All the Things You Are Walking Bass Line

Charts disagree in a few bars. The original Real Book has G7 for all of bar 6 and D7 for all of bar 14; iReal Pro, Learn Jazz Standards and Jazzadvice split them into Dm7 G7 and Am7 D7, as shown here. Bar 21 is F#m7 in the Real Book but F#m7b5 in iReal Pro and Jazzadvice (iReal follows it with B7b9), so don't lean on the fifth of that chord. Bar 24's C7#5 is C+7 in the Real Book and C7b13 in iReal Pro; Learn Jazz Standards' chart puts a minor ii-V there instead (Gm7b5 C7b9). Bar 30 is Dbm7 in most charts, Dbm(maj7) in iReal Pro, and Wikipedia's analysis suggests Gb7. Bar 36 is only the turnaround (the Real Book writes G7 C7 in parentheses); on the last chorus the tune ends on Abmaj7 in bar 35. Many bands also add the intro and ending from Dizzy Gillespie's 1945 sextet recording with Charlie Parker and Slam Stewart on bass; jazzguitar.be spells its harmony as Db7#9 to C7#9.

• The root lands on beat 1 of 31 of the 39 chord changes, so the harmony is clear. The rest start on the 3rd or 5th, which keeps the line from sounding like a list of roots.
• 38 of the 38 chord changes are approached by a half step or a whole step, so every new chord arrives smoothly instead of by a jump.
• Non-chord tones sit on the weak beats: 19 on beat 2 and 7 on beat 4. That's where passing and chromatic notes sound intentional instead of wrong.
• No note repeats back to back. A repeated note is the quickest way to make a walking line sound stiff.

• Five key centers in 36 bars: Ab, C, Eb, G and E. The first A lands in C, the second in G and the bridge in E, so you've got to know where each ii-V is headed, not just what the next chord is.
• The A sections run on roots moving up a fourth (F, Bb, Eb, Ab, Db), then slide up a half step for a ii-V-I in a new key (Dm7 G7 to Cmaj7). The second A is the first one moved down a perfect fourth, so on a bass tuned in fourths, a shape from the first A often sits at the same frets one string lower.
• The bridge is two ii-V-Is, Am7 D7 to Gmaj7 and then F#m7 B7 to Emaj7, a minor third lower. Bar 24 turns you around: raise the B of an E major chord to C and you've got C augmented (C, E, G#), the V of F minor. G# and Ab are the same pitch, so the third of Emaj7 becomes the third of the Fm7 that starts the last A.
• The last A borrows the minor iv: Dbmaj7 turns into Dbm7, then Cm7, Bdim7 and Bbm7. Those roots walk down in half steps, Db to C to B to Bb, and land on the closing ii-V-I in Ab.
• The tune starts on Fm7, the vi chord, not on Abmaj7, and the turnaround in bar 36 is a minor ii-V (Gm7b5 C7) aimed at F minor. The last A runs 12 bars, so if you count it like a 32-bar tune, you'll turn around four bars early.

• The Quintet (Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus, Max Roach), Jazz at Massey Hall (1953), with Charles Mingus on bass.
• Sonny Rollins and Coleman Hawkins, Sonny Meets Hawk! (1963), with Bob Cranshaw on bass.
• Ron Carter and Jim Hall, Live at Village West (1982), with Ron Carter on bass.