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All blues - Miles Davis (Melody (Trumpet: Lasts for four choruses and is…
All blues - Miles Davis
Structure
- The main melody is called the head and is played by the trumpet and is heard at the start and end of the piece.
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- 'All Blues' is based on a 12 bar blues progression.
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All Blues General Points
- Comes from the album 'Kind of Blue'
- The band is a 'sextet' consisting of a front line and a rhythm section.
- The album was recording with next to no rehearsal and the musicians have no score, they were told only the following things: Structure, basic chord sequence, main melodic idea and which mode or scale to improvise on.
Melody
- Trumpet: Lasts for four choruses and is made up of short syncopated motifs.
- Alto Sax: Lasts for four choruses and uses quicker notes and a wider range than the trumpet.
- The head melody is quite simple and is characterized by a rising 6th (from D to B). The head is then followed by 4 solos.
- Tenor Sax: Lasts for four choruses and uses fast scales and quick runs. It's very virtuosic.
- Piano: Lasts for 2 choruses. This is a much calmer improvisation that the others with a simple melody and a string of parallel chords.
Harmony and Tonality
- This is the same as being in the mixolydian mode and so this is why we can describe this piece as being an example of modal jazz.
- The piece is in G Major but has a flattened 7th (a blue note). To play this scale you would go from G - G on the piano, using all the white notes.
Rhythm, Metre and Tempo
- The tempo is described as 'Jazz Waltz' as the 6/4 can be divided into two sets of 3/4 per bar.
- The piece is performed with swinging quavers.
- The score is notated in 6/4.
- There is frequent use of syncopation.
Instrumentation
In the front line there is:
- Miles Davis on trumpet.
- Julian Adderly on the alto sax.
- John Coltrane on the tenor sax.
In the rhythm section there is:
- Bill Evans on on piano.
- Paul Chambers on bass.
- Jimmy Cobb on the drums.
The band consists of 2 different sections, the front line and the rhythm section.
Dynamics
The intro is quite soft
• The trumpet uses a mute in the Head section, which makes
it sound quieter and ‘far away’
• First trumpet solo has lots dynamic variety as he plays with
expression.
• Generally the trumpet solo is quite loud