Barry Harris’ harmonic approach to Smoke Gets in Your Eyes centers on the idea that major harmony is not simply a static major scale, but a living relationship between the major 6th chord and the diminished 7th chord built from the leading tones around it. Harris called this t h e “6th diminished ” concept. Instead of thinking only in terms of scales and modes, he taught pianists to hear harmony as movement between stable chord tones and passing diminished structures.