AROIOS

Yes, "After the Love Is Gone" is a gem and showcases David Foster at his best in songwriting. I think it deserves Adam's click-baity video title better, with all its tasty key changes.

Yes, the IV-IVm progression was very popular in 60's~70's Pop/Folk composition. Personally, besides the darker/tenser sound of IVm6 and IVm9, I also love the dreamy sound of IVm7 (usually between IV and IIIm7).

"The nostalgia note" was a signature sound throughout Eric's original. There's nothing Foster/Dion about it. Its somber vibe comes from (IMHO) its IVm origin, and often made even more so by its commonly played IVm6 form (adding a tritone to the "nostalgia note"). That sound is extremely common in Pop. Besides "All By Myself", another one that immediately comes to my mind is Babyface's "Whip Appeal". One of my favorite reharmonization/key-change trick is built around this very chord: Im6~II11b9~bIII6b5~IV9~VIm7b5~VII7#5(b9). These chords all have the same RH notes, we only need to change the root note to move among minor, dominant and half-diminished vibes. For example, the Am7b5 in the progression you mentioned can be seen as a substitute of Cm6 from this angle.

I'm aware of the manipulative "Loaded Question" click-bait tactic used in that video's ridiculous title, only clicked it because I've enjoyed Eric Carmen's original and was curious to see what "key change" trick Celine used. BluMunk's post pretty much covered exactly how I feel about Neely and Beato. I appreciate their existence and have learned a thing or two from their contents. But as others have pointed out, there's a risk of beginners being intimidated or misled by their approach.

Just came across a good example of over-theorizing music. What was a common key change trick, one that's actually slightly cheesy in this context, became so over-analyzed by Adam. As much as Adam tried to make David Foster's little trick looking epic, I'll take Eric Carmen's original over any versions ever done by Celine, on any given day. [video:youtube]

If we play the root note of a Maj7 or Maj9 in RH, it tend to clash with the defining 7th note sonically. This practice used to be a taboo in Classical music and aren't often used in the Jazz Ballads I listen to either. Short of the root note in RH, when we turn a maj7 or maj9 chord into a slashed chord like Bbmaj9/G, it "slash"s (hence the pun) the remaining occurrence of the root note from the voicing, thus avoiding the risk of sounding minor as you pointed out. With that said, there's no law or theory prohibiting anyone from playing the root note of a maj7 or maj9 in RH. It's just my preference and the reason why I qualified my comments with "as far as I'm concerned." and "when it comes to maj7 and maj9". It's all part of my habit of finding commonality among chords, which helps me a lot in analyzing harmony functions and practicing re-harmonization. Here's another one of my favorite: Im6 ~ II11b9 ~ bIII6b5 ~ IV9 ~ VIm7b5 ~ VII7#5(b9).

I would have to disagree about the Bbmaj9/G - that's a G minor 11th, not a sus chord, due to the Bb. All your others are related to indicating a Gsus type chord. Cheers! Jerry You raised a valid point. In practice, when it comes to maj7 and maj9 chords, most folks I listen to (myself included) only use the root note in, well, the root. That takes care of the Bb once we slash (no pun intended) it. I don"t follow what you"re saying... if you don"t use the Bb because it is a slash chord, then using that name for the upper part of the slash chord is... confusing, to put it politely. That is far from common. Based on what you"re saying it would be clearer to call it Dm7/G as you had already listed. Most musicians who see Bbmaj7/G are certainly going to have a Bb note somewhere in their RH. I"m a college-educated jazz player, and I"ve never encountered jazz chord symbols that are commonly assumed to not use a note clearly called out in the name. Jerry You missed the "when it comes to maj7 and maj9 chords" part.

You are not alone.

G11 implies the 3rd note (B) while G9sus4 doesn't. In reality, Jazz lead sheets often simply mark it as G7 and leave it to the players to embellish it as they see fit. F/G and Dm7/G and Bbmaj9/G and G9sus4 are the same thing, as far as I'm concerned. I would have to disagree about the Bbmaj9/G - that's a G minor 11th, not a sus chord, due to the Bb. All your others are related to indicating a Gsus type chord. Cheers! Jerry You raised a valid point. In practice, when it comes to maj7 and maj9 chords, most folks I listen to (myself included) only use the root note in, well, the root. That takes care of the Bb once we slash (no pun intended) it.

