How Insensitive Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Chord progression

Analyzed excerpt

Bars 1–12 · each symbol lasts two bars

Dm | C#dim7 | Cm6 | G7/B | Bbmaj7 | Ebmaj7

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.

See all the books

Start here Project 03 · Harmony

Play How Insensitive in JamShed

The whole form, not just these bars: JamShed’s trio — double bass, drums and piano — plays it with you at the tempo and in the key you choose. Loop the bars that trip you up, mute the instrument you play, share the link.

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Harmonic analysis

Key

D minor

Tonal center

D

Confidence

Low

Chords analysed

6

Read in D minor, the key of the tune. Taken on its own, with nothing around it, this excerpt is just as easy to hear in B♭ major — a few bars are often not enough to fix a tonic, and that ambiguity is a real property of the music rather than a gap in the analysis.

Chord	Roman numeral	Function	What it is doing	Confidence
Dm	i	Tonic	Dm is the tonic of Dm. It is where the progression is at rest.	High
C#dim7	vii°	Dominant	C#dim7 is the diminished seventh on the leading tone of Dm: the dominant with its root replaced by a b9.	High
Cm6	bvii	Other	Cm6 does not take a functional role in Dm. It sits on bVII and is best heard as colour, or as a sign that the tonal center has moved.	Low
G7/B	V7/bVII	Dominant	G7/B is functioning as V7/bVII: 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 bVII instead. Also readable as IV7.	Low
Bbmaj7	bVI	Predominant	Bbmaj7 is bVI of Dm, a predominant on the sixth degree of natural minor.	High
Ebmaj7	bII	Other	Ebmaj7 does not take a functional role in Dm. It sits on bII and is best heard as colour, or as a sign that the tonal center has moved.	Low

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 →

The complete analysis of How Insensitive — every chord of the whole form, with its Roman numeral and its ii–V–Is marked on the chart — is in JamShed with the Practice Pass, ready to print. Open it in JamShed →

Why this example matters

Numbered against D minor, the excerpt is i – vii° – bvii – V7/bVII – bVI – bII. Inside those 6 chords there is at least one secondary dominant. Take the roots away and keep the third and seventh. In G7/B that is B and F. Those two notes decide where the progression is going, and hearing them move is worth more than naming the chords. Now’s the Time, Billie’s Bounce and Straight, No Chaser use the same device, which is the argument for learning it once properly rather than three times by accident.

How the rest of How Insensitive goes

Thirty-two bars, with each chord held for two bars over most of the form. The first half is the excerpt’s descending bass; the second half reaches B♭ again by a different route and closes with a chromatic ii–V into D minor. The harmony moves so slowly that the melody, which barely moves at all, can sit on the same notes while their meaning changes underneath.

How Insensitive on record

Jobim wrote it with Vinícius de Moraes (“Insensatez”); its harmony is often compared with Chopin’s Prelude in E minor, Op. 28 No. 4, which also sets a nearly static melody over a slowly descending chromatic bass. Frank Sinatra recorded it with Jobim in 1967, and it has been part of the bossa repertoire of jazz players ever since.

Analyze this progression

Open these chords in the analyzer and change them. Move one chord, substitute a dominant, take the ii away — the reading updates and tells you what you just did.

Open in Jazz Harmony Analyzer →

How Insensitive — Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Chord progression

The books behind this page

Jazz Harmony

The Jazz Guitar Shortcut

Harmonic Narrative

The Jazz Roadmap Lite

Play How Insensitive in JamShed

Harmonic analysis

Why this example matters

How the rest of How Insensitive goes

How Insensitive on record

Analyze this progression

Related

Secondary dominants

Roman numeral analysis

Now’s the Time

Billie’s Bounce

Straight, No Chaser

Jazz chord progressions