All Blues - Miles Davis

All Blues - Miles Davis

1. Dynamics

   • crescendos
   • diminuendos

2. Texture

   • mainly melody dominated homophony
   • piano comping

3. Melody

   • based on G mixolydian mode - allows for more freedom when improvising
   • intro
     • first riff played by string bass - pizzicato
     • second riff played by alto and tenor sax - in thirds
   • head
     • played by trumpet with harmon mute on
     • major 6th intervals with stepwise motion
     • blue notes, crushed notes and mordents
     • not improvised
     • mostly legato
   • solos
     • Miles Davis (trumpet)
       • harmon mute off for darker, richer sound
       • improvised
       • lots of rests and sustained notes that show off unique sound
       • more blue notes
       • few fall-offs
       • pitch stays middle range
     • Cannonball Adderley (alto sax)
       • pitch uses upper range
       • more running scales and short bursts
       • virtuosic
     • John Coltrane (tenor sax)
       • virtuosic
       • intricate rhythm
       • scales, arpeggios and triplets
       • more dissonant - plays away from the chord
   • outro
     • tonic note repeated with crushed notes

4. Harmony/Tonality

   • Tonic key: G major with flattened 7th
   • piano plays dissonant trills and altered and extended chords
   • 12 bar blues chord sequence (changes):

5. Rhythm/Metre

   • 6/4 time signature (jazz waltz)
   • swung quavers
   • syncopated
   • cross rhythms

6. Structure

   • 12 bar blues
   • intro
   • head
     • repeated before link
   • solos
     • frontline solos - 48 bars long
     • Evans' piano solo - 24 bars long
     • 4 bar link passage between each solo
   • head repeated twice before outro
   • intro riff between repeat of head and outro

7. Instrumentation

   • frontline instruments
     • trumpet
     • alto sax
     • tenor sax
   • rhythm section
     • double/string bass
     • piano
     • drum kit - snare played with brushes

8. About the Piece

   • Modal jazz piece from the album "Kind of Blue"
   • 1959 - Jazz period

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