Sunny side of the street is an excellent standard to analyse as it contains many

common jazz chord progressions, if you learn to navigate this standard you will
find most traditional jazz chord progressions quite similar.

Key Moments

- E7 | Fmaj7 this is the first key moment when improvising. It is important to

take note of the G# which leads to the 3rd of F (A). A basic and common
scale to think of over the E7 is the Mixolydian b9b13, which although
sounds scary is actually achieved by playing the A harmonic minor scale
over the E7. So in short I often think of the E7 as the V leading to A minor (I
play A harmonic minor emphasising E7 tones) and then resolve it to F
rather then Am.
- G7 G#dim7| OR Bm7b5 E7b9. This bar is an important bar as it is a minor ii
V leading to A minor, A harmonic minor works well here.
- The D7 in bar 6 is an important moment it is a V/V chord, it is essential to
consider the F# here. You could be thinking of using the D mixolydian or D
Lydian Dominant Scale
- The bridge modulates to F major temporarily.
- It then moves back to the V/V sound similar to bars 5 and 6 and you can
use similar ideas scales or arpeggios used there.

*****************************************************************

Most jazz tunes use one of 2 types of Dominant 7 chords.

- A normal V chord or a secondary dominant V/V chord.

- As a jazz player you need to be able to quickly identify if the
dominant 7 chord is functioning as a V chord, ie as part of a normal ii
V I or is it functioning as a V/V chord. Because the way you approach
the dominant 7 chord in both these instances must be different.

A dominant 7 acting as a normal V chord opens many possibilities. You

can play pretty much an alteration and sound hip and jazzy, this is because
the tension that is created here is to be brought out in your soloing. You
have the option of playing altered scales, the mixo b9 b13, a normal mixo
or pretty much any choice of scale, hexatonic, arpeggio or line that brings
out that tension.

E.g Dm7 | G7 | Cmaj 7

 - Over the G7 you have MANY options as long as you aim to resolve it
to Cmajor 7 and bring out the basic structure of a G7 (1 3 b7) the
extensions are all up for debate.

- The 2nd type of dominant 7 chord that is often identified in jazz tunes
is the V/V chord as seen in this tune.

Once you identify that this dominant chord is functioning as a V/V your
options become much more limited. The tension that you want to aim at
bringing out is the the temporary change in key and the #11 of the chord.

The most common approach to the V/V chord is the Lydian dominant scale,
the mixolydian or the whole tone.

Check out All of Me and Take the A train to see if you can identify the V/V
chords and the normal V chords.