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I'm looking through a piece of music that has two flats in the key signature. It feels like it's in D minor (the last chord), and the verse alternates between E♭9 and Dm6.

A couple of things - why would the arranger use that key signature? Would the E♭9 be a tritone substitute for what could easily be A7? Could it actually be in a mode instead?

It's Dizzie Gillespie's Night in Tunisia. I've played it with one flat, which somehow makes more sense than 2.

Tim
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    Duuude! please post the name & composer, if not an image of the chart! – Carl Witthoft Jan 15 '20 at 14:30
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    The clue was enough for jazzers! A Night in Tunisia. Dizzy. – Tim Jan 15 '20 at 14:32
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    We're supposed to guess what the music is, why? – Michael Curtis Jan 15 '20 at 14:45
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    @MichaelCurtis - no, I didn't want to fall foul of the rule 'what key is this in?' and lose the question. Eb9 and Dm don't feature in many (any?) keys, so the question was based on that. Lots here will have played it many times. – Tim Jan 15 '20 at 14:48
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    Possibly the key signature hints at Phrygian, the E flat being added to D minor. Given the particular song it sort of announces "exotic" – Michael Curtis Jan 15 '20 at 14:49
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    For a site that often votes to close stuff for being too vague or broad, to not include all the info and leaving hard to find clues for the users to find seems strange to me. Can you please edit the question to include more info so maybe it is helpful to others in the future? – b3ko Jan 15 '20 at 14:51
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    @MichaelCurtis - D Phrygian came to mind - that would prompt a key sig. of 2 flats. – Tim Jan 15 '20 at 14:52
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    What is the source of the chart? When I look it up, it appears the Real Book uses one flat. – Michael Curtis Jan 15 '20 at 14:53
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    I'm still stuck on the Dm6 in a key with two flats, there'd have to be an accidental natural sign in every measure! – dissemin8or Jan 15 '20 at 14:53
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    @MichaelCurtis - yes, I checked that too. One flat. – Tim Jan 15 '20 at 14:55
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    This piece is clearly D minor. The Eb7 is in my opinion a borrowed chord (or like an extended chromatic approach to D). But you can also try to press free jazz in a schema of classical chord progression, or Prokofiev or Bartok. (I'd like to poste some pieces of Bartok analysed with Jazz harmony.) Btw. A NIGHT IN TUNISIA has got an analysis in wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Night_in_Tunisia – Albrecht Hügli Jan 15 '20 at 15:46
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    @AlbrechtHügli, yes, borrowed. But from where? If borrowed from Phrygian, a Phrygian key signature just takes us there directly. – Michael Curtis Jan 15 '20 at 20:05
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    @dissemin8or, FWIW, the Real Book chart I found uses neither the Eb in the signature nor the 6 on Dm. It seems there is some confusion related to this specific chart ...that we can't see. – Michael Curtis Jan 15 '20 at 20:09

2 Answers2

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Without judging whether it appropriate, I think the reason someone might use two flats in the key signature is the Eb7 chord of the vamp and the E flat at the end of the first part of the melody...

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...could be considered to come from the Phrygian mode rather than tritone substitution/altered dominant harmony.

If a tritone substitute is considered clearly identifiable only when part of a descending fifth progression, then it seems reasonable to say the Eb7 chord here is not a tritone substitution, but a chord rooted on the lowered second degree of Phrygian.

In other words iim7b5 bII7 i would be a clear case of tritone substitution, bII subs for V, because it substitutes in a progression of three roots by descending fifth. But just alternating bII7 i bII7 i is not the clear substitution within a descending fifths progression pattern.

So, if someone took that view - the Eb7 is not a tritone substitution - the chord is diatonic to Phrygian (at least the base triad), the Phrygian key signature reinforces that idea.

When the tune gets to using a dominant rooted on A at end the phrase, and it has a proper leading tone, that doesn't contradict Phrygian, not in the classical sense, so that seems like additional support for Phrygian.

Either way it doesn't change what's happening tonally. It's a little like when Baroque scores would use zero flats for D minor. The sharps and flats in the score make the final determination of tonality.

Michael Curtis
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I think the E♭9 is the "foreign" chord here. So i think the piece (hard without having seen the whole piece) is correctly in D minor, with the E♭9 possible a tritone substitute.

I think you were on the right track, but if you can share the whole piece, then i can get it right 100%.

ThomasNL
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