I Remember Clifford Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Chord progression

Analyzed excerpt

Section: A1 · Bars 1–4

Ebmaj7 G7 | Abmaj7 Adim7 | Bb7 Bdim7 | Cm7

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.

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Start here Project 03 · Harmony

Play I Remember Clifford 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

E♭ major

Tonal center

Eb

Confidence

Low

Chords analysed

7

Read in E♭ major, the key of the tune. Taken on its own, with nothing around it, this excerpt is just as easy to hear in C minor — 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
Ebmaj7	I	Tonic	Ebmaj7 is the tonic of Eb. It is where the progression is at rest.	High
G7	V7/vi	Dominant	G7 is functioning as V7/vi: 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 vi instead.	Low
Abmaj7	IV	Predominant	Abmaj7 is the IV chord of Eb: subdominant. It moves away from the tonic without creating the pull of a dominant.	High
Adim7	vii°7/V	Dominant	Adim7 is a leading-tone diminished seventh resolving to Bb7. It is F7 with the root removed and a b9 in its place, which is why it pulls like a dominant. Also readable as #iv°7.	Medium
Bb7	V7	Dominant	Bb7 is the dominant of Eb. Its third and seventh form a tritone, and that tritone is what makes the tonic feel due.	High
Bdim7	vii°7/vi	Dominant	Bdim7 is a leading-tone diminished seventh resolving to Cm7. It is G7 with the root removed and a b9 in its place, which is why it pulls like a dominant. Also readable as bvi°7.	Medium
Cm7	vi	Tonic	Cm7 is the vi chord — the relative minor. It shares three notes with the tonic and often replaces it.	High

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 I Remember Clifford — 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

Against a tonic of E♭ major the passage numbers as I – V7/vi – IV – vii°7/V – V7 – vii°7/vi – vi. Inside those 7 chords there is at least one secondary dominant and a diminished chord used as a connector. Strip it to two notes per chord, the third and the seventh, and play it under tempo. G7 gives you B and F; 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 Stella by Starlight, How High the Moon and Ornithology.

How the rest of I Remember Clifford goes

Thirty-two bars, AABA, usually preceded by a short written introduction. The A section is the excerpt’s chromatic climb in the bass, followed by a chain of secondary ii–Vs; the bridge is a series of minor ii–Vs that delays the return of the tonic as long as possible. The density of the changes is high for a ballad, which is why it is often played slowly enough for every passing chord to register.

I Remember Clifford on record

Benny Golson wrote it in 1956 after the death of Clifford Brown, who was killed in a car accident at twenty-five. Lee Morgan recorded it in 1957 and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, with Golson and Morgan, played it often; it became the standard jazz elegy, and a lyric was later added by Jon Hendricks.

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I Remember Clifford — Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Chord progression

The books behind this page

Jazz Harmony

The Jazz Guitar Shortcut

Harmonic Narrative

The Jazz Roadmap Lite

Play I Remember Clifford in JamShed

Harmonic analysis

Why this example matters

How the rest of I Remember Clifford goes

I Remember Clifford on record

Analyze this progression

Related

Secondary dominants

Stella by Starlight

How High the Moon

Ornithology

Jazz chord progressions