The Blues for Alice changes, Bird changes, Bird Blues, or New York Blues changes is a chord progression, often named after Charlie Parker ("Bird"), which is a variation of the twelve-bar blues.
The progression uses a series of sequential ii–V or secondary ii–V progressions, and has been used in pieces such as Parker's "Blues for Alice". Toots Thielemans's "Bluesette",Hatfield, Ken (2005). Jazz and the Classical Guitar Theory and Applications, p. 182. . "Freight Trane" written by pianist Tommy Flanagan, and Parker's "Confirmation"Umble, Jay (2011). Mbgu Jazz Curriculum: Payin Your Dues with the Blues, p. 62. . have similar progressions.
Structure A simple blues progression, in C, is:
A typical blues progression in jazz, in C, is:Jacobs, Sid (2011). The Changes, p. 12. .
The Bird Blues progression, in C, is:Baerman, Noah (1998). Complete Jazz Keyboard Method: Intermediate Jazz Keyboard, p. 63. .
In roman numeral analysis, this is represented by
{| class="wikitable" style="width:340px;" |- |style="width:25%;"| IM7 |style="width:25%;"| vii7 III7 |style="width:25%;"| vi7 II7 |style="width:25%;"| v7 I7 |- | IV7 | iv7 VII7 | iii7 VI7 | iii7 VI7 |- | ii7 | V7 | IM7 VI7 | ii7 V7 |} This can be viewed as a cycle of ii–V progressions leading to the IV chord (F7 in the key of C major), and the tritone substitution of the dominant chords leading by half-step to the V chord (G7 in C).
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left; width:340px;" |-bgcolor="#DDD" |width=25%| C: |width=25%| Am: |width=25%| G(m): |width=25%| F: |- | IM7 || ii7 V7 || ii7 V7 || ii7 V7 |-bgcolor="#DDD" | F: || E: || D: || D(m): |- | I7 || subii7 subV7 || subii7 subV7 || subii7 subV7 |-bgcolor="#DDD" |colspan="4"| C: |- | ii7 || V7 || IM7 VI7 || ii7 V7
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