Basic ii-V-I
Full page: ii-V-I (the Jazz Cadence) →ii7 — V7 — Imaj7
The most fundamental jazz progression
Genre
Jazz chord progressions
America's classical music featuring complex harmony and improvisation
What makes it sound like this
Harmonic fingerprints.
- ii-V-I progressions
- Altered dominants
- Extended chords
- Tritone substitutions
Where it lives
Common keys.
The tonal centres jazz keeps coming back to — usually because they sit well on the instruments the style was built on. Each key page carries its full diatonic chord set, and links its relative minor for the darker corners of the genre.
5 progressions
The changes jazz runs on.
Written in roman numerals, then spelled out in the key of C. Every chord links to its own page; where the pattern has a full progression page of its own, that link is on the card.
Rhythm Changes A
Full page: I-vi-ii-V →Imaj7 — vi7 — ii7 — V7
Based on "I Got Rhythm" changes
Bird Blues
I7 — IV7 — I7 — V7/ii — ii7 — V7 — I7
Charlie Parker blues changes
Modal Jazz Vamp
i7 — i7
Single chord modal exploration
Coltrane Changes
Imaj7 — V7/VI — VImaj7 — V7/III — IIImaj7 — V7 — Imaj7
Giant Steps progression
Go deeper
Progression pages filed under jazz.
Each one is realized in all fifteen keys of its mode, with audio and the songs that use it.
ii-V-I-VI (Turnaround)
ii — V — I — VI
The classic jazz turnaround.
Rhythm Changes (32-bar AABA)
I — vi — ii — V — I — vi — ii — V
The Gershwin AABA form; basis of bebop heads.
Coltrane Changes (Major-3rd Cycles)
I — ♭III — V — VII — II
Symmetric major-third tonal centers; Giant Steps.
ii°-V-i (Minor ii-V-i)
iiø — V — i
The minor-key version of ii-V-I.
vi-ii-V-I (Circle of Fifths)
vi — ii — V — I
Walks down by fifths into the tonic.
Vocabulary
The chords that define the sound.
Not just which qualities jazz reaches for, but those qualities built on the roots the genre actually plays in. Every chord links to its shapes, audio, and voice-leading notes.