Blues for Alice — Chord Changes & Harmonic Analysis
- Composer:
- Charlie Parker
- Year:
- 1951
- Key:
- F major
- Form:
- Blues (12 bars)
- Style:
- Bebop
- Tempo:
- 140–220 BPM
Charlie Parker's advanced bebop blues with complex chromatic ii-V substitutions. A masterclass in bebop harmony over the blues form.
About This Standard
Composed by Charlie Parker and recorded in 1951, Blues for Alice is a 12-bar F blues with a sophisticated system of chromatic substitutions that replaced the standard blues changes with a harmonically rich descending ii-V sequence. This approach — known as a "Bird blues" or "bebop blues" — became one of Parker's most influential harmonic innovations and is now a rite of passage for bebop musicians.
Notable recordings:
- Charlie Parker — (1951 recording)
- Widely recorded — (definitive "Bird blues" form vehicle)
Chord Changes
Notation
Harmonic Analysis
Blues for Alice replaces the standard F blues changes with a chromatic descending ii-V sequence starting on Fmaj7: Fmaj7 | Em7b5 A7 | Dm7 G7 | Cm7 F7 | Bbmaj7 | Bbm7 Eb7 | Am7 D7 | Abm7 Db7 | Gm7 C7 | F (turnaround). This "cycle of ii-Vs" descends through all keys chromatically back to F — the opposite of the standard blues' simple I-IV-V. The form is a direct model of the "Bird blues" style and tests fluency in ii-V-I patterns across all 12 keys.