Nica’s Dream Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Chord progression

Analyzed excerpt

Section: A1 · Bars 1–4

Bbm(maj7) | Bbm(maj7) | Abm(maj7) | Abm(maj7)

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 Nica’s Dream 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

B♭ minor

Tonal center

Bb

Confidence

Low

Chords analysed

4

Read in B♭ minor, the key of the tune. Taken on its own, with nothing around it, this excerpt is just as easy to hear in A♭ 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
Bbm(maj7)	i	Tonic	Bbm(maj7) is a minor tonic with a major seventh — the melodic minor tonic. The leading tone is inside the tonic chord itself.	High
Bbm(maj7)	i	Tonic	Bbm(maj7) is a minor tonic with a major seventh — the melodic minor tonic. The leading tone is inside the tonic chord itself.	High
Abm(maj7)	bvii	Other	Abm(maj7) does not take a functional role in Bbm. It sits on bVII and is best heard as colour, or as a sign that the tonal center has moved.	Low
Abm(maj7)	bvii	Other	Abm(maj7) does not take a functional role in Bbm. It sits on bVII 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 Nica’s Dream — 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 B♭ minor, the excerpt is i – bvii. There is no substitution and no borrowing in it at all, which is exactly why it is worth playing: it is the sound the substitutions are substituting for. Play it slowly and hold each chord until you can sing the note that wants to move. In a progression with no dominant, that note is what carries the phrase. 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 Nica’s Dream goes

Long latin A sections built on minor-major seventh chords a whole step apart, B♭ and A♭, followed by a chain of ii–Vs to G♭ and a pair of augmented dominants back to the tonic. The bridge switches to swing, over suspended and ordinary dominants moving around the cycle toward D♭. The change of feel at the bridge is part of the composition, not an arranging choice.

Nica’s Dream on record

Horace Silver named it for the Baroness Pannonica de Koenigswarter, patron and friend of many bebop musicians. It was recorded by the Jazz Messengers in 1956 and by Silver’s own quintet on Horace-Scope (1960), and it is one of his most played compositions.

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.

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Nica’s Dream — Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Chord progression

The books behind this page

Jazz Harmony

The Jazz Guitar Shortcut

Harmonic Narrative

The Jazz Roadmap Lite

Play Nica’s Dream in JamShed

Harmonic analysis

Why this example matters

How the rest of Nica’s Dream goes

Nica’s Dream on record

Analyze this progression

Related

Roman numeral analysis

Now’s the Time

Billie’s Bounce

Straight, No Chaser

Jazz chord progressions