Whisper Not by Benny Golson

Overview

Key: C minor · Chords used: 33 · Sections: 13

Form: Intro → Intro → Solo → B Section → B Section → C Section → C Section → A Section → D Section → A Section → B Section → B Section → B 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 1

• Cm7 – Cm7/B♭ – Am7♭5 – D7 – Gm7 – Gm7/F – Em7♭5 – A7 – Dm7 – Bm7♭5 – Em7♭5 – A7 – Dm7 – Em7 – Fm7 – G7
  i7 – i⁴₂ – viø7 – II7 – v7 – v⁴₂ – iiiø7 – VI7 – ii7 – viiø7 – iiiø7 – VI7 – ii7 – iii7 – iv7 – V7

Intro 2

• Cm7 – Cm7/B♭ – Am7♭5 – D7 – Gm7 – Gm7/F – Em7♭5 – A7 – Dm7 – Bm7♭5 – Em7♭5 – A7 – Dm7 – Em7 – Fm7 – B♭7 – Am7♭5 – Am7♭5/A – D7♭9 – Gm7 – Gm7/F – Em7♭5 – A7 – Dm7♭5 – G7 – Cm7 – Cm7/B♭ – Am7♭5 – D7 – Gm7 – Gm7/F – Em7♭5 – A7♭9 – Dm7 – Bm7♭5 – Em7♭5 – A7 – Dm7 – Dm7/C
  i7 – i⁴₂ – viø7 – II7 – v7 – v⁴₂ – iiiø7 – VI7 – ii7 – viiø7 – iiiø7 – VI7 – ii7 – iii7 – iv7 – bVII7 – viø7 – viø7 – II7b9 – v7 – v⁴₂ – iiiø7 – VI7 – iiø7 – V7 – i7 – i⁴₂ – viø7 – II7 – v7 – v⁴₂ – iiiø7 – VI7b9 – ii7 – viiø7 – iiiø7 – VI7 – ii7 – ii⁴₂

Solo

• A♭7 – G7
  bVI7 – V7

B Section 1

• Cm7 – Am7♭5 – D7 – Gm7 – Em7♭5 – A7 – Dm7 – Bm7♭5 – Em7♭5 – A7 – Dm7 – Em7 – Fm7 – G7
  i7 – viø7 – II7 – v7 – iiiø7 – VI7 – ii7 – viiø7 – iiiø7 – VI7 – ii7 – iii7 – iv7 – V7

B Section 2

• Cm7 – Am7♭5 – D7 – Gm7 – Em7♭5 – A7 – Dm7 – Bm7♭5 – Em7♭5 – A7 – Dm7 – Em7 – Fm7 – B♭7
  i7 – viø7 – II7 – v7 – iiiø7 – VI7 – ii7 – viiø7 – iiiø7 – VI7 – ii7 – iii7 – iv7 – bVII7
• Am7♭5 – D7 – Gm7 – Em7♭5 – A7 – Dm7♭5 – G7 (×2)
  viø7 – II7 – v7 – iiiø7 – VI7 – iiø7 – V7

C Section 1

• Cm7 – Cm7/C – Cm7/B♭ – Am7 – Am7/A – D7 – D7/D – Gm7 – Gm7/G – Gm7/F – Em7♭5 – Em7♭5/E – A7 – A7/A – Dm7 – Dm7/D – Bm7♭5 – Bm7♭5/B – Em7♭5 – Em7♭5/E – A7 – A7/A – Dm7 – Dm7/D – Em7 – Em7/E – Fm7 – Fm7/F – G7 – G7/G
  i7 – i7 – i⁴₂ – vi7 – vi7 – II7 – II7 – v7 – v7 – v⁴₂ – iiiø7 – iiiø7 – VI7 – VI7 – ii7 – ii7 – viiø7 – viiø7 – iiiø7 – iiiø7 – VI7 – VI7 – ii7 – ii7 – iii7 – iii7 – iv7 – iv7 – V7 – V7

C Section 2

• Cm7 – Cm7/C – Cm7/B♭ – Am7 – Am7/A – D7 – D7/D – Gm7 – Gm7/G – Gm7/F – Em7♭5 – Em7♭5/E – A7 – A7/A – Dm7 – Dm7/D – Bm7♭5 – Bm7♭5/B – Em7♭5 – Em7♭5/E – A7 – A7/A – Dm7 – Dm7/D – Em7 – Em7/E – Fm7 – B♭7
  i7 – i7 – i⁴₂ – vi7 – vi7 – II7 – II7 – v7 – v7 – v⁴₂ – iiiø7 – iiiø7 – VI7 – VI7 – ii7 – ii7 – viiø7 – viiø7 – iiiø7 – iiiø7 – VI7 – VI7 – ii7 – ii7 – iii7 – iii7 – iv7 – bVII7

