Jinrikisha (F minor) - Jazz Analysis & Chords

Chord Distribution Analysis

No obvious ii-V patterns detected.

Harmonic Highlights

• Employs a descending sequence of non-functional Maj7#11 and dominant sus chords, creating a shifting modal landscape rather than standard functional cadences.
• Utilizes “constant structure” motion, where identical chord qualities move by step or tritone, characteristic of Joe Henderson’s modern post-bop vocabulary.
• The Dbmaj7#11 to C9sus movement functions as a modal bVI to V in F minor, emphasizing Lydian and Mixolydian-Sus colors.
• Features unconventional resolutions, such as the tritone-related shift to Gbmaj7#11, which avoids traditional circle-of-fifths movement.

Improvisation Focus Lydian and Mixolydian-Sus modal shifts across chromatic root movements.

Difficulty Rating 4 (Advanced) because the lack of standard ii-V-I progressions and the presence of non-diatonic shifts require high-level modal fluency and sophisticated melodic transposition.