Afro Blue by Mongo Santamaría

Overview

Key: F minor · Chords used: 7 · Sections: 4

Form: A Section → Solo → Solo → Solo

Where these chords come from: a chord chart of this song written by a musician and shared on the iReal Pro forums, archived in the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). It's one musician's reading of the song, not a transcription checked against the recording. This page shows that chart as-is: the analysis below is generated directly from it by code, not written by AI. Consecutive repeats of a chord are shown once, and the piano voicings are our playable arrangement of each chord symbol, not a note-for-note transcription.

Section by section

A Section

• Fm7 – Gm7 – A♭maj7 – Gm7 (×2)
  i7 – ii7 – bIIImaj7 – ii7
• Fm7 – E♭7sus4 – D♭7sus4 – E♭7sus4 (×2)
  i7 – bVII7sus4 – bVI7sus4 – bVII7sus4

Solo 1

• Fm7 – Gm7 – A♭maj7 – Gm7 (×2)
  i7 – ii7 – bIIImaj7 – ii7
• Fm7 – E♭7sus4 – D♭7sus4 – E♭7sus4 (×2)
  i7 – bVII7sus4 – bVI7sus4 – bVII7sus4

Solo 2

• Fm7
  i7
• E♭7♯9 – C7♯9 (×2)
  bVII7#9 – V7#9
• Fm7 – Gm7 – A♭maj7 – Gm7 (×2)
  i7 – ii7 – bIIImaj7 – ii7
• Fm7 – E♭7sus4 – D♭7sus4 – E♭7sus4 (×2)
  i7 – bVII7sus4 – bVI7sus4 – bVII7sus4

Solo 3

• Fm7
  i7

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Fm7	i7	Home chord (tonic)	A Section, Solo
Gm7	ii7	Borrowed from F major	A Section, Solo
A♭maj7	bIIImaj7	In the key	A Section, Solo
E♭7sus4	bVII7sus4	In the key	A Section, Solo
D♭7sus4	bVI7sus4	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section, Solo
E♭7♯9	bVII7#9	Outside the key (chromatic)	Solo
C7♯9	V7#9	In the key	Solo

Harmonic highlights

• Gm7 (ii7) is borrowed from the parallel key, F major.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Afro Blue (RB1)” (credited “Coltrane John”, style Waltz) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata.
• Section names: from the chart's own markings: section names written on the chart (Intro, Verse, Chorus…) are kept, and rehearsal letters are shown as “A Section”, “B Section” and so on (the B of an AABA song is called the Bridge).
• Cross-check: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Afro Blue” (credited “Santamaria Mongo”, style Waltz) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata. A separately posted chart of the same song; its chords match this page's closely when both are read in the same key (similarity 78%).
• Chord charts are often written in a key that suits a particular singer or band, so this may not be the key of the original recording.
• The chart's D.S./D.C./coda jumps have been written out in playing order.
• About the song: Wikipedia.
• Verified: two community charts of this song, posted in different forum threads, agree on its harmony. They're still charts, not transcriptions checked against the recording.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.