What Key Is This Song In?

[Daniel Dye]

My high school jazz combo is playing "Angola" by Wayne Shorter, and I'm not sure what key it is in. I want to play a walking bass line that relies more on the overall scale rather than notes from each chord, if that makes sense. So, I need to know what the key is and what scale that would be that I should use. The chords are as follows (b=flat)

Intro: D9(b5)

Head: D7, Eb7, Ab7, F7, D7, Ebalt (whole line x2)
G7, Ab7, Db7, Bb7, F7, Bb7, A7alt
D7, Eb7, Ab7, F7, D7, Ebalt

Solo section: same as Head

Any idea? Sorry there's no rhythm indicated here, but I didn't want to type out all those slashes and such.

[Papa Dangerous]

I would say Eb Major. The notes B E and A are flat, which is the key signature for Eb Major. Also, the last chord is Eb. Most times, but not all, a piece will end on the key it is in.

[LowEndMan2112]

You'll be better off relying on the chord tones more than anything, but like Papa Dangerous said, it seems like the tune is based off of Eb Major. That being said, for example, the 7 in an Eb7 is a Db which is out of the key of Eb Major.

[oniman7]

Originally Posted by LowEndMan2112

You'll be better off relying on the chord tones more than anything, but like Papa Dangerous said, it seems like the tune is based off of Eb Major. That being said, for example, the 7 in an Eb7 is a Db which is out of the key of Eb Major.

If it's an EbMaj7, it should be a D. If it were an Ebmin7, it would be a Db. D is in the key of Eb, so you're safe there

[Snarf]

It's kind of a constant structure tune. It's not in any key. The structure is as follows: up half step, down 5th, down minor 3rd, down minor 3rd, up half step, and repeat that pattern down a 5th. It does break the cycle a little in the second half, which is why it's "mostly" constant structure.

I love how people are trying to say it's in Eb when the last chord is a 7 chord . . . . . (secret: Ebalt has Eb G B Db).

My advice: stick to chord tones and leading tones. Thinking of scales isn't going to help you here, except if you want to use an altered scale over Ebalt.

[FretlessMainly]

Snarf has it right. With all due respect to the first three responders, you are posting misinformation and there's a specific thread started by a Moderator about this.

The only chord that suggests the key of EbMaj is the Bb7 which appears only twice, buried in the middle of the second section.

And to be more complete, Ebalt has Eb, Fb, F#, G, Bbb, B, and Db. It's a dominant 7th chord in which neither the natural 9th nor natural 5th is played: Eb7 (b9 #9, b5 #5).

The Altered chord is a "bastard" chord in that it is not built off of a Major or minor tonal center; rather, it is the VII chord constructed from the jazz minor scale, which is 1, 2, b3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

Edited to add: So in this case, the EbAlt chord is derived from the E jazz minor scale:

E, F#, G, A, B, C#, D#. Since the EbAlt is built from the 7th scale degree, we have:

D#, E, F#, G, A, B, C#, which is enharmonically equivalent to what I posted above:

Eb, Fb, F#, G, Bbb, B, Db - your "garden variety" altered 7th chord.

Daniel - the good news here is that you can either rely on chord tones or, since the bulk of the chords are Dom 7th chords, you can use the usually-acceptable blue notes over these, such as the #9 and both the b7 and nat 7, as Snarf suggested. I would think of this as a blues with unconventional movement, plus, you need to use some altered stuff over the alt chords.

[JimmyM]

Holy crap, is TB a great place to make mountains out of molehills!

What key is written on your sheet music? After listening to it, I would guess D. Am I right?

[FretlessMainly]

"D" is not a key.

And in the context of:

Originally Posted by Daniel Dye

...I want to play a walking bass line that relies more on the overall scale rather than notes from each chord...

there is no single key that can be established to suggest a scale that covers this piece of music.

Or are you just pulling our leg?

[Ed Fuqua]

Welcome to Wayne's World!

[P-oddz]

Wait are we talking mixolydian scales or something?

Cannibal! The Musical: The Trapper Song - YouTube

[Demon_Hunter]

bah...just play anything, there are no wrong notes in jazz!!

[theretheyare]

The safe way and starting point is indeed to stick with the individual chord tones. In other words: to look at each chord as its own "key".

However, if you would like to establish something of an overall tonal center, I'd suggest to listen to the record and see if you HEAR (and determine, by singing along) a tonal center. (A tonal center is not a major or minor key-a tonal center means a note to regularly return to, which can be done in principle through any traditional or non-traditional scale, figure , arpeggio)

To put it differently: playing modal over, for example a dm7 does not mean you can only play the dorian scale-you can play anything you like inside or outside dm7/dorian, you just might establish that dm7 at select points along the way. It is jazz, it is improvising-that means YOU get to decide how you want to shape your parts...just play, try anything and see what it sounds like

Hope this helps.

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by FretlessMainly

"D" is not a key.

And in the context of:

there is no single key that can be established to suggest a scale that covers this piece of music.

Or are you just pulling our leg?

No, I am not pulling your leg. Since when is D not a key? Two sharps, F# and C#. If D is not a key, that will come as a big surprise to the folks who wrote all those charts I've played that were in D, and I guess I'll have to figure out a new way to indicate the key when I write charts as well.

Also, trying to find a single scale to walk through those chord changes as the OP is hoping for is absolutely pointless. None exists, so you HAVE to use the chord changes and just go with what each chord would suggest you to do.

But the fact remains that in the intro, they hang on a D9 chord, and it's sort of a homebase chord, if you will, for the entire song. No matter what crazy turns the chords in the middle take, it always returns to D7. There has to be some sort of homebase key for the song, and D is it.

So save your rolling eyes smiley for someone who deserves it.

[Ed Fuqua]

I think his point is, D is not a key. D major is a key. D minor is a key. But D is a pitch.

[JimmyM]

Whatever :P

[boomtisk]

According to an in-progress lead sheet someone made in this thread, the tune seems to be sorta in D major.

Try soloing over the changes using the D blues scale and see what happens.

[dvh]

In my (limited) experience when someone calls out a key they refer only to the letter if it's major ("D") unless it is specifically in a minor key ("D minor")

[JimmyM]

Originally Posted by dvh

In my (limited) experience when someone calls out a key they refer only to the letter if it's major ("D") unless it is specifically in a minor key ("D minor")

Right. They will specify minor, but not major. It's always assumed that if minor isn't specified, it's major.

[FretlessMainly]

But my point is that Angola is not in D Major. "D" may be a tonal center, but there is no strict key for this particular piece of music. The OP wanted to base his lines on a scale rather than chord tones and to do that one would need a key. D Major ain't it. The lead sheet linked to above may be written with two sharps, but the opening vamp chord is D9(b5). And most every measure has a boatload of accidentals.

One would reasonably think that a tune that is truly in the key of D Major would have at least one chord that is diatonic to the key of D Major in it. No?

[boomtisk]

Well, I'd say that the fact that about every single chord contains a flattened 7th alone seems to suggest that "Angola" doesn't really give a damn about conventional harmonic rules. What key is "Light my Fire" by The Doors in, by the way?