Transcript HERE

Miles Davis Quintet
‘Four’
About Davis
Lived from 1926 to 1991
Regarded as the lead figure in American jazz through the 2nd
half of the 20th century
Worked with the saxophonist Charlie Parker when he was
younger to develop the ‘Bebop’ style of jazz
In the late 50s help develop the ‘Cool Jazz’ style with relaxed
tempos and modal harmonies
In the 60s (which this recording is taken from) he changed to a
more extreme version of the ‘Bebop’ style using faster tempos
and a new free style of improvisation
Kind of Blue. The best selling
jazz album of all time.
Performing Forces
How would you describe the playing style of the Double
Bass?
Walking Bass (scalic figure using continuous crotchets) played
pizzicato.
What about the Piano?
Chordal accompaniment, know as ‘comping’
Drums?
Jazz swing rhythm on the ride cymbal. Plays occasional fills
on the snare, incorporating ‘rimshots’
Trumpet techniques!
In your score find an example of the following techniques:
High register playing
Fall offs
Ghost notes
Pitch bending
Trumpet techniques! - Answers
High register playing
Third chorus (bar. 3.2, 3.3, 3.4 etc.)
Fall offs – Like a glissando (fall off the note to nothing)
First chorus (bar. 1.15)
Ghost notes – very quiet note not always on a certain pitch
Second chorus (bar. 2.1)
Pitch bending – using the lips to alter the pitch
First chorus (bars. 1.19 – 1.20)
Structure
‘Head’ arrangement – statement of the main melody.
Head is 32 bars
A set of improvised solos occur after the ‘Head’ which are
known as ‘Choruses’. They are also 32 bars in length.
The same chord changes are used in both sections
Tonality
What is the key at the beginning of the piece?
E-flat Major
How would you describe the tonality choruses?
Unclear. The style in the chorus is so chromatic that the
tonality isn’t always evident.
Harmony
Because this piece derives from the BeBop style, the harmony is
complex and dissonant.
Every chord is an extended chord. The concentration of the upper
extensions of the chords is an important feature of the BeBop style
What type of chords are these:
E-flat
9
(bar. 8)
E-flat Major 9
F# (bar. H1)
F# diminished 7th
How does the Double Bass part play over the first four chords?
Rises Chromatically
Harmony cont.
Find an example of a circle of 5th’s progression (*Hint – the
progression moves down in 5th’s)
First Chorus (bars 1.26 – 1.29)
There is frequent use of chord substitutions in this piece.
What is a chord subsitution?
Harmony cont.
What do you notice about the chord used every 4 bars in the
Head?
Moves to a Minor 7th chord
Look at bars H15-16. What would Fm7 and Bb7 be in Roman
numerals in the given key?
ii7 – V7
Where have you seen these two chords before?
Two chords before the I chord in a perfect cadence
ii7 – V7 is the ‘turnaround’ progression in Jazz harmony used to
lead back to the beginning.
Melody
Head Melody – Three note, scalic phrases, repeated and then
inverted
The melody in the next four bars is a sequence of the first
four bars down a …?
Perfect 5th (Bb to Eb)
Melody cont.
Describe the range of the Head melody
Narrow (D-F minor 10th)
In the break and choruses the scalic idea of the Head is
retained
The improvisations are based on the chords of the head
rather than the head melody
All the Trumpet techniques mentioned in performing forces
have an effect of the melody.
Melody cont.
What melodic technique is a feature in the 3rd chorus?
Repeated notes?
No! Feature of the 4th chorus
Low Register?
No! Feature in the 2nd chorus
Wide Leaps?
Yes! Bars. 3.21-3.24
Texture
What is the general texture of the piece?
Melody Dominated Homophony
Describe how the Trumpet and Tenor Sax play in the Head
Tenor Sax plays the octave below
Where is in the extract does the texture change to
Monophonic?
Break (two bars before 1.1)
The Piano is sometimes silent at the beginning of the
choruses leaving a two-part texture of Trumpet, Double
Bass and Drum Kit accompaniment.
Rhythm & Metre
The quavers tend to be slightly swung
Where are longer note values played in the Trumpet part?
Example – Bar. 1.15
Why does he use longer note values here?
To make use of Trumpet techniques like fall offs
Other than quavers, what other types of notes values do you
find in the choruses?
Triplet quavers (Bars. 2.5-2.6)
Rhythm & Metre cont.
The head is heavily syncopated. The first beat of the bar is
usually avoided.
Almost every Piano chord is ‘pushed’. What does this
mean?
Pushed – played before the beat.
The main rhythm used in the piece is continuous groups of
quavers, sometimes playing for three straight bars.
b
E Major
High Register playing
7
ii –
7
V
Kind of Blue
Ghost Note
Comping
Break
Repeating Notes
Circle of
th
5 ’s
Chord Extension