[Harp-L] Minor II V I

[michael rubin <michaelrubinharmonica@xxxxxxxxx>]

I am working my way thru Mark Levine's The Jazz Theory Book.  In it he
says Minor II V I's generally use a IIm7b5 V7Alt CmMaj7  pattern.  He
says the II chord represents the 6th mode of the jazz melodic minor
scale, the V chord represents the 7th mode of the jazz melodic minor
scale and the I represents the 1st mode of the jazz melodic minor
scale.

So if this song would be in the key of C, the chords would be Dm7b5
G7Alt CmMaj7.  The D chord is the 6th mode of F jazz melodic, the G
chord is the seventh mode of the Ab jazz melodic and the C chord is
the 1st mode of the C jazz melodic.

You are in the key of C minor.

I set up band in the box to loop a 4 bar pattern, the D for one bar, G
for one bar and C for two bars.  As an exercise I played 1 note and
held it thru the entire 4 bars to see how it would sound.  I tried the
key's tonic chord and sure enough C sounded nice throughout the entire
4 bars.  This confused me because in the Ab Jazz melodic minor scale
there is a B note and not a C note.  Why does a C sound good during
the GAlt7 chord?

I am playing this on a harmonica.
Michael Rubin
Michaelrubinharmonica.com