Miles Davis- All Blues

Melody

• The melody is simple and characterised by rising 6ths (from D to B)
• Followed by four solos: -Trumpet solo made up of syncopated solos.       -Alto Saxophone solo                                             -Tenor Saxophone solo               -Piano solo

Structure

• 'All Blues' is based on the 12 bar blues chord progression.
• Introduction
• Head 1
• Solos for Trumpet, Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone and Piano
• Head 2
• Coda (solo for Muted Trumpet)

Harmony and tonality

• We can think of 'All Blues being in G major with a flattened 7th called ablue note.
• This has Mixolydian influence so is referred to as Modal Jazz.

Rythme

• The tempo is Jazz Waltz and is in 6/4
• It is performed with swing quavers.
• Has frequent syncopation.

Instrumentation

• The snare drum is played with wire brushes at the start of the piece.
• The bass plays pizzicato throughout the piece of music.
• The trumpet is muted.
• The piano plays tremolo at the start of the piece. Once the solos join in, the piano accompanies it with chords, this is called comping.