I Want to be Happy

The II-V7-I Progression

The II-V7-I progression is one of the most important aspects of western musical harmony. It is ever
present in jazz music and an ability to play through it with a strong understanding is vital in your
progression as an improvising musician. This progression is often referred to as a cadence.
The solo I Want to be Happy has many great examples of playing over this progression and we will
look at how Sonny approaches these chords. It is important to mention that you want to practice this
in three ways: II-V7, V7-I and II-V7-I. This will allow for later lessons where we will start to look at
alternative placements for these progressions.
A II-V7-I cadence is found diatonically within a key with the chord properties being determined by
the arpeggios made up from the different degrees of the scale.
E.g.

Try at first to improvise just using chord tones over the cadence below:

In bar 46 there is a great example of what is referred to as voice leading. This is the movement of
notes from one chord to another in the smoothest way possible. See in bar 46 how the G at the end of
the bar falls a semitone (shortest distance possible) to resolve onto the F# of the D major chord.
E.g. Bar 46

The G is the 7th of the A7 chord and it falls onto the 3rd of the D major chord. This could also happen
when going from the minor II chord to the V7 chord.
E.g.

Try improvising using chord tones again over the II-V7-I but this time try to play into each chord

change by playing the 7th resolving into the 3rd over the bar line.
E.g.

Once feeling confident about doing this try increasing the exercise by going through every key.

Once you feel like you are getting to grips with this try adding the other scale notes into your
improvising and then think about adding some chromaticism.

Licks
It is common practice when looking at a solo to take licks from it. A lick is a phrase that we can
take from a solo to firstly be able to imitate correctly and then once understanding how it is put
together try and create phrases in a similarly constructed way.
Look at the phrases in bars 53-56 and bars 77-79. Both are very strong phrases that clearly spell out
the changes and due to there similarity highlight practiced material by Sonny Stitt.

Something to notice about them is how they resolve to the major chord. They both land on the 9 th of
the chord after playing an augmented triad just before it. This is when the 5th of the chord is
sharpened making the intervals in the chord slightly larger (augmented). This starts to bring us into
the area of alternate chord choice and substitution that will be looked at in a later lesson but as it is
used more as just a shape here rather than implying a different scale or chord we will look at it now.
The difference between a normal triad and an augmented triad is just the sharpened 5th. This shape is
commonly used to resolve onto the 9th of the chord I.

Try improvising through the chord sequence for I Want to be Happy and every time the II-V7-I
appears try to put in one of the above licks.

E.g. In the example below see how the lick from bar 77 has been used wherever possible, including
changing key to fit it over the cadence in bar 17-19 of the sequence.

Try repeating this and using the other lick from bar 53 in all the available places. The other thing to
try and do is place this lick through all 12 keys. While playing the lick try to really think about how it
is constructed as the next step is to try and play your own phrases that use similar methods.
Find below an example of a phrase that tries to use similar aspects of the two licks without direct
repetition.

E.g.

Bar Cadences
As well as the long phrases looked at previously it is important to point out that II-V7-I cadences are
also very common in a bar format when the sequence has a quicker harmonic rhythm. See below
the example found in bar 104-105 of the solo. What is interesting is how Sonny is still playing in a
similar way and using the augmented triad over the dominant chord.
E.g. Bar 104-105

Try playing through the II-V7-I exercise on page 2 of this lesson but this time with two beats on the II
and V7 chord and then one bar for the chord I. First of all try and take this lick through every key
and then go through it again trying to improvise your own phrases.

Reduction and Expansion

Something very worth mentioning although not demonstrated during this solo is reduction and
expansion.
Reduction:
This when a bar II-V7 can be reduced to just the V7 chord or the II chord. This is possible because
as weve seen already the chords are all derived from the same diatonic scale and is just a way of
simplifying a chord sequence. This is particularly helpful if the tune is fast.
E.g.

Expansion:
This is the opposite. A chord V7 can be expanded to include the chord II.
E.g.