The diatonic progression

The diatonic progression is:

vii^ø, iii^—, vi^—, ii^—, V⁷, I^△, IV^L

^L refers to the Lydian mode, with the ♯11. The major and relative minor tonal centers appear in bold.

The iii strongly tends toward the altered chord — resolving to the relative minor. That is how it appears in the table below. In that case, the progression is composed of two 2-5-1s (to the major and to the relative minor) and the Lydian major 7 chord.

Canonical examples (no skips, every chord in order):

• the “A” section of Autumn Leaves begins on the ii (with a preceding pickup)
• the first section of Alice in Wonderland begins on the ii
• My Favorite Things contains a complete example on the lyrics “Brown paper packages tied up with strings, these are a few of my favorite things”:
  • the melody on “brown” starts on the 5th of the ii (“paper” is also over the same chord)
  • “packages” starts on the 9th of the V⁷
  • I^△, IV^L are repeated twice, first over “tied up with strings” and then over “these are a few of my”
  • “favorite” starts on the 3rd of vii^ø
  • the line ends with “things” on the 3rd of III⁷ (leading to the relative minor iv to start the next section)

With an elision:

• the “A” section of Blue Bossa begins on the vi, the relative minor (and elides the I and IV).

More complicated:

Blue in Green starts in F and briefly modulates to the adjacent keys of C and B♭ (2 chords each). It does not follow the progression as clearly, but follows bits and pieces. Of note is the use of the ii from the major 2-5-1 but the V and i from the relative minor 2-5-1 to start the piece.

Credit: Chris Gentes of Northampton, MA, saxophonist, pianist, theorist