Speak Like A Child (Bb minor) - Jazz Analysis & Chords

Harmonic Highlights

• Utilizes “floating” sus chords (Ab13sus, Eb9sus) that avoid traditional functional resolutions, creating an impressionistic landscape typical of Hancock’s post-bop style.
• Employs frequent altered dominants (C#7alt, G7alt) as non-functional color shifts rather than standard V-I cadences, requiring constant tonal tracking.
• Features chromatic mediant relationships and sudden shifts between unrelated tonal centers, such as moving from Bb7#5 to Bbm9.
• Uses Gbmaj7#11 and Gb07 to create a sophisticated, dark Lydian/Symmetrical diminished texture within the Bb minor context.

Improvisation Focus Melodic Minor modes (specifically Altered and Lydian Dominant scales) to navigate the dense, non-functional dominant extensions.

Difficulty Rating 4/5: The absence of standard ii-V-I progressions and the prevalence of non-resolving suspended chords require advanced modal fluidity and melodic sensitivity.