Stella by Starlight Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Chord progression

Analyzed excerpt

Section: A · Bars 1–4

Em7b5 | A7 | Cm7 | F7

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

Bb major

Tonal center

Bb

Confidence

Medium

Chords analysed

4

Chord	Roman numeral	Function	What it is doing	Confidence
Em7b5	iiø/iii	Predominant	Em7b5 is the ii of a secondary ii-V. Together with A7 it prepares D, so the pair tonicizes iii without leaving the key.	Medium
A7	V7/iii	Dominant	A7 is functioning as V7/iii: a secondary dominant. It is the dominant of D, not of the home key, so it borrows the pull of a V-I and points it at iii instead.	Low
Cm7	ii	Predominant	Cm7 is the ii chord of Bb: the classic predominant. It prepares the dominant and almost always moves to it.	High
F7	V7	Dominant	F7 is the dominant of Bb. Its third and seventh form a tritone, and that tritone is what makes the tonic feel due.	High

What the analyzer found in it

iiø/iii - V7/iiiEm7b5 - A7

A ii-V pointing at D, which never arrives. The preparation is complete, the resolution is not.

ii - V7Cm7 - F7

A ii-V pointing at Bb, which never arrives. The preparation is complete, the resolution is not.

half cadenceF7

The progression stops on the dominant of Bb — a half cadence. It is unfinished on purpose.

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 Bb major the excerpt reads iiø/iii – V7/iii – ii – V7. Inside those 4 chords there is a ii-V that is left unresolved and at least one secondary dominant. Play it slowly with only two voices — the third and seventh of each chord. In A7 those are Db and G, and watching where that pair goes next tells you more about the progression than the root movement does. The same device turns up in Autumn Leaves, All The Things You Are and Tune Up, in other keys and at other tempos.

How the rest of Stella by Starlight goes

The excerpt shows the problem the whole tune poses: two complete preparations and one arrival, with the first cadence abandoned before it resolves. That pattern does not let up. Almost every chord in the thirty-two bars is functioning as a ii or a V of somewhere, and the tonic B♭ is withheld until the final bars, so the piece is essentially one long delayed cadence. It is also the standard where the printed sources disagree most: the harmony most players use descends from the Miles Davis quintet’s reworking rather than from Victor Young’s sheet, and calling it at a session without agreeing on which changes you mean is a reliable way to start an argument.

Stella by Starlight on record

Victor Young wrote it for the 1944 film The Uninvited, a ghost story, and Ned Washington added the lyric afterwards, which is why the words fit the melody less snugly than in a song written as a song. Miles Davis played it for two decades; the version on My Funny Valentine, recorded live in 1964, is the one that fixed the modern harmony in place. Bill Evans and Stan Getz both recorded readings that treat the ambiguity as the subject rather than as an obstacle.

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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Stella by Starlight — 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 Stella by Starlight goes

Stella by Starlight on record

Analyze this progression

Related

ii-V-I

Secondary dominants

Autumn Leaves

All The Things You Are

Tune Up

Jazz chord progressions