G11 implies the 3rd note (B) while G9sus4 doesn't. In reality, Jazz lead sheets often simply mark it as G7 and leave it to the players to embellish it as they see fit. I often see G11 in place of G9sus4 and don't think it's blasphemy to use them interchangeably. F/G and Dm7/G and Bbmaj9/G and G9sus4 are the same thing, as far as I'm concerned.

For that extended A chord at the end of the B section (1:28 - 1:30), I'm hearing (imagining?) an F natural (i.e., the #5) in there somewhere, so if I kept that in, would you find it easier to read as A11+, A11b13, or just A7+ with a D in the melody (i.e., [A] or or [C] in the attached image)? You're welcome. Personally, I would avoid keeping both the 4 and #5 in the chord. To my old-school ears, it's too "unresolved" at an end of a phrase. If you like that sound though, A11b13 (or A11#5) looks fine. As jarrell already pointed out, most people automatically think augmented when they see "+". In dominant chords, #5 is usually called out explicitly, except in "alt", which could mean several things, but usually played as #5#9 in Pop Jazz as heard in Part 1 of your example.

I think you nailed most of them. A few nits: Part.1) F13: F6/9 Part.2) A7#5#9: A11 Part.3) G11, A11: G9sus4, A9sus4

Btw, the "spy music" scale you offered is a pretty good example of the "mirroring" technique you mentioned earlier. And my ears (and left hand) can't help adding a G# to the left of B.

Not at all, I enjoy exploring and chatting about harmony. And I know as a fact that there's a ton I can learn from your wealth of knowledge and experience in harmony and arrangement. Let's keep these fun and geeky chats going. Cheers.

First one is 1st inversion of the "Spy Movie Chord" m/M9: GmM9/B. Second one is 1st inversion of the "Ryuichi Sakamoto"/"Joe Hisaishi" Japanese chord, or GbMaj13b5/Bb The overall vibe of this progression would be "James Bond meets Mr. Lawrence", or "Pink Panther Spirited Away".

I've never made a distinction between add2 and add9. If anything, the latter might indicate the composer's intent for an open voicing of the former. But I think sonically we're in the ballpark either way.

Yes, this is how I had memorized this voicing for the last 20 plus years. The sus2 in my original post is a misnomer since there's the 3rd in the voicing as Jarrell pointed out.

How did you know my LH can reach 13ths? I try to keep that quiet. Haha, my bass player thanked you for figuring out the root cause of his existential crisis.

I love the Fmaj7#11 (Fmaj13#11 to be exact) angle you mentioned. I also find the bitonal triad Lydian angle you and Linwood pointed out the most fitting for this context. Thanks.

The "Bbm7#5" in the context you provided sounds more like a Isus2/III chord (Gbsus2/Bb). It's often heard in the popular IVadd9-I/III-IIIb6-IIm7 progression (see attachment) in 90's Pop, e.g. Extreme's "More Than Words". I don't hear anything particularly "minor" about it as the m in "m7#5" would suggest. I think we should be able to come up with a better example to showcase the m7#5 function of this chord voicing.

Sure, here you go.

By "hip chord" I was referring to the third chord in the progression, sorry for not making it clear, I've just edited the original post. The G/F notation you offered is essentially the same as the Gadd9/F option, and I can see it working in another context, like Lenny Williams and Kenny G's "Don't Make Me Wait For Love". (I've attached piano roll and audio below for reference.) Don't Make Me Wait For Love As for the second chord, I look at it as a 13sus4 and usually move the 6th/13th (note B) to the top for a more open sound.

Thanks Linwood. I appreciate your advice on looking at voicings as mirror images and approaching progressions in a chromatic way. I play with the latter technique from time to time and often end up with pleasant surprises. Will explore the former and see what I can come up with.

If only I had giant hands to unleash that Avant Garde hipness.

I understand, Linwood. you looked at the lower half of the bitonal structure as a Fmaj, I looked at it as a F7. To me, both are viable options. The reason I called the omitted 7th "incidental" is because adding it (thus clearly making the chord a 13b5) is a harmonic alternative used just as often in Pop Jazz in the 80s/90s, as we can hear from the audio link below. Hip Chord - Dominant Emphasis