Naima Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Chord progression

Analyzed excerpt

Section: A1 · Bars 1–4

Bbm7/Eb | Ebm9 | Amaj7/Eb Gmaj7/Eb | Abmaj7/Eb

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 Naima 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

A♭ major

Tonal center

Ab

Confidence

High

Chords analysed

5

Chord	Roman numeral	Function	What it is doing	Confidence
Bbm7/Eb	ii	Predominant	Bbm7/Eb is the ii chord of Ab: the classic predominant. It prepares the dominant and almost always moves to it.	High
Ebm9	v	Dominant	Ebm9 is a minor v: the dominant degree without a leading tone. It comes from the mode, not from functional harmony, and it does not pull.	Low
Amaj7/Eb	bII	Modal interchange	Amaj7/Eb is bII — the Neapolitan. Borrowed harmony a semitone above the tonic, usually on its way to the dominant.	Low
Gmaj7/Eb	VII	Chromatic	Gmaj7/Eb approaches Abmaj7/Eb chromatically from below, keeping the same chord shape. The motion is voice leading, not function.	Low
Abmaj7/Eb	I	Tonic	Abmaj7/Eb is the tonic of Ab. It is where the progression is at rest.	High

What the analyzer found in it

modal interchangeAmaj7/Eb

Modal interchange: Amaj7/Eb come from the parallel mode of Ab, not from the key itself.

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 Naima — 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

In A♭ major the excerpt reads ii – v – bII – VII – I. Inside those 5 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 Now’s the Time, Billie’s Bounce and Straight, No Chaser, in other keys and at other tempos.

How the rest of Naima goes

Short A sections over an E♭ pedal, where the chords above the bass move freely — B♭ minor, E♭ minor, A major seventh, G major seventh, A♭ major seventh — while the bass does not move at all. The bridge changes pedal to B♭ and alternates B major seventh with a B♭ dominant, then the last A returns. The pedal turns what would be a disorienting string of keys into a calm, suspended sound.

Naima on record

John Coltrane named it for his wife, Juanita Naima Grubbs, and recorded it in 1959 for Giant Steps (released in 1960). He kept playing it for the rest of his life, and the later live versions stretch the ballad into long modal improvisations over the pedal.

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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Naima — Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Chord progression

The books behind this page

Jazz Harmony

The Jazz Guitar Shortcut

Harmonic Narrative

The Jazz Roadmap Lite

Play Naima in JamShed

Harmonic analysis

What the analyzer found in it

Why this example matters

How the rest of Naima goes

Naima on record

Analyze this progression

Related

Modal interchange

Tritone substitution

Roman numeral analysis

Now’s the Time

Billie’s Bounce

Straight, No Chaser

Jazz chord progressions