I think Bach knew about them and certainly Chopin used them everywhere.
In this situation, I can see the point of seeing the Ab7 as essentially
a bVI7 in C (which is a borrowed chord from C [harmonic] minor).
So essentially then we have bVI7->V7->ivm->I with some appropriate
approach chords.
A similar move occurs in the beginning of "Well Be Together Again".
<snip>>
>
>In the edited discussion of Stella, reed says
>
>>In fact despite all this, the Emi7b7 to A7 still functions as a
>>Dbdim7 chord which naturally can move to Cmi7, which is the next
>>chord.
>
>Actually, Cm7 is one of four chords I would expect to not come after
>Dbdim7, since it is neither a viidim7 of C nor an irregular resolution
>(Cdim to Cm). It works in Someday My Prince as a passing chord, but in
>Stella it must be doing something else.
>
Your snippet is somewhat removed from the larger context of what
I was explaining (The Dbdim7 chord is more strongly analyzed as
Bbdim7 with the whole first 8 bars being a sort of delayed resoltuion of
Bbdim7->Bb) but in any case ....
That chord progression (biiidim7 -> iim7->V7 ...)doesnt occur in classical
music but it occurs not too infrequently in american popular music.
The most famous example is the beginning of "Embraceable You" by
Gershwin.
I -> biiidim7 -> iim7 -> V7.
reed
Reed Kotler
reed@justjazz.com
http://www.justjazz.com