All Blues-Miles Davis AOS3 GCSE Music Edexcel

Background

Jazz originates from South America in the early 20th century, sung by African slaves.
Main feature of jazz, across all types of jazz, is improvisation.
Miles Davis was one of the best known Jazz trumpeters, and he developed modal Jazz, which All Blues is an example of.
Bebop jazz is a fast and virtuosic type of jazz, with improvisations based on complex chord progressions.
Modal, however, is more laid-back and uncomplicated.
All Blues is from the album Kind of Blue, which was recorded in New York on 2 March and 22 April 1959.
From a sextet, a group of 6 players.

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Frontline- the main melody and prominent solos-
- Trumpet-Miles Davis
- Alto sax-Julian Adderly
- Tenor Sax-Paul Coltrane
Rhythm section-harmonic and rhythmic backing-
- Piano-Bill Evans
- Bass guitar-Paul Chambers
- Drums-Jim Cobbs

Snare drum-wire brushes are used at the start of the piece but then are changed to sticks later on.
Bass guitar-completely pizzicato all the way through.
Trumper-Harmon mute is used for the head meoldy, with its stem removed.
Piano begins comping in the solos; accompanying the solos with chords and short melodic ideas.

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The structure is a head arrangement. A head is the main melody, which is based on the 12 bar blues, played by the muted trumpet. One cycle of the 12 bar blues is a chorus.
Introduction: Introduction and riff(played by saxes in minor thirds)
Head:
- Head 1 and riff
- Head 2 and riff.
Solos:
- Trumpet solo (4 choruses) and riff
- Alto sax solo (4 choruses) and riff
- Tenor sax solo(4 choruses) and riff
- Piano solo (4 choruses) and riff
Head:
- Head 3 and riff
- Head 4 and riff
Coda:
- Muted trumpet solo.

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Introduction: piano plays clusters of semi-quavers: E, Fnatural, G, A.
The riffs by the saxes move in steps, and in a very narrow range.
The head melody is simply, with rising 6ths from D to B, which mirrors the falling leaps in the bass guitar.
Trumpet solo: Short, syncopated motifs. Ghost notes are used, which are very faint and quiet. Glissandos are used for 'fall offs'.
Alto sax solo: Wider range and quicker notes, full of scales and arpeggios.
Tenor sax solo: Quick runs and fast scales.

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It is in G major, with a flattened 7th, which means it is is Mixolydian mode.
Usual 12 bar blues in G:
- G, G, G, G
- C, C, G, G
- D, C, G, G
The 12 bar blues chord progression sequence in All Blues:
- G7, G7, G7, G7
- Gm7, Gm7, G7, D7
- Eb7#9/D7#9, F/G, F/G6
The saxes play in minor thirds in the intro riffs.
Extended chords (adding notes on top of normal chords) are used, a common feature of jazz.
For example, Eb7#9 Is Eb, G, Bb, Db, F#. Db is the 7th note above 3B and F# is the sharpened 9th note above Eb.

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It is a jazz waltz, with 'swing quavers' as performance directions-this enhances the jazz feel.
It is in 6/4, which is unusual for jazz music, which is normally in 4/4.
Syncopation occurs all the time.
In the intro, the piano plays tremolo-like notes.

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