Miles Davis Four (opening)

1. Miles Davis Four (opening)

2. Background Information and Performance Circumstances • Miles Davis was a trumpeter and composer (1926-1991) • Considered to be one of the leading figures in American jazz in the second half of the 20th century • Worked with Charlie Parker and others to develop the beginnings of modern jazz and what became known as Bebop

3. BEBOP FAST SPEEDS COMPLICATED HARMONIES DIZZY GILLESPIE CHORD SUBSTITUTION COMPLEX SYNCOPATION ALTERED CHORDS

4. In the late 50’s, Davis helped to develop ‘Cool’ Jazz • During this time he recorded the best selling jazz album of all time – ‘Kind of Blue’. Considered to be an American ‘national treasure’. • Listen to the opening track ‘So What’. It’s much more relaxed than ‘Four’. Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue / Made In Heaven [pt I] - YouTube • This recorded version of Four is much slower than our version from the anthology Miles Davis - FOUR - YouTube

5. PERFORMING FORCES AND THEIR HANDLING • Davis uses a small ensemble for this piece – a quintet PIANO BASS TENOR SAXOPHONE TRUMPET DRUMS

6. FEATURES OF THE INSTRUMENTAL STYLE: • Fast walking bass line, played pizzicato on double bass. • ‘Comping’ chords played on the piano (the piano player does solo later in the complete recording) • Rapid rhythm on the ride cymbal, with occasional fills on the snare drum. • Occasional rim shots.

7. EXTENDED PLAYING TECHNIQUES Miles Davis uses a number of special techniques in his playing, making it highly virtuosic: • Make a list of the ones you can hear Very high in pitch (beginning of 3rd chorus) Use of ‘Fall offs’ - a kind of glissando eg. End of 1.15 Pitch Bend - eg. 1.19-1.20 Half Valving - pushing valve only part way down Ghost notes - quiet note that hardly exists eg. 2nd note of the 2nd chorus

8. STRUCTURE • This piece is a head arrangement • The main 32 bar tune is at the beginning after an introduction on the drums • There is then a series of improvised 32 bar ‘choruses’ • We only have the trumpet solos in our extract, but later there are solos for the tenor sax and piano • The same chord changes are used for the head and choruses • The Head is a 16 bar theme repeated

9. TEXTURE • Describe the texture in the Head • Melody dominated homophony – trumpet and sax play in octaves over piano chords synchronised with the double bass • What is the texture two bars before 1.1? • monophonic • Find an example of a bare two-part texture • Beginning of first chorus where piano is silent

10. TONALITY • What’s the main key? Eb major • Very chromatic in style so key is often blurred

11. HARMONY • Analyse the underlying chord progressions in the Head. • The harmonies are very complex and dissonant because of the bebop style • Every chord used by the pianist is an extended chord • Other features include: Use of substitution chords (b1.25) Eb chord instead of Gm7 Circle of 5ths (bar 1.26-1.29)

12. MELODY Main Head Melody: Motif ‘x’ ‘x’ inverted • This 4 bar phrase is then repeated in sequence, down a perfect 5th. • The next 2 bars are more chromatic and start to include larger leaps like the 6th at H10-11

13. The Head has a narrow range – what is it? 9th from low Eb to high F • The choruses have a much wider range • Scalic idea runs through choruses • Low pitches feature in 2nd chorus • 3rd chorus features very high pitches and wide leaps • Repeated notes are a distinctive feature of the 4th chorus • Davis does develop short motifs – can you find some examples?

14. RHYTHM & METRE • Main rhythm is continuous groups of quavers, sometimes extending for up to 3 bars – 2.20 - 22 • Quavers tend to be slightly swung • In choruses bass has continuous crotchet walking bass • The Head is very syncopated • Piano chords tend to be ‘pushed’ – played just before the beat • A few triplets are used in the choruses – 2.5-6