Post 565: ESSENTIAL TO MASTER - SUNSHINE CHORD PROGRESSION

If you want to play jazz, one of the most important things to master is The Sunshine Chord Progression. It occurs time and again in our tunes, particularly in the final eight bars (measures) of 32-bar songs. It feels so right and natural as a musical progression - taking the listener through a sequence of chords all related to the tonic, and eventually - after a brief 'circle of fifths' - landing happily on that tonic chord.

You should practise improvising on this progression in all the usual keys. This will give a terrific boost to your playing. 

I was told by a banjo-playing friend that it derived its name from the great English clarinet player Monty Sunshine (1928 - 2010); but I doubt whether that is the correct derivation, because The Sunshine Progression was used in hundreds of tunes well before Monty was born.

Maybe it's called the 'Sunshine' progression simply because it seems to be so 'sunny' - in the sense that it is so bright, happy and perfect.

Monty Sunshine

It's interesting (and it makes life easier for the performer) that so many tunes played by the traditional jazz bands end with the same simple and pleasing sequence of chords. Here are those chords in the key of C.

What they amount to is:

Bar 1 : Major chord on the fourth note of the scale - setting out on a new adventure.

Bar 2 : Minor chord on the fourth note of the scale - a slight hint of danger.

Bar 3 : The Major Chord of the Home Key - We're safe!

Bar 4 : A Seventh based on the sixth note of the scale - Oh no, someone has just made us laugh.

Bar 5 : A Seventh based on the second note of the scale - one corner yet to turn.

Bar 6 : The Dominant Seventh - always the last step before Home.

Bars 7 and 8 : The Major Chord of the Home Key again - this time for good.

Here's how it looks in the Key of G:

There can be very slight variations. For example Bar 2 is often IV# diminished (i.e. C# diminished in the example above). Bar 5 can be a Minor Seventh based on the second note of the scale. The final two bars could throw in, for example, the major chord on the fourth note of the scale for the final two beats of Bar 7. But essentially it's all the same pattern.

Here are just a few examples of tunes ending with the sequence:

All of Me

April Showers
At The Mardi Gras
Baby Face
Beneath Hawaiian Skies

Bill Bailey

Bourbon Street Parade
Coney Island Washboard

Darktown Strutters Ball

From Monday On

Hiawatha Rag [final theme]

I'm Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover

If I Had A Talking Picture Of You

If Someone Would Only Love Me

It's a Sin to tell a Lie

It's Only a Shanty

Knee Drops

Martha

Merci Beaucoup

Milenberg Joys

My Little Girl

Running Wild

Second Line

Shine

Some of these Days

Spanish Eyes

Tell Me Your Dream

Tiger Rag

Too Late (the Dave Nelson - King Oliver composition introduced into Tuba Skinny's repertoire in 2018)
Who's Sorry Now

Some tunes essentially use the Sunshine sequence, though with slight or subtle variations.

An example is

I Can't Give You Anything But Love

and, as my friend John Burns has pointed out to me, the chords of the eight bars are sometimes compressed into four half-bars, as in

At the Jazzband Ball
When I'm Sixty-Four.

Finally, here's something I find striking: the following tunes BEGIN pretty well with the eight bars that the tunes above use as their FINAL eight. I think that's what gives them their special character:

After You've Gone

I Can't Believe That You're In Love With Me

Glad Rag Doll

That's My Home

When It's Sleepy Time Down South.

Correspondent Tom Corcoran let me know what a pleasure it can be to experiment with 1st inversions while running through the sequence. He says he tried it on his ukulele: starting at the first inversion of C and going up up the neck to the other chords; and I realised what a sweet progression it really is. The right chords in the right place made all the difference. Playing around with other progressions I've found some that work well in first-position chords and others that sound better in a descending pattern, depending on the mood of the melody I suppose. Always a new twist and always something new to learn.

Post 23: THE ICEBERG CHORD

If you are beginning to play traditional jazz and trying to develop your skills at improvisation, one of the lessons you have to learn concerns the occasional appearance of the chord III^7th in bars (measures) 23 and 24 .

As you probably know, in 32-bar songs, it helps to 'feel' the tune as four groups of eight bars.

And in just a few of these 32-bar structures (enough to catch you out), the final two bars in the third group of eight (Bars 23 and 24) are based on the chord of III^7th . This means that, if you are in the key of C, for example, then that chord will be E^7th. If you are in the key of F, that chord will be A^7th  .... and so on. Get it?

In this example, I have highlighted Bars 23 and 24 of It's a Long Way To Tipperary. As you can see, if you are playing the tune in C, then these two bars are based on E^7th 

The effect of this chord is usually to provide an exciting mini-climax to the tune, leading to a rapid intake of breath before you motor into the satisfying final eight bars. Incidentally, in these situations, it often happens that those final eight bars (25 - 32) follow The Sunshine Sequence, so that makes improvising through them quite simple. I have written about The Sunshine Sequence before. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION.

As the use of III^7th in Bars 23 - 24 is a somewhat unusual chord development, I have noticed players being taken by surprise by it and producing something that sounds horribly wrong during those two bars.

So when you are improvising, it is important to be aware when this chord is coming up. Look upon it as an iceberg on the horizon: don't let it knock you off your course. You must improvise on that chord at that point in the tune. If you do anything else, the effect can be excruciating.

Here are a few examples of songs you need to be aware of because they employ that device in Bars 23 - 24.

Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None of My Jelly Roll

Alice Blue Gown

All By Myself

Any Time

Barefoot Boy

Beneath Hawaiian Skies

Big Bear Stomp (main theme)

Blame it on the Blues (main theme)

Come Back Sweet Pappa

Crying for the Carolines

Dancing With Tears in My Eyes

Don't Bring Lulu

Down in Jungle Town

Fidgety Feet (main theme)

For Me and My Girl

Heart of My Heart

I Left My Heart in San Francisco

I'm Nobody's Baby

I'm Sorry I Made You Cry

It Happened in Monterey
I've Never Been to New York (the Jonathan Doyle composition)

If I Had a Talking Picture of You

In Apple Blossom Time

Irish Black Bottom

It's a Long Way to Tipperary

Mama's Gone, Goodbye

Margie

Mobile Stomp

Moose March

My Cutie's Due at Two to Two

New Orleans Shuffle

New Orleans Wiggle (main theme)

Paper Doll

Red Hot Mama

Roses of Picardy

Running Wild

Salutation March (main theme)

The Breeze

The Curse of an Aching Heart

The Sheik of Araby

The Waltz You Saved for Me

The World is Waiting for the Sunrise

There's a Blue Ridge Round My Heart Virginia

Tishomingo Blues

Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie

When You Wore a Tulip

You Were Meant for Me

You're Nobody Till Somebody Loves You