Chord Symbol Nomenclature

For arrangers, the correct naming of chord symbols is one of those topics where everyone has an opinion, and their opinion is right, everyone else’s wrong. It’s a bit like when a singer hands the piano player a lead sheet to a song: the first thing the piano player usually thinks—to himself, hopefully—is: “that chord’s not right there, that sequence isn’t the best there”. But don't you think that this is the way it should be? Because in jazz we are working within the realm of instant composition, arranging and performance, simultaneously, both consciously and unconsciously. So one needs to have strong views on 'how it should go'.

However unlike a set of chord changes, the chord symbols themselves are meant to be a common language that everyone has agreed upon, and whose meaning they can decipher, just like common word spelling in a dictionary. Chord symbols are simply abbreviations, symbols which are meant to imply certain chord sounds.

The arranger’s use of chord symbols is indeed an arcane and hermetic art. What is the common practice, how has it changed over the years? When do we use say C9 instead of C7? When do we write C7#9 and when do we use C7alt? As much as some musicians would cry, 'who cares?', I would like to get into the thinking behind the use of these symbols.

Let’s start with the basics, 'common practice'. Or maybe that should be 'my' common practice, because as you'll see, nobody agrees on anything 100%. Let me give you my thinking, and then we'll 'compare and contrast' with other viewpoints.

In the beginning, as it were, there was the triad. The third interval from the tonic C can be either major or minor, and so we have this basic division:

So we see that to name a major triad, the letter name is all that's required. Simple! No 'ma', no 'maj'. Just the letter name. For the minor triad, the lower-case 'm' is added to the letter name. So for those most commonly played chords - the major and minor triads - we have quite an elegant naming solution. No symbol at all for the major (most commonly played), and one little 'm' for the minor chord. That is what I call a good abbreviation concept. Inherent in this idea that only one 'm' symbol is used ever, the lower-case 'm'. That way when you hand-write it quickly, whether it looks like upper-case or lower-case, it means the same thing.

Next we move higher in the chord, to the seventh. Two options, as before: a major seventh interval from the tonic, or a minor 7th (or dominant 7th) interval. Now here is where it gets confusing to the novice. Our terms for naming the two possible 7ths qualities are "ma7" (or maj7) and just plain old "7" for the minor 7th. Let's look at the possible combinations extending the triads:

In our thinking we draw an imaginary line around the letter name, such that if we see the little 'm' after the letter name, we know it's some kind of minor chord. If we see Cma7, we know that the 'ma' part does not refer to the 3rd (i.e. the triad), but to the 7th, the major 7th interval from the tonic. If we see C7, we know that's a major triad with a dominant 7th.

Clear? Yeah, like mud.

Let me point out at this juncture that there is simply no way to get your head around this unless you have actually spent some significant time playing songs, playing chord sequences with their root notes, and gradually learning how to interpret chord symbols. You can't get it without hands-on experience: literally, hands on the keys. Doesn't matter if you don't play the piano; if you're a jazz musician, or really any kind of musician, the piano is your workbench, your desktop.

Anyway, let's now look at what the respected elders have advised on the subject.

First, Clinton Roemer from "The Art of Music Copying", 1973, p. 137.

First of all we see that he uses 'mi' for minor triad, so right away we have a different idea from your present author. Roemer still uses just the letter name for the major triad ("G"), but wants to use "GMI" for the minor triad. His thinking is to consistently use a smaller, yet upper-case 'M'. Because as he shows in what not to use (a very good instruction technique), and as I mentioned above, there has always the been the potential for confusion between an upper-case 'M' and a lower-case 'm' - especially when hand-writing music, which was the norm until the recent computer age. And still today not everyone uses the computer. But to my way of thinking, Roemer here is going one extra step, a kind of second-guessing defence which just adds an unnecessary layer.

As an aside, and I love asides, did you know Roemer was Stan Kenton's copyist? I went thirty years thinking of him as 'just' the author of the best book on music copying, and a jazz orientated, commercial and inherently practical one at that. Then one day I came across some of Kenton's scores and instantly recognized the handwriting. The funny thing my first impression was that it was a lot sloppier than what's in his book! But I shouldn't say 'sloppier', just written faster. It was all perfectly legible, and that's what matters. Like an extra lesson that is an addendum to his book...reality! So for me it's good to know just whose handwritten manuscript those great musicians on those classic recordings were actually reading.

When Roemer was around, there were more gigs, more live musicians working, more arrangements being required, and arrangers and copyists had to be able to work extremely quickly. In the making of a Hollywood production, the composer is usually the last man down the line, often getting a short window of a few weeks, if not days, before release to complete his work. In the jazz and commercial music world of a half century ago, the copyist was his equivalent - the last man down the line after the arranger got through with it. And we know how these arrangers can take forever! Back then it was no "print-out file to PDF", no instantly-formatted parts like today, with our whiz-bang music software. Then it was all black coffee, maybe a pipe, and keep going till it gets done.

OK, on with the chord symbols. this time from Gary Lindsay, author of one of the best arranging books out there, "Jazz Arranging Techniques" (2005). Let's see what he has to say:

Hmm...looks like I'm being outvoted here, and by the best! Lindsay and Roemer both go for the 'Cmi'. No one seems to like the 'Cm'. What does the ubiquitous Aebersold have to say?

Not even a plain old minor triad in there at all. And now all the triangles and minus signs!
Now I need a coffee and a pipe.