jazz Harmony Analyzer →

Related

ii-V-I

What this device is, and the other standards in the library that use it.

Read →

Secondary dominants

What this device is, and the other standards in the library that use it.

Read →

Autumn Leaves

Joseph Kosma · 1945 · B♭ major / G minor

Chord progression →

All The Things You Are

Jerome Kern · 1939 · A♭ major

Chord progression →

Tune Up

Miles Davis · 1953 · D major

Chord progression →

Jazz chord progressions

The families every standard is assembled from, with examples from the library.

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