When reharmonizing, the primary concern is the melody. The C9 is m.5 is a
bad choice only because the melody contains a strong B natural. Otherwise,
Gmaj7 - C9 - Bm sounds OK.
I heard a lot of people come up with interesting harmony that, by itself
sounds good, but doesn't actual serve the melody like it should. I heard
one pianist/arranger work with a singer trying to get her to change the
melody of a great standard to fit his harmonization. A case of cool
chords/bad arrangement. It doesn't always work that way. Sometimes cool
chords give the arrangement a real lift. But remember, sometimes
simplifying the harmony with a pedal or removing tons os passing chords can
really make a strong musical statement.
I am including Bill Evans' changes to But Beautiful transposed to G for
this discussion. He recorded it in Db on the CD Since We Met.
In mm.1 and 5 he uses the Cmaj7 instead of the C9. The second chorus he
uses the C9 in m.17 but still uses the Cmaj7 in m.21. In m.3 he uses the
Bm7b5, but substitutes an F9 in m.18. Some alternate changes he imposes
over the second chorus are shown above in parentheses. The Bbm-Eb7 is a
side-slip up a half step to the key of Ab and then back down to the key of
G.
( Am7 (Bbm7 Eb7| Am7 D7 )
|Gma7 Cmaj7 | Bm7b5 E7 | Am7b5 Am7 | D7sus D7 |
|Bm7 Cmaj7 | F9#11 E74-3| A9 | |
|D9sus D7 | Gmaj7 Em7 | Am7 D7 | Gma7 B7|
(Bbm7 Eb7 (Am7 D7 )
|Em (B7) | Em7 A7 | Am7 | D7 |
|Gma7 C9 | F9 E7 | Am7b5 Am7 | D7sus D7 |
|G Cmaj7 | F9#11 E74-3| A9 | |
|D9sus B7/D#| Em7 G7 | Cmaj7 B7 | Em7 F9 |
(Bbm7 Eb7 (Am7 D7 )
|G/D Em7 E7| Am7 D7 | G Em7 E7| Am7 D7 |
_______________________________________
Bert Ligon
Director of Jazz Studies
_______________________________________
School of Music
University of South Carolina
Columbia, SC 29208
Voice: (803) 777-6565
Fax: (803) 777-2151
http://www.music.sc.edu/Departments/Jazz/
bligon@mozart.sc.edu
_______________________________________