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", [1] Freight Trane written by pianist Tommy Flanagan, and Parker's " Confirmation" [2] also have similar progressions.
A simple blues progression, in C, is as follows:
A typical blues progression in jazz, in C, is as follows: [3]
The Bird Blues progression, in C, is as follows: [4]
In roman numeral analysis, this is represented by
IM7 | viiø7 III7 | vi7 II7 | 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). [4]
C: | Am: | G(m): | F: |
IM7 | iiø7 V7 | ii7 V7 | ii7 V7 |
F: | E♭: | D: | D♭(m): |
I7 | subii7 subV7 | subii7 subV7 | subii7 subV7 |
C: | |||
ii7 | V7 | IM7 VI7 | ii7 V7 |