In jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

, a turnaround is a passage at the end of a section

Section (music)

In music, a section is "a complete, but not independent musical idea". Types of sections include the introduction or intro, exposition, recapitulation, verse, chorus or refrain, conclusion, coda or outro, fadeout, bridge or interlude...

 which leads to the next section. This next section is most often the repetition of the previous section or the entire piece

Piece

Piece or pieces may refer to:* A single unit of something* An informative or creative work, such as a work of art, journalism, academic research, etc.** Musical piece, a work of music, sometimes called an opus* Chess piece* Jigsaw puzzle piece...

 or song

Song

In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

.

The turnaround may lead back to this section either harmonically

Harmony

In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...

, as a chord progression

Chord progression

A chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...

, or melodically

Melody

A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...

.

Typical turnarounds

Typical turnarounds in jazz include:

• vi - ii - V - I
• V/ii - V/V - V - Iiii^o - ii⁷ - V⁷ - I
• vi - VI⁷¹¹ - V - I
• V-IV-I
  V-IV-I turnaround
  In music, the V-IV-I turnaround, or blues turnaround, is one of several cadential patterns traditionally found in the twelve-bar blues, and commonly found in rock and roll....
  
  

When used in a twelve bar blues

Twelve bar blues

The 12-bar blues is one of the most popular chord progressions in popular music, including the blues. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics and phrase and chord structure and duration...

 pattern, the twelfth bar may end on the dominant rather than the more conventional tonic.

Harmonic alternatives

Sometimes, especially in blues music, musicians will take chords which are normally minor chords and make them major. The most popular example is the I - VI - ii - V - (I) progression; normally, the vi chord would be a minor chord (min, -7, -6, -(6), etc) but here the major third allows for a more interesting modulation. Take the example in C major: C - A - d min - G (dom) . The third of the VI chord (in this case, C) allows for chromatic movement from C (the root of I) to C (the third of VI) to D (the root of ii).

Similar chromaticism and harmonic interest can be achieved by the use of a secondary dominant

Secondary dominant

Secondary dominant is an analytical label for a specific harmonic device, prevalent in the tonal idiom of Western music beginning in the common practice period...

, which are also useful for turnarounds. The simplest example is V⁷/V - V⁷ - I, instead of ii - V - I. Another popular turnaround which may be considered as a secondary dominant analysis is ii - V/V (or II) - I , which is a variation on the standard ii - V - I turnaround. In jazz parlance, use of the bII instead of the V is known as Tritone Substitution. Using bV/V instead of V allows for a smooth chromatic descent. Again, let's examine C major; the original turnaround would be d min - G (dom) - C, while the modified would be d min - D - C . The obvious chromatic movement is thorough; it is apparent in the roots (D - D - C), thirds (F - F - E; F is often used as a pedal tone), and fifths (A - A - G).

While in that particular example the V/V can be considered a Neapolitan chord

Neapolitan chord

In music theory, a Neapolitan chord is a major chord built on the lowered second scale degree. It most commonly occurs in first inversion so that it is notated either as II6 or N6 and normally referred to as a Neapolitan sixth chord...

, the more typical functional analysis in the context of the jazz idiom is that it is not a "secondary dominant" (V⁷/V) at all, but II⁷, a substitute dominant

Tritone substitution

In classical music, a substitute dominant is "a chord sufficiently akin to the dominant to be reasonably set against the tonic, and yet remote enough to give a chromatically expressive, large-scale dissonance to the structure"...

(tritone substitution). Harmonically, II⁷ functions exactly as V⁷/I does, because the two chords enharmonically contain the same tritone

Tritone

In classical music from Western culture, the tritone |tone]]) is traditionally defined as a musical interval composed of three whole tones. In a chromatic scale, each whole tone can be further divided into two semitones...

, which is the critical harmonic element in the resolution from dominant to tonic. The half-step-wise downward motion of the roots of those chords, as seen in ii - II⁷ - I, forms the familiar "line cliché", arriving satisfyingly at the tonic.

NB: "Secondary dominant" = the functional dominant of the key's dominant or another non-tonic chord, while "substitute dominant" = an alternative functional dominant of the key's tonic. The extending of dominants to secondaries (or beyond) is a practice which remains firmly inside the circle of fifths, while the substitution of dominants replaces that cycle with one of minor-second intervals.

I-vi-ii-V may be transformed through various chord substitutions. For example, the vi and ii chords may be substituted with dominant chords, giving I-VI⁷-II⁷-V or C-A⁷-D⁷-G, the Ragtime progression

Ragtime progression

The ragtime progression is a chord progression typical of ragtime music and parlour music genres though its use originated in classical music and spread to American folk music:and its close variants.In C major this is:...

