Theme From Electric Surfboard by Brother Jack McDuff

Overview

Key: B♭ major · Chords used: 19 · Sections: 5

Form: Intro → Theme → Theme → Theme → Solo

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). This page shows that transcription 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

• B♭m7
  i7

Theme 1

• Fm7♭5 – B♭7♭9 – E♭m7 – E♭m7/D♭ – C9 – C♭maj7 – F7
  vø7 – I7b9 – iv7 – iv⁴₂ – II9 – bIImaj7 – V7
• G♭maj9 – C♭7♯11 (×2)
  bVImaj9 – bII7#11
• Fm7♭5 – B♭7♯9
  vø7 – I7#9

Theme 2

• Fm7♭5 – B♭7♭9 – E♭m7 – E♭m7/D♭ – C9 – C♭maj7 – F7
  vø7 – I7b9 – iv7 – iv⁴₂ – II9 – bIImaj7 – V7
• G♭maj9 – C♭7♯11 (×2)
  bVImaj9 – bII7#11
• Fm7♭5 – B♭7♯9 – B♭m7 – E♭7 – D7 – D♭7 – Cm7♭5 – F9 – B♭7
  vø7 – I7#9 – i7 – IV7 – III7 – bIII7 – iiø7 – V9 – I7
• B♭9sus4 – E♭ (×4)
  I9sus4 – IV

Theme 3

• Fm7♭5 – B♭7♭9 – E♭m7 – E♭m7/D♭ – C9 – C♭maj7 – F7
  vø7 – I7b9 – iv7 – iv⁴₂ – II9 – bIImaj7 – V7
• G♭maj9 – C♭7♯11 (×2)
  bVImaj9 – bII7#11
• Fm7♭5 – B♭7♯9 – B♭m7
  vø7 – I7#9 – i7

Solo

• B♭m7
  i7

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• B♭m7 (i7) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• E♭m7 (iv7) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• E♭m7/D♭ (iv⁴₂) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• G♭maj9 (bVImaj9) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• Cm7♭5 (iiø7) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• B♭9sus4 (I9sus4) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0251, CC0), via ChoCo.
• Not verified: only one expert transcription of this song is available so far.
• 3 chords were simplified to the closest symbol our player supports (for example, an unusual added tone dropped).
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.