In jazz, a turnaround is a passage at the end of a section which leads to the next section. This next section is most often the repetition of the previous section or the entire piece or song. The turnaround may lead back to this section either harmonically, as a chord progression, or melodically.
Typical turnarounds are:
- vi - ii - V - (I)
- V/ii - ii - V - (I)
- bIIIo7 - ii - V - (I)
- vi - bVI7#11 - V - (I)
When used in a twelve bar blues pattern, the twelfth bar may end on the dominant (ibid) rather than the more conventional tonic.
(Courtesy of Wikipedia)
Turnarounds are usually the last two bars of each eight bar section of a typical 32-bar AABA form song, the last two bars of a 12-bar Blues progression, or at the end of the chorus in a Verse/Chorus song form which sends you back to the beginning. Examples of commonly encountered jazz/standard turnarounds are shown below in the key of C.