. The tritone substitution may be applied to the vi and V chords, giving C-E⁷-D⁷-D⁷, or to every chord but the I, giving C-E⁷-A^M7-D⁷.

Creative potential

The number of possibilities when one creates turnarounds is endless; an easy way to "stretch a buck"
when implementing turnarounds is to use chord substitution

Chord substitution

In music theory, chord substitution is the use of a chord in the place of another related chord in a chord progression. Jazz musicians often substitute chords in the original progression to create variety and add interest to a piece. The substitute chord must have some harmonic quality and degree...

. For example, one can switch out chords from the same type or area; replacing tonics with other tonic area chords (iii for I is especially popular, and vi for I is often used as a false cadence

Cadence (music)

In Western musical theory, a cadence is, "a melodic or harmonic configuration that creates a sense of repose or resolution [finality or pause]." A harmonic cadence is a progression of two chords that concludes a phrase, section, or piece of music...

), subdominants with other subdominant-area chords (ii for IV), and all varieties of functional dominants for dominants (vii^o for V). Another simple and common way to bring harmonic and melodic contrast to a turnaround is with extended and/or altered chord degrees, for example, ii⁹ - V⁷⁵¹³ - I^M7,⁹

With a certain amount of taste and pragmatism, secondary and substitute dominants and subdominants can be chained together virtually endlessly to create long line clichés, or to tritone-shift chord roots essentially at will for variety. One can push the extension as far around the cycle of fifths as one wants, to a point where it ceases to have musical appeal or yields a progression far too long for the number of beats or bars in the turnaround. A classic "inside" example of extended secondary dominants and subdominants is iii - VI⁷ - ii - V⁷ - I. Examples which may replace that include iii - III⁷ - ii - II⁷ - I, which replaces the dominants with their tritone substitutes, and vii - VI⁷ - vi - V⁷ - I, which replaces the subdominants with their tritone substitutes and moves the half-step-wise descending line cliche away from the tonic without sacrificing the ultimate resolution to tonic. At the "outside" fringe, the harmonic logic of tritone substitution makes radical root choices possible in a way which still honors the original harmony of a particular convention or a given composition. For example, Ornette Coleman

Ornette Coleman

Ornette Coleman is an American saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter and composer. He was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s....

 sometimes played the blues or standards on entirely "outside" scales based on all of the tritone substitutes and/or other reharmonizations, only to ironically return to the "inside" of the song's actual key for the turnaround.

Beyond the described various functional substitutions, secondary-and-further chord choices, and chord colorations via extension, turnarounds can take the form of complete reharmonization

Reharmonization

In music, reharmonization refers to the technique of taking an existing melodic line and altering the harmony which accompanies it. Typically, a melody is reharmonized to provide musical interest or variety...

 of a section of a song.

See also

• Approach chord
  Approach chord
  In music, an approach chord is a chord one half-step higher or lower than the goal, especially in the context of turnarounds and cycle-of-fourths progressions, for example the two bar 50s progression: |G Em |Am D7 ||may be filled in with approach chords: |G F9 Em Abm |Am D#7 D7 Gb7...
  
  
• Backdoor progression
  Backdoor progression
  In jazz and jazz harmony, the chord progression from iv7 to VII7 to I has been nicknamed the backdoor progression or the backdoor ii-V. This name derives from an assumption that the normal progression to the tonic, the ii-V-I turnaround is, by inference, the front door...
  
  
• Montgomery-Ward bridge
  Montgomery-Ward bridge
  In jazz music, the Montgomery-Ward bridge is a standard chord progression often used as the bridge, or 'B section,' of a jazz standard. The progression consists, in its most basic form, of the chords I7 - IV7 - ii7 - V7. Oftentimes, some or all of the dominants are substituted with ii-V...
  
  
• Passing chord
  Passing chord
  In music, a passing chord is, "a nondiatonic chord that connects, or passes between, the notes of two diatonic chords." "Any chord that moves between one diatonic chord and another one nearby may be loosely termed a passing chord...
  
  
• Tadd Dameron turnaround
  Tadd Dameron turnaround
  In jazz, the Tadd Dameron turnaround, named for Tadd Dameron, "is a very common turnaround in the jazz idiom", derived from a typical I−vi−ii−V turnaround through the application of tritone substitution of all but the first chord, thus yielding, in C major:...