Out of Nowhere Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Chord progression

Analyzed excerpt

Section: A · Bars 1–5

Gmaj7 | Gmaj7 | Bbm7 | Eb7 | Gmaj7

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

G major

Tonal center

G

Confidence

High

Chords analysed

5

Chord	Roman numeral	Function	What it is doing	Confidence
Gmaj7	I	Tonic	Gmaj7 is the tonic of G. It is where the progression is at rest.	High
Gmaj7	I	Tonic	Gmaj7 is the tonic of G. It is where the progression is at rest.	High
Bbm7	biii	Other	Bbm7 does not take a functional role in G. It sits on bIII and is best heard as colour, or as a sign that the tonal center has moved.	Low
Eb7	subV7/V	Dominant	Eb7 is a tritone substitute — subV7/V. It carries the same tritone as A7, the real dominant of D, but resolves down a semitone instead of down a fifth.	Low
Gmaj7	I	Tonic	Gmaj7 is the tonic of G. 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

Read in G major, these bars come out as I – biii – subV7/V. Inside those 5 chords there is a tritone substitute and a chord borrowed from the parallel mode. The shortest way in is a two-voice reduction: third and seventh only, slowly. Eb7 contributes G and C#, and where that pair resolves is the whole story of the passage. You will meet the same move again in Blues for Alice, All Blues and So What, transposed and at a different pace.

How the rest of Out of Nowhere goes

A thirty-two-bar song built around a single recurring gesture: the tonic is established, then a chord borrowed from a distant place appears without preparation, and the harmony works its way back. That borrowed sonority arriving out of nowhere is what the title describes and what the piece is for. The rest of the form is conventional, and the contrast between the conventional surroundings and the one unprepared arrival is the entire effect.

Out of Nowhere on record

Johnny Green wrote it in 1931, the year after Body and Soul, with a lyric by Edward Heyman. Charlie Parker used its changes for “Ornithology”-era material and recorded the tune itself several times; Coleman Hawkins and Lester Young both left readings that are studied as a contrast in approach to the same borrowed chord.

Analyze this progression

The excerpt is loaded and editable. Swap a chord for its tritone substitute, delete the preparation, borrow one from the parallel minor, and watch which numerals change and which do not.

Open in Jazz Harmony Analyzer →

Out of Nowhere — 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 Out of Nowhere goes

Out of Nowhere on record

Analyze this progression

Related

Tritone substitution

Modal interchange

Blues for Alice

All Blues

So What

Jazz chord progressions