On Green Dolphin Street Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Chord progression

Analyzed excerpt Valid harmonic variant

Section: A1 · Bars 1–8

Bars 5–6 read as a chromatic pair over the pedal. Simplified charts print D♭maj7 across both bars and drop the C bass; the pedal is the point, so it is kept here.

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

C major

Tonal center

C

Confidence

Medium

Chords analysed

8

Chord	Roman numeral	Function	What it is doing	Confidence
Cmaj7	I	Tonic	Cmaj7 is the tonic of C. It is where the progression is at rest.	High
Cmaj7	I	Tonic	Cmaj7 is the tonic of C. It is where the progression is at rest.	High
Cm7	i	Tonic	Cm7 is a minor tonic in a major key: the same center, the other mode.	Low
Cm7	i	Tonic	Cm7 is a minor tonic in a major key: the same center, the other mode.	Low
D7/C	V7/V	Dominant	D7/C is functioning as V7/V: a secondary dominant. It is the dominant of G, not of the home key, so it borrows the pull of a V-I and points it at V instead.	Low
Dbmaj7/C	bII	Chromatic	Dbmaj7/C approaches Cmaj7 chromatically from above, keeping the same chord shape. The motion is voice leading, not function.	Low
Cmaj7	I	Tonic	Cmaj7 is the tonic of C. It is where the progression is at rest.	High
Cmaj7	I	Tonic	Cmaj7 is the tonic of C. It is where the progression is at rest.	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 C major the excerpt reads I – i – V7/V – bII. Inside those 8 chords there is at least one secondary dominant and a chord borrowed from the parallel mode. Play it slowly with only two voices — the third and seventh of each chord. In D7/C those are Gb and C, and watching where that pair goes next tells you more about the progression than the root movement does. 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 On Green Dolphin Street goes

The tune has two distinct harmonic worlds and alternates between them. The first is static — the bass holds while chords shift above it, borrowed from the parallel minor and back, so the colour changes without the harmony moving anywhere. The second is the opposite: a run of ordinary ii-V cadences that travel. A performance lives or dies on how clearly the band marks the boundary between the two, and the standard arrangement makes it explicit by changing the rhythmic feel at exactly that point.

On Green Dolphin Street on record

Bronisław Kaper wrote it in 1947 for a film now remembered mainly for having given the tune its name. Miles Davis recorded it in 1958 with the sextet, and that arrangement — Latin feel on the static section, swing on the moving one — became so standard that most players assume it is part of the composition. It is not; it is Davis’s.

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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On Green Dolphin Street — 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 On Green Dolphin Street goes

On Green Dolphin Street on record

Analyze this progression

Related

Secondary dominants

Tritone substitution

Modal interchange

Blues for Alice

All Blues

So What

Jazz chord progressions