ABSTRACT
Even though 2^ in the bass does not support a ii7 chord, the design of the bass voice seems to imply a ii7-V7-Imaj7 progression. A similar treatment of the dominant 7th, yet with an idiomatic use of chordal inversions, occurred in the Swing Era with one notable exception. The structure of V7-I was infused with various kinds of diminished 7th chord, as demonstrated in Figure 6.2.1
Harmonic expansions such as this one ultimately led to the explosion of chromaticism during the Bebop Era. By the 1940s, the ii7-V7-Imaj7 progression was fully formed and commonly implemented. In addition, intricate chromatic variants began to infiltrate the structure of harmonic progressions, making improvisation more challenging. What is remarkable about Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie, and other artists from that period is that they showed endless creativity in negotiating and utilizing the major and minor versions of the II-V-I progression.2 As the Post-Bop Era rolled in, artists such as Miles Davis, Horace Silver, Lennie Tristano, and many others found new and
ingenious ways to implement the progression in their music.3 One of the most radical transformations of the progression, however, occurred in the late 1950s in the creative mind of John Coltrane.4 His experiments with symmetrical intervallic cycles led to the development of so-called “Coltrane” substitutions.5
