Gregory Is Here (C minor) - Jazz Analysis & Chords

Harmonic Highlights

• The B9#11 to Cm11 movement utilizes a chromatic leading-tone dominant function, creating a sharp, “side-slipping” tension that resolves upward to the tonic minor.
• Frequent ii-V sequences, such as Am7b5–D7b9 to Gm7, demonstrate Silver’s signature method of cycling through secondary tonal centers within a minor blues-adjacent framework.
• The modulation from Bbmaj7 to Dbmaj7 via a ii-V (Ebm7–Ab7) shifts the harmony to the flat-supertonic, a hallmark of Hard Bop harmonic expansion.
• The B7#9 acts as a tritone substitute (subV/I) for F7, providing a sophisticated chromatic path to resolve into the Bbmaj7 relative major section.

Improvisation Focus

Navigating rapid tonal shifts and non-functional dominant substitutions through chord-tone targeting.

Difficulty Rating

4/5: The frequent modulations and non-diatonic dominant chords require advanced harmonic fluency and the ability to transpose patterns quickly across distant keys.