A Section 1

• Am7♭5 – Am7♭5/A – D7
  viø7 – viø7 – II7

D Section

• Gm7 – Gm7/F – Em7♭5 – A7 – Dm7♭5 – G7
  v7 – v⁴₂ – iiiø7 – VI7 – iiø7 – V7

A Section 2

• Cm7 – Cm7/B♭ – Am7♭5 – D7 – Gm7 – Gm7/F – Em7♭5 – A7
  i7 – i⁴₂ – viø7 – II7 – v7 – v⁴₂ – iiiø7 – VI7

B Section 3

• Dm7 – Bm7♭5 – Em7♭5 – A7
  ii7 – viiø7 – iiiø7 – VI7

B Section 4

Same chords as B Section 3.

B Section 5

• Dm7 – Bm7♭5 – Em7♭5 – A7 – Dm6
  ii7 – viiø7 – iiiø7 – VI7 – ii6

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Cm7	i7	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, B Section, C Section, A Section
Cm7/B♭	i⁴₂	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, C Section, A Section
Am7♭5	viø7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro, B Section, A Section
D7	II7	Secondary dominant (V/v)	Intro, B Section, C Section, A Section
Gm7	v7	In the key	Intro, B Section, C Section, D Section, A Section
Gm7/F	v⁴₂	In the key	Intro, C Section, D Section, A Section
Em7♭5	iiiø7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro, B Section, C Section, D Section, A Section
A7	VI7	Secondary dominant (V/ii)	Intro, B Section, C Section, D Section, A Section
Dm7	ii7	Borrowed from C major	Intro, B Section, C Section
Bm7♭5	viiø7	Borrowed from C major	Intro, B Section, C Section
Em7	iii7	Borrowed from C major	Intro, B Section, C Section
Fm7	iv7	In the key	Intro, B Section, C Section
G7	V7	In the key	Intro, Solo, B Section, C Section, D Section
B♭7	bVII7	In the key	Intro, B Section, C Section
Am7♭5/A	viø7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro, A Section
D7♭9	II7b9	Secondary dominant (V/v)	Intro
Dm7♭5	iiø7	In the key	Intro, B Section, D Section
A7♭9	VI7b9	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro
Dm7/C	ii⁴₂	Borrowed from C major	Intro
A♭7	bVI7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Solo
Cm7/C	i7	Home chord (tonic)	C Section
Am7	vi7	Borrowed from C major	C Section
Am7/A	vi7	Borrowed from C major	C Section
D7/D	II7	Secondary dominant (V/v)	C Section
Gm7/G	v7	In the key	C Section
Em7♭5/E	iiiø7	Outside the key (chromatic)	C Section
A7/A	VI7	Outside the key (chromatic)	C Section
Dm7/D	ii7	Borrowed from C major	C Section
Bm7♭5/B	viiø7	Borrowed from C major	C Section
Em7/E	iii7	Borrowed from C major	C Section
Fm7/F	iv7	In the key	C Section
G7/G	V7	In the key	C Section
Dm6	ii6	Borrowed from C major	B Section

Harmonic highlights

• Dm7 (ii7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C major.
• Bm7♭5 (viiø7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C major.
• Em7 (iii7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C major.
• Dm7/C (ii⁴₂) is borrowed from the parallel key, C major.
• Am7 (vi7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C major.
• Am7/A (vi7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C major.
• Dm7/D (ii7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C major.
• Bm7♭5/B (viiø7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C major.
• Em7/E (iii7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C major.
• Dm6 (ii6) is borrowed from the parallel key, C major.
• D7 acts as V/v: it resolves to Gm7.
• A7 acts as V/ii: it resolves to Dm7♭5.
• D7♭9 acts as V/v: it resolves to Gm7.
• D7/D acts as V/v: it resolves to Gm7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Whisper Not-Rev JE” (credited “Golson Benny”, style Medium Up Swing) 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 “Whisper Not-Rev JE” (credited “Golson Benny”, 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 100%).
• 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.