Sophisticated Lady by Duke Ellington Orchestra

Overview

Key: A♭ major · Chords used: 22 · Sections: 5

Form: Intro → A Section → A Section → Bridge → A 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

Intro

• Gmaj7 – Em7 – Am7 – D7 – Gmaj7 – Cm7 – B♭m7 – Cdim – F7
  VIImaj7 – #v7 – #i7 – #IV7 – VIImaj7 – iii7 – ii7 – iii° – VI7

A Section 1

• B♭m7 – G♭7 – F7 – E7 – E♭7 – A♭maj7 – A♭7 – G7 – G♭7 – F7 – B♭7 – B♭m7 – E♭7 – A♭6 – Cm7♭5 – F7♭9
  ii7 – bVII7 – VI7 – #V7 – V7 – Imaj7 – I7 – VII7 – bVII7 – VI7 – II7 – ii7 – V7 – I6 – iiiø7 – VI7b9

A Section 2

• B♭m7 – G♭7 – F7 – E7 – E♭7 – A♭maj7 – A♭7 – G7 – G♭7 – F7 – B♭7 – B♭m7 – E♭7 – A♭6 – Am7♭5 – D7
  ii7 – bVII7 – VI7 – #V7 – V7 – Imaj7 – I7 – VII7 – bVII7 – VI7 – II7 – ii7 – V7 – I6 – #iø7 – #IV7

Bridge

• Gmaj7 – Em7 – Am7 – D7 – Bm7 – E7♭9 – Am7 – D7♭9 – Gmaj7 – Em7 – Am7 – D7 – Gmaj7 – Cm7 – B♭m7 – Cm7♭5 – F7
  VIImaj7 – #v7 – #i7 – #IV7 – #ii7 – #V7b9 – #i7 – #IV7b9 – VIImaj7 – #v7 – #i7 – #IV7 – VIImaj7 – iii7 – ii7 – iiiø7 – VI7

A Section 3

Same chords as A Section 1.

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Gmaj7	VIImaj7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro, Bridge
Em7	#v7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro, Bridge
Am7	#i7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro, Bridge
D7	#IV7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro, A Section, Bridge
Cm7	iii7	In the key	Intro, Bridge
B♭m7	ii7	In the key	Intro, A Section, Bridge
Cdim	iii°	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro
F7	VI7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro, A Section, Bridge
G♭7	bVII7	Borrowed from A♭ minor	A Section
E7	#V7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
E♭7	V7	In the key	A Section
A♭maj7	Imaj7	Home chord (tonic)	A Section
A♭7	I7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
G7	VII7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
B♭7	II7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
A♭6	I6	Home chord (tonic)	A Section
Cm7♭5	iiiø7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section, Bridge
F7♭9	VI7b9	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
Am7♭5	#iø7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
Bm7	#ii7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge
E7♭9	#V7b9	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge
D7♭9	#IV7b9	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge

Harmonic highlights

• G♭7 (bVII7) is borrowed from the parallel key, A♭ minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Sophisticated Lady” (credited “Ellington Duke”, style Ballad) 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 “Sophisticated Lady” (credited “Ellington Duke”, style Ballad) 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.
• 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.