I’ve played Tadd Dameron’s tune, Lady Bird for years, and have had most of my students who are working at developing their improvisatory skills work on the changes to this tune. It dawned on me, as I was writing the changes out on the board a few weeks ago that the turnaround represents all of the key centres that Dameron takes the tune through.
This is in Eb – I was working with a bari player that day.
The first ii-V is in C, the second in F, the third is in E, but is substituted by the Bb major (which I’m dealing with as a tri-tone substitution), and takes you back to the top.
Maybe this was super obvious, but it was the first time that I realized this – it’s always exciting to discover new concepts within a piece that I’ve played for years!
Low Eh! 
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