musical thoughts

I originally posted this analysis in response to a question on a music forum. The question amounted to “how do you improvise over Dolphin Dance?” This is how I do it at least. I try to keep in mind how the song is constructed and so play something true to the original conception, versus a series of chord changes that may not seem to relate at all.

I guess I’ll start off with the assumption that you have the correct chord changes–the real book version is slightly off in a couple places. I can show you those if you like. Let’s call Eb Maj tonic.

For me there are several very interesting things about this song, the first one being the I - Vmi chord movement in the first phrase (Eb Maj - Bb mi). A minor dominant is just outrageous, so right away you’re off-balance, harmonically.

Okay, then we proceed to set up the relative minor with a minor ii - V (D mi7 b5 - G7 b9 - C mi7). Then to Ab7, which you can analyze as VI, but functions more like a dominant (considering the next chord is back to C mi). This Cmi Ab7 Cmi can all fit a blues scale on C nicely, or you can make the most of the voice leading between the G and Gb that are the only notes that really differ.

From that C mi you proceed to a ii - V - I belonging to G by walking down through Cmi/Bb (Cmi Cmi/Bb | Ami D7 | G ), however, after you resolve to G, you suddenly shift to ii - V in Gb (Ab mi Db7) which does not cadence to Gb maj but rather to the ii - V of Eb, which resolves by a deceptive cadence ii - V vi: (Fmi Bb7 | Cmi).

Having landed on that Cmi again (is Cmi really tonic? It’s certainly debatable), we once again do the walkdown from above: (Cmi Cmi/Bb | Ami D7 | G ). Only now that we’ve arrived at G this time, we remain for a full four bars at G as a pedal point over which the chord qualities shift: (Gmaj | Gsus7 | Gmaj#11 | Gsus7). This little movement happens in a couple other Herbie tunes, and it’s one of the other highlights in this tune. Chord melodies really can pay off, right in this section. There are well-known polychordal voicings for all the qualities in this phrase, so you can concieve a movement made of all major triads that will work well, it’s really what this section is built on.

Then the pedal point moves down a whole tone to F for the next phrase, but the movement is a bit different: (Fsus7 | D/F | Fsus7 | Emi A7). The D/F chord is misspelled in the Real Book version. Here’s the perfect example of the polychord idea–the Fsus is really an Eb triad over F, which relates to the D/F by a simple halftone movement–they are adjacent chords. I’m sure a guitarist would see a lot of possibilities inherent here.

The last bar of the previous phrase sets up the next phrase, but not with a conventional cadence. The ii-V belonging to D resolves instead to Eb7#11. This is a continuation of the wholetone downward root movement of the previous two phrases, but it doesn’t really last long enough to function like a new tonic or anything, we immediately shift to ii-V of G (A mi D7) which resolves via deceptive cadence to Bmi. But that Bmi really functions as the ii in a ii-V belonging to A. Here’s another significant movement of interest, because unlike any of our other ii-Vs, this one resolves entirely unexpectedly to C#mi by means of a chromatic approach from Dmi a halftone above. This is really the climax of the piece–the half tone downward root motion is opposed by an upward halftone melodic movement, reaching the highest note in the melody in conjuction with this completely unexpected cadence to an unusual destination.

The C#mi immediately becomes the ii of a ii-V belonging to B however. The C#mi F#7 seem to set up BMaj, but we get Emi instead (The second major misspelling in the realbook version). In an elision of the normal phrase, the Emi lasts four bars as a pedal, echoing the similar section in the middle. Next we move down a halftone to Ebmi which remains as a pedal for three bars, ending with a minor ii-V to set up the repeat to Cmi.

This is a very interesting tune, the analysis can be solved in a variety of ways, this is more or less how it seems to me, I respect that there are certainly other ways to view what’s happening. It’s hard to discuss the harmony without the melody involved, because the melodic movement reinforces so much of what’s going on. The phrasing in the piece is also really interesting as well as the really unconventional form, which repeats to the second phrase rather than the top.

I love playing this tune.