Here are the fingerings that I use to play a chord-melody arrangement of Cole Porter's 1932 standard Night And Day. I play it in the guitar-friendly key of C not the usual key of Eb. The song is played in a moderate 4/4 tempo.
K. J. McElrath, Musicologist for JazzStandards.com, explains: "The beauty of the opening harmonic progressions lies in the initial V7 which is preceded by a major seventh chord a half step higher (in the original, Bma7-Bb7). This is purely an embellishment; the melody would work just as well without it but would sound quite bland. The consequent eight measure phrase uses a descending progression that was quite remarkable for its time: #ivø7 – iv – I(3rd in bass) – biii˚ - ii – V7 – I (in the original key, this is Am7(b5) – Abm – Eb/G – Gb˚7 – Fm7 – Bb7 –Eb). This chord progression has been used subsequently as an “outro” for so many tunes by so many jazz players (particularly big band arrangers) that it has nearly become a cliche.
The “B” section contains another surprise when it leaps up to the bIII chord, going back and forth between it and the tonic I chord. This particular harmonic progression was later used frequently in the film scores of biblical epics, but Porter’s use of it in a popular song context seems to be unique."
