jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

, the Tadd Dameron turnaround, named for

Tadd Dameron Tadley Ewing Peake Dameron (February 21, 1917 – March 8, 1965) was an American jazz composer, arranger, and pianist. Biography Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Dameron was the most influential arranger of the bebop era, but also wrote charts for swi ...

, "is a very common turnaround in the jazz idiom",Coker, et al (1982). ''Patterns for Jazz: A Theory Text for Jazz Composition and Improvisation'', p.118. . derived from a typical I−vi−ii−V turnaround through the application of

tritone substitution The tritone substitution is a common chord substitution found in both jazz and classical music. Where jazz is concerned, it was the precursor to more complex substitution patterns like Coltrane changes. Tritone substitutions are sometimes used ...

of all but the first chord, thus yielding, in C major: rather than the more conventional: The Tadd Dameron turnaround may feature

major seventh chord In music, a major seventh chord is a seventh chord in which the third is a major third above the root and the seventh is a major seventh above the root. The major seventh chord, sometimes also called a ''Delta chord'', can be written as maj7, M7 ...

s, and derive from the following series of substitutions, each altering the

chord quality Musicians use various kinds of chord names and symbols in different contexts to represent musical chords. In most genres of popular music, including jazz, pop, and rock, a chord name and its corresponding symbol typically indicate one or more ...

:Bahha and Rollins (2005). ''Jazzology'', p.103. .Richard Lawn, Jeffrey L. Hellmer (1996). ''Jazz: Theory and Practice'', p.118-19. . The last step, changing to the

, is optional. Dameron was the first composer to use the turnaround in his standard " Lady Bird", which contains a

modulation Signal modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform in electronics and telecommunication for the purpose of transmitting information. The process encodes information in form of the modulation or message ...

down a

major third In music theory, a third is a Interval (music), musical interval encompassing three staff positions (see Interval (music)#Number, Interval number for more details), and the major third () is a third spanning four Semitone, half steps or two ...

(from C to A). This key relation is also implied by the first and third chord of the turnaround, C^∆7 and A^∆7. It has been suggested that this motion down by major thirds would eventually lead to

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...

's Coltrane changes.Lyon, Jason (2007)
"Coltrane's Substitution Tunes"
i

The Dameron turnaround has alternately been called the "Coltrane turnaround".Scott, Richard J. (2003). ''Chord Progressions For Songwriters'', p.234. . Further examples of pieces including this turnaround are

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...

's " Half-Nelson" and John Carisi's "

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

References

Jazz techniques Chord progressions Jazz terminology {{Music-theory-stub