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In a book of jazz trumpet duets (for Bb trumpets), I keep seeing chord symbols like "Fj" (shown below). I'm familiar with the various kinds of chord symbols (the various seventh chords, extensions, etc.), but I've never seen "j" before. What does it mean?

Chord symbol Fj

(Image Source: Wolf Escher, 20 Jazz-Duette: Heft 1, [Schott Music, 1982], page 23)

Aaron
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1 Answers1

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It means "major seventh". "Fj" is equivalent to "FMaj7" or "FΔ7". It is rarely used.

A clue to its meaning is given a few bars later, in the final measure of the piece. The trumpets are playing their A and E, respectively, with "Fj" indicated as the chord. E being the major seventh of F, it's clear the chord would be a major seventh chord.

Fj symbol with written A and E

An even more clear example can be found on page 20 of the same book. As shown below, there is a progression "Dm Dmj Dm7". The second trumpet plays D, Db (C#), C respective to each chord symbol. In other words, the basic chord is D minor, with the second trumpet making a chromatic decent from ^8 to ^#7 to ^7. Thus, Dmj is D minor with a major seventh, or DmM7.

Dm Dmj Dm7 progression

Aaron
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    This is great, never seen "j" used. – John Oct 05 '22 at 02:40
  • Any ideas why 'j'? I've never ever come across that one! +1. – Tim Oct 05 '22 at 06:49
  • @Tim My thought is that it comes from the word "major", but avoids any "M/m" confusion. – Aaron Oct 05 '22 at 06:57
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    That's a probable. Maybe should have been followed up with 'n' for minor..? – Tim Oct 05 '22 at 08:01
  • @Tim I wondered about that, but "n" and "m" look similar enough that one could image it leading to misreading. – Aaron Oct 05 '22 at 08:06
  • True, although Bn and Bm would produce the same chord..! Maybe it (and 'j' ) just never caught on. I still get caught out with hand-written M and m sometimes. – Tim Oct 05 '22 at 08:10
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    Anecdotical fact: if you use the "Band in a Box" program, which generates accompaniments based on a chord sheet, you can press 'j' for Maj7. Also 'h' for m7b5 (half diminished), 'o' for diminished and 's' for 7sus. – Jos Oct 05 '22 at 09:29
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    I have seen j7 in form of this piece of documentation here https://lilypond.org/doc/v2.23/Documentation/snippets/chords#chords-chord-name-major7 This is a reasonable step, maj7 gets shortened to j7 (since m7 would cause problems with minor chords). And from there I guess it is not unreasonable to say: Actually we only need j for j7, so we can simply leave out the 7. – Lazy Oct 05 '22 at 11:05
  • it is not uncommon but a German symbol – yarns Mar 25 '24 at 20:05