Question about garners misty

[groovejunkk]

Hello fellow music nerds

I have a question about erroll garners misty. The second ending of the A part sounds good to my ears, but i cannot seem to theoretical understand why...
The Chords are
Ebmaj7 I Bbm7 Eb7 I
Abmaj7 I Ab7 Db7 I
Ebmaj7 Cm7 I Fm7 Bb7 I
Eb6 I Db9 Ebmaj7 I

All the changes are quite logical to except the Db9 in bar 8. It might be seen as a tritone substitute to G7 but as it's dissolving (for my ear it actually is) in Ebmaj that doesn't seem as the best explanation to me.

Kind regards

[mdmellis]

A bVII chord (in this case a Db chord in the key of Eb) is referred to as a "backdoor" dominant (at least that's what I've heard it called). Like many things in theory, there are several ways of looking at it. One explanation is that it is borrowed from the relative minor. Another is that it is a diminished harmony substitution. For example, in the key of Eb, the dominant (Bb7b9) can be voiced rootless as a Bdim (B-D-F-Ab or b9-3rd-5th-7th of Bb7). Well, the notes of a Bdim are also rootless voicings of G7b9 or E7b9 or Db7b9 (the chord in question). That means all 4 of these chords are possible substitutions for each other.

If that doesn't help maybe this link will shed more light on it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backdoor_progression

-Mark

[groovejunkk]

Thanks a lot Marc
That shed some light for me!!! Just figured out i should look deeper into substitiutions!

[steven hartman]

Barry Harris calls dominant chords that share the same diminished chord--eg, Db7, E7, G7, Bb7, and whence can be substituted for one another---sister dominants.