Fried Bananas by Dexter Gordon

Overview

Key: E♭ major · Chords used: 20 · Sections: 9

Form: A Section → B Section → A Section → C Section → A Section → B Section → A Section → C Section → D Section

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 1

• E♭maj7 – Gm7♭5 – C7 – Fm7 – Am7♭5 – D7 – E♭maj7 – A♭maj7 – Gaug7 – C7♭9
  Imaj7 – iiiø7 – VI7 – ii7 – #ivø7 – VII7 – Imaj7 – IVmaj7 – III+7 – VI7b9

B Section 1

• Fm7 – A♭m7 – D♭7 – E♭maj7 – Dm7 – G7 – Cm7 – F7♯11 – Fm7 – B♭13
  ii7 – iv7 – bVII7 – Imaj7 – vii7 – III7 – vi7 – II7#11 – ii7 – V13

A Section 2

Same chords as A Section 1.

C Section 1

• Fm7 – A♭m7 – D♭7 – E♭maj7 – Gm7♭5 – C7 – Fm7 – B♭7♭9 – E♭maj7 – Fm7 – B♭7
  ii7 – iv7 – bVII7 – Imaj7 – iiiø7 – VI7 – ii7 – V7b9 – Imaj7 – ii7 – V7

A Section 3

Same chords as A Section 1.

B Section 2

Same chords as B Section 1.

A Section 4

Same chords as A Section 1.

C Section 2

• Fm7 – A♭m7 – D♭7 – E♭maj7 – Gm7♭5 – C7 – Fm7 – B♭7♭9 – Gm7 – C7♭9
  ii7 – iv7 – bVII7 – Imaj7 – iiiø7 – VI7 – ii7 – V7b9 – iii7 – VI7b9

D Section

• Fm7 – B♭7♭9 – Gm7 – C7 – F♯dim7 – Fm7
  ii7 – V7b9 – iii7 – VI7 – #ii°7 – ii7
• B♭7 – E♭maj7 (×2)
  V7 – Imaj7

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
E♭maj7	Imaj7	Home chord (tonic)	A Section, B Section, C Section, D Section
Gm7♭5	iiiø7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section, C Section
C7	VI7	Secondary dominant (V/ii)	A Section, C Section, D Section
Fm7	ii7	In the key	A Section, B Section, C Section, D Section
Am7♭5	#ivø7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
D7	VII7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
A♭maj7	IVmaj7	In the key	A Section
Gaug7	III+7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
C7♭9	VI7b9	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section, C Section
A♭m7	iv7	Borrowed from E♭ minor	B Section, C Section
D♭7	bVII7	Borrowed from E♭ minor	B Section, C Section
Dm7	vii7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
G7	III7	Secondary dominant (V/vi)	B Section
Cm7	vi7	In the key	B Section
F7♯11	II7#11	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
B♭13	V13	In the key	B Section
B♭7♭9	V7b9	Borrowed from E♭ minor	C Section, D Section
B♭7	V7	In the key	C Section, D Section
Gm7	iii7	In the key	C Section, D Section
F♯dim7	#ii°7	Outside the key (chromatic)	D Section

Harmonic highlights

• A♭m7 (iv7) is borrowed from the parallel key, E♭ minor.
• D♭7 (bVII7) is borrowed from the parallel key, E♭ minor.
• B♭7♭9 (V7b9) is borrowed from the parallel key, E♭ minor.
• C7 acts as V/ii: it resolves to Fm7.
• G7 acts as V/vi: it resolves to Cm7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Fried Bananas (with outro)” (credited “Gordon Dexter”, style Medium Swing) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata.
• Section names: the chart has no section markings, so sections were detected by code from repeated 8-, 12- and 16-bar phrases (letters such as A and B mark different phrases).
• Cross-check: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Fried Bananas” (credited “Gordon Dexter”, style Medium Swing) 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 79%).
• 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.
• 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.