St. Thomas Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Chord progression

Analyzed excerpt

Section: A1–A2 · Bars 1–8

C | C | G7 | C | C | C | G7 | C

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

High

Chords analysed

8

Chord	Roman numeral	Function	What it is doing	Confidence
C	I	Tonic	C is the tonic of C. It is where the progression is at rest.	High
C	I	Tonic	C is the tonic of C. It is where the progression is at rest.	High
G7	V7	Dominant	G7 is the dominant of C. Its third and seventh form a tritone, and that tritone is what makes the tonic feel due.	High
C	I	Tonic	C is the tonic of C. It is where the progression is at rest.	High
C	I	Tonic	C is the tonic of C. It is where the progression is at rest.	High
C	I	Tonic	C is the tonic of C. It is where the progression is at rest.	High
G7	V7	Dominant	G7 is the dominant of C. Its third and seventh form a tritone, and that tritone is what makes the tonic feel due.	High
C	I	Tonic	C is the tonic of C. It is where the progression is at rest.	High

What the analyzer found in it

V - IG7 - C

The progression closes with an authentic cadence in C.

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

Numbered against C major, the excerpt is I – V7. 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. Take the roots away and keep the third and seventh. In G7 that is B and F. Those two notes decide where the progression is going, and hearing them move is worth more than naming the chords. 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 St. Thomas goes

A sixteen-bar form built on the plainest harmony in the book — tonic, dominant, and very little else — set to a calypso rhythm that is the entire point of the piece. The chords exist to stay out of the way. What has to be right is the rhythmic placement, which is specific and does not survive being played as straight swing, and the tune is a good test of whether a rhythm section can hold a feel that is neither swing nor straight eighths.

St. Thomas on record

Sonny Rollins recorded it in 1956 on Saxophone Colossus and is credited as composer, though he has said the melody came from a folk tune his mother sang — his family was from the Virgin Islands. The recording is one of the most widely known in jazz, and the drum solo on it is studied as often as the saxophone playing.

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.

Open in Jazz Harmony Analyzer →

St. Thomas — Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Chord progression

The books behind this page

Jazz Harmony

Harmonic Narrative

Jazz Guitar Comping

Harmonic analysis

What the analyzer found in it

Why this example matters

How the rest of St. Thomas goes

St. Thomas on record

Analyze this progression

Related

Roman numeral analysis

Now’s the Time

Billie’s Bounce

Straight, No Chaser

Jazz chord progressions