In a Sentimental Mood Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Chord progression

Analyzed excerpt

Section: A1 · Bars 1–4 · two chords per bar

Dm | Dm(maj7) | Dm7 | Dm6 | Gm | Gm(maj7) | Gm7 | Gm6

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

D minor

Tonal center

D

Confidence

Medium

Chords analysed

8

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
Dm(maj7)	i	Tonic	Dm(maj7) is a minor tonic with a major seventh — the melodic minor tonic. The leading tone is inside the tonic chord itself.	High
Dm7	i	Tonic	Dm7 is the tonic of Dm. It is where the progression is at rest.	High
Dm6	i	Tonic	Dm6 is the tonic of Dm. It is where the progression is at rest.	High
Gm	iv	Predominant	Gm is the iv chord of Dm: the minor subdominant.	High
Gm(maj7)	iv	Other	Gm(maj7) does not take a functional role in Dm. It sits on IV and is best heard as colour, or as a sign that the tonal center has moved.	Low
Gm7	iv	Predominant	Gm7 is the iv chord of Dm: the minor subdominant.	High
Gm6	iv	Predominant	Gm6 is the iv chord of Dm: the minor subdominant.	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 →

Why this example matters

In D minor the excerpt reads i – iv. Inside those 8 chords there is a chord borrowed from the parallel mode. With no dominant anywhere in it, nothing is obliged to resolve. Hold each chord until you find the note that still wants to go somewhere — that one is doing the work here. The same device turns up in Blues for Alice, All Blues and So What, in other keys and at other tempos.

How the rest of In a Sentimental Mood goes

The A sections are in minor and move through a descending line similar in principle to My Funny Valentine, but the bridge does something unusual for its date: it shifts to a distant key and stays there for its full eight bars, treating the new key as a place rather than as a passing destination. That gives the tune a two-part character, dark then bright, that most ballads of the period achieve more gradually if at all.

In a Sentimental Mood on record

Duke Ellington recorded it in 1935. The version most people know is from thirty years later: the 1962 duet album with John Coltrane, where the tempo is slower and the harmony is left much more open than in the original arrangement. That record is one of the very few successful meetings between musicians of different generations in this music, and this track is the reason it is remembered.

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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In a Sentimental Mood — Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Chord progression

The books behind this page

Jazz Harmony

Harmonic Narrative

Jazz Guitar Comping

Harmonic analysis

Why this example matters

How the rest of In a Sentimental Mood goes

In a Sentimental Mood on record

Analyze this progression

Related

Modal interchange

Blues for Alice

All Blues

So What

Jazz chord progressions