the Red Garland school
Block Chords
A chiming right-hand octave with a fifth locked inside, over a rootless left hand.
All 12 keys
C major
Dm7 – G13 – Cmaj9
2 of 6 voices hold from ii to V · total resolve motion 6 semitones
D♭ major (C♯)
E♭m7 – A♭13 – D♭maj9
2 of 6 voices hold from ii to V · total resolve motion 6 semitones
D major
Em7 – A13 – Dmaj9
2 of 6 voices hold from ii to V · total resolve motion 6 semitones
E♭ major
Fm7 – B♭13 – E♭maj9
2 of 6 voices hold from ii to V · total resolve motion 6 semitones
E major
F♯m7 – B13 – Emaj9
2 of 6 voices hold from ii to V · total resolve motion 6 semitones
F major
Gm7 – C13 – Fmaj9
2 of 6 voices hold from ii to V · total resolve motion 6 semitones
G♭ major (F♯)
A♭m7 – D♭13 – G♭maj9
2 of 6 voices hold from ii to V · total resolve motion 6 semitones
G major
Am7 – D13 – Gmaj9
2 of 6 voices hold from ii to V · total resolve motion 6 semitones
A♭ major
B♭m7 – E♭13 – A♭maj9
2 of 6 voices hold from ii to V · total resolve motion 6 semitones
A major
Bm7 – E13 – Amaj9
2 of 6 voices hold from ii to V · total resolve motion 6 semitones
B♭ major
Cm7 – F13 – B♭maj9
2 of 6 voices hold from ii to V · total resolve motion 6 semitones
B major
C♯m7 – F♯13 – Bmaj9
2 of 6 voices hold from ii to V · total resolve motion 6 semitones
The story
Red Garland's trademark — the glassy chime you hear on the Miles Davis Quintet records of 1955–58 — is structural, not harmonic: the right hand plays the melody note doubled at the octave with a perfect fifth locked inside, and the whole structure moves in parallel, one shape sliding along the line. The left hand supplies the actual chord underneath, in the middle register. Here the chime starts on the ii chord's minor 3rd, leans down a half step onto the 13th of the V — the inner fifth clicking from ♭7 to the major 3rd underneath it — and then simply stays put while the left hand resolves the harmony out from under it. Because the structure is parallel rather than chosen note-by-note, longer Garland lines let it drift through passing dissonances; that shimmer is the sound, not a mistake. Play the two hands' rhythms locked together, exactly on the beat: block chords are a percussion instrument.
Listen: Red Garland on "Billy Boy" (Milestones); "If I Were a Bell" (Relaxin').