Chord Of The Week 26/12/15 - The Frank Evans 'Chestnuts Roasting' Am7b5 chord

Frank Evans did solo jazz guitar arrangements in the early days of Guitar Techniques magazine. His version of the Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting) contained this great chord substitution of the I chord. The key is Eb, and the first melody note is also an Eb, so opportunities for interesting harmonies seem limited. But Frank Evans started the arrangement with
Am7b5: 5x554x

which is built on the b5 of the parent key, then for the second melody note, which is also an Eb but up an octave, he substituted a D7b9add13 10 x 10 11 12 11, which acts as a secondary dominant leading into the temporary key of Gm on the word 'roasting', and that kicked off a conventional iii VI ii V progression round the cycle of fifths to complete the line.

It's a great way of introducing harmonic movement into a simple melody. Tuck Andress also used it in the second verse of his solo arrangement of 'Somewhere Over The Rainbow', a song which has exactly the same melody for the first three notes.
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