Miles Davis 'All Blues'- Kind of Blue
made up of a sextet (group of 6 players)
FRONTLINE
Miles Davis (trumpet)
Julian 'Cannonball' Adderley (alto sax)
John Coltrane (tenor sax)
RHYTHM SECTION
Bill Evans (piano)
Paul Chambers (bass)
Jimmy Cobb (drums)
play main melody & prominent solos
provides the harmonic & rhythmic backing
album recording had no rehearsal & no score
basic information given was overall structure / basic chord sequence / main melodic idea / mode/scale to improvise on
STRUCTURE
based on 12 bar blues progression (12 bar chord sequence which returns throughout)
one statement is called a chorus
main melody is called the head (played by the muted trumpet & lasts for 12 bars - heard at the start & end of the piece)
sections separated by a simple 4 bar riff in parallel 3rds
broken into 5 sections (called head arrangement)
INTRO - opening 4 bars played by the rhythm section followed by the riff
HEAD 1 - head melody, played twice & followed by the riff
SOLOS - trumpet, alto/tenor sax & piano, each followed by the riff
HEAD 2 - head melody, played twice & followed by the riff
CODA - solo for muted trumpet
MELODY
head melody is simple & is characterised by rising 6ths (interval D - B)
four improvised solos follow
TRUMPET SOLO - for 4 choruses, made of short syncopated motifs
ALTO SAX SOLO - for 4 choruses, quicker & wider range of notes & is more virtuosic
TENOR SAX SOLO - for 4 choruses, uses fast scales & quicker runs & is very virtuosic
PIANO SOLO - for 2 choruses, calmer & a simple melody with parallel chords