All Blues Miles Davis. Year 10

Transcription

1 All Blues Miles Davis Year 10

2 Section INTRO HEAD 1 Bars and timings 1-8 0:00-0: :21-0:52 Musical Features. Begins with drums (playing with brushes), bass riff and piano (playing trills (A-G and E-F). These trills create a sense of dissonance. Bass riff continue almost throughout the entire piece. Time signature is in 6/4 although it may feel like 3/4. Bar 5 Saxophones enter with harmonised riff. Davis plays the melody (head) for the first time on the muted trumpet. The melody uses stepwise movement. Towards the end of the section chords replace piano trills and the saxophone part becomes legato resulting in a change of texture. Link :53-1: :03-1:34 Link :35-1:45 Same as bars 5-8 of the intro. Piano trills reappear. The link breaks up the 12-bar sequence. Same as the first time we hear the head but with slight developments and alterations to the melody. Piano trills drop out changing the texture dramatically. Piano now plays the original saxophone riff. SOLOS Davis (Trumpet) :46-3:51 Ride cymbal is introduced on the drum kit. Mute is removed from the trumpet, which results in a clearer tone. Frontline instruments drop out. The solo uses the C and G mixolydian modes to solo. (As opposed to the chords a common feature of jazz music). The ride cymbal keep time throughout and the drummer adds rhythmic snare drum interjections throughout the solo. Comped piano chords throughout the solo. The solo last for four 12-bar phrases and contains NO link passages

3 Link :51-4:01 Davis drops out. Same as previous links but without the horns. Adderley (Alto Saxophone) :01-6:05 Link anticipates the next solo section. Again, Adderley solos over four 12-bar phrases More angular thank Davis s solo. (More leaps and short phrases). Chromatic movement in the solo passages. Technically challenging passages. (Fast moving notes). Adderley plays with a thick tone making the alto saxophone sound more like a tenor saxophone. Link :05-6:15 Similar to previous Links. Adderley drops out, handing the solo spotlight to Coltrane. Coltrane (Tenor Saxophone) :15-8:17 Like previous solos. Coltrane plays four 12-bar phrases. Very different tone to Adderley. Limited vibrato. First chorus is very simple and each repeat develops and become more complicated. Coltrane uses fast paced phrases and starts passages at various beats of the bar giving the solo the feeling of being incredibly free. Link :18-8:27 Evans (Piano) :28-9:28 Link :29-9:39 Coltrane drops out, handing the solo spotlight to Evans. In contrast to previous solos, Evan only place two 12-bar phrases. In the first phrase Evans continue comping in the left hand and solos with a right hand melody. In the second solo phrase, Evans combines hands to introduce a chordal-based solo. Piano starts with the saxophone riff before returning to trills after 2 bars. Saxophones return to the harmonised riff hears at the beginning. Ride cymbal fades.

4 :39-10:10 Link :11-10:21 Same as head 1, with slight developments and alterations of the melody. Returns to muted trumpet. Saxophones continue to play the harmonised riff. The piano continues to trill :21-10:52 Link :52-11:02 OUTRO /9 11:03-fade Further slight alterations and developments to the melody. The drums back down a great deal contributing to an overall drop in volume as the end approaches. The final (19 th ) repeat of the 12-bar pattern Davis plays a short solo, mostly on the tonic note of G. Saxophones and piano continue with the harmonised riff and trills. The song fades out towards the end of the final chorus. Keywords Trills Dissonance Riff Muted Stepwise Legato Frontline Comping Chromatic Vibrato Tonic Rapid alteration between two notes to produce a wavering sound. A lack of harmony among musical notes. A short repeated phrase in popular music and jazz. Creating a muffled sound as the result of using a mute. Music moving in distinct stages (step-by-step). To play smoothly and flowingly. The instruments playing the lead lines in jazz music. (In this case the trumpet alto sax and tenor sax. Playing a musical accompaniment (in jazz). Using notes not belonging to the diatonic scale of the key in which a passage is written. A rapid, slight variation in pitch producing a stronger or richer tone. In music, the tonic is the first scale degree of a diatonic scale and the tonal centre or final resolution tone.

5 Background and Context All Blues was featured on the album Kind of Blue recorded in New York in The album was recorded in 9 hours. The Line Up; Miles Davies Julian Cannonball Adderley John Coltrane Bill Evans Paul Chambers Jimmy Cobb Trumpet Alto Saxophone Tenor Saxophone Piano Bass Drums Many say that the thing that makes this album so special is the fact all the instrumentalist work so well together. Each musician brought contrasting qualities to the recording and as such complimented one another s work as soloists and accompaniment. Davis felt like Jazz musicians were becoming to restricted by chords and therefore wanted to explore the concept of modal jazz in the search of performance freedom. As a result of using modal jazz, All Blues is significantly longer than most jazz standards and suited Coltrane s love of extended soloing. Soloists were freed from the restrictions of changing chords. The piece is based entirely on the following 12-bar blues structure; Changes for All Blues : Head/Solos Bar G7 G7 G7 G C7 C7 G7 G D7#9 E7#9/D7#9 G7 G7