Hi, does anyone know what the 'altered' note is of the D7 chord in bar 9 in Now's The Time by Charlie Parker? Im guessing its F natural, but shouldn't the chord just be called Dm7?

Could you give me an example of a left hand voicing for this chord?

Thank you

Bar 9 would be some kind of G or C chord if it's played in F.

D7 sharp 9 maybe (in bar 8)

In my Real Book, Now's the Time is in F, and the chord in bar 9 is Gm7 (it would be Dm7 in C).

In my lead sheet (key is F) the chords are:

F7 - Bflat7 - F7 - F7 - Bflat7 - Bflat7 - F7 - D7ALT - G7flattened9 - C7 - F7 - C7

I'm wondering what the D7ALT is.

PS: SORRY I MEANT BAR 8 IN MY ORIGINAL POST!

D7 alt = D7 altered, typically (when you have a F in the melody) D7 sharp 9

try a voicing that goes (from bottom to top) F sharp, Bb, C and F

you can play that in the LH with the melody above, on in the RH with a D bass note below.

it's a passing chord to the Gm, D7 being the dominant of Gm.

'Altered' refers to the 5th of the chord with is altered from a normal 5th. In the voicing I have suggested it has become a sharp 5th, but there are other possible voicings with a b5.

Ok thanks - so basically when voicing that chord I should make sure I have that Bflat in there somewhere

The Bb is optional really. A basic beginners guide to chord voicing is that you can leave out the 5th (or altered sharp 5th in this case) but never the 3rd or 7th.

Be careful with the D7 though during the head. The melody is F and G and clashes with the 3rd of the D7 chord. (F#)

Now's the time is just a blues in F. You can safely play a F7 instead of that D7, or D7alt.
Often, those leadsheets are just the result of some berklee student trying to get fancy. You can simplify a lot of them.

The D7 is used as a passing chord to the G-7. That said, one way to voice an altered chord would be to play a chord one tritone away (Ab7), or something like F# C F

Knotty, it seems that your Ab7 in bar 8 to G-7 in bar 9 warms up the harmony of this blues.

That "shell" of F# C F is a very handy device (for D7alt)! You can use that in your left hand and then fill out other chord tones in your right hand, or play a melodic fragment.

By the way, here is a very handy resource:

http://aebersold.com/Merchant2/merchant....=_SCALESYLLABUS

Here is another great page, with a ton of "handouts":

http://aebersold.com/Merchant2/merchant...._Code=_HANDBOOK

Guy

The D7alt, which is the 6 chord, is pretty standard for blues in jazz. Most of the bebop blues heads will play VI II V in bars 8-10. Nows the Time is very standard in this regard. You can even take bar 8 and play A-7b5/D7Alt, which will make it a III VI II V back to the F. (Note that the A-7b5 is reall F7, take away to root and add the 9th!)