In this video, we're discussing the album that changed the course of jazz,
Kind of Blue.
I call this album the "desert island" jazz album.
Many people, if they could only take one jazz album to a desert island,
they would choose this album.
It's a cornerstone record that many feel captures the essence of jazz.
There were millions of copies of this album sold.
And there's at least one book that's been written solely about the making
of this album.
As Herbie Hancock, the pianist who worked with Miles later in the 1960s
said, "Miles trusted the honesty of putting musicians with contrasting
styles together and their creativity in trying to make the situation work.
He wanted to capture the spirit of discovery." I believe he captured that
spirit on Kind of Blue.
Many of the selections you're listening to are the first takes, the
first time.
The personnel in this band had the same front line as the album
Milestones: Miles Davis on trumpet, John Coltrane on tenor saxophone, and
Cannonball Adderley on alto saxophone.
The rhythm section retained Paul Chambers on bass, but we had a
different drummer and piano player.
The drummer, Jimmy Cobb, and the piano player on four of the five tracks was
Bill Evans, very important to the record.
There are five selections on the album.
Two that are more blues related: "Freddie The Freeloader" and "All
Blues." There's one ballad called "Blue In Green" and two selections
that are more modal in nature, "So What" and "Flamenco Sketches."
This album solidified and defined the concept of Modal Jazz.
Again, Bill Evans' contribution, his piano touch, was extremely important
to the record.
He's got an introspective, restrained style.
And it's a perfect complement to Miles' playing, as well as the modal
nature of this music.
He had a beautiful touch.
And as we talked about, later he led a great jazz trio on his own.
So as we talked about in the last video about modal jazz, the harmonic
basis is one mode [MUSIC]
or a scale-- it's the same thing--
for a period of time.
Then we build a chord out of that scale, that in jazz
sounds like this [MUSIC].
I can move those notes around and create different structures out of
them [MUSIC]
just by using the white keys of the piano in this particular mode or this
particular scale.
And one mode or one scale in Modal Jazz will last for a
long period of time.
That's the difference, 8 or 16 measures of one chord, as opposed to
the rapidly moving chords that we hear in lots of other types of jazz.
So one of the most famous modal compositions that is on this record is
called "So What." OK.
So it's D minor 7, this chord that [MUSIC]
I've just been playing, for all the A sections in the AABA
form, the 32-bar form.
When we get to the B section, we have contrast, as we know.
But the contrast here is rather slight.
We just go up a half step, with a similar sounding quality.
[MUSIC]
So another minor, sad sounding chord, just up a half step.
So, in a chorus of "So What" we have 16 bars of this chord [MUSIC].
And then moving to the B section, eight of this chord [MUSIC].
And then the final eight is back to our original chord again, [MUSIC].
So, only two chords in the whole form.
And that was quite different.
So the emphasis then becomes on melody and rhythm of the solos and motivic
development.
That becomes much more important than the harmony.
Our harmony is minimized.
So the first modal selection we're focusing on is called "So What." It's
one of the selections on your Cerego Deep Listening Course 2.
And you've heard several excerpts from this song already.
We used it in our first assignment as the basis for out relaxed, laid back,
and confident section.
And we've used it for examples of Miles' improvisational style.
It's a fundamental song in the jazz repertoire.
If you listen to the entire recording of "So What," you will find that it
begins with a rubato, out of time, piano and bass introduction by Bill
Evans and Paul Chambers.
That introduction is not related to the form over which the
improvisation occurs.
So, the first excerpt we'll listen to of "So What" is of the melody.
And we'll start with the second A section.
We'll then go to the B section, where the song goes up a half step.
And back to the A section, where we go down to our original chord or our
original key.
I'll help you count along with each section, if you would like, amd I'll
also indicate where the melody goes to the B section as well.
Listen for the bass playing the melody.
That's an interesting twist.
All right.
So here we go:
[MUSIC PLAYING - "So What"]
Second A.
Going up to the B. That's up a half step.
Here comes the A, back down.
And then we would go on into the third A section, and then on into the solos.
So you might be able to remember "So What" just by the [MUSIC], two chords
that fit the words "So What" there, that are played by the horns and by
Bill Evans.
So in our next excerpt, we're going to listen to the first part of Miles'
improvisation.
So he develops a very simple motive, [MUSIC], for eight measures.
And then in the second eight measures, he adds some higher notes, which
builds the tension slightly.
[MUSIC PLAYING - "So What"]
Slightly higher here.
So as that excerpt faded out there, we just got to the B section.
So, we heard two A sections there.
So Miles Davis, in this, he uses at the beginning of his solo, these
colors that are the low numbers of the mode.
[MUSIC]
It has a kind of a darker quality and sounds more at home.
In the second chorus, he extracts some different notes from the Dorian mode
that have a different color.
These are the upper numbers.
[MUSIC]
It also puts it in the upper register.
[MUSIC]
So those notes [MUSIC]
have a little more of a floating feeling than [MUSIC]
these notes, which sound a little more down home.
So we're going to hear the difference between those two
colors that Miles uses.
So, we've already heard this portion.
And we'll hear it again just listening for those low numbers in the mode and
the more at home texture.
[MUSIC - MILES DAVIS, "So What"]
Now, here's the color from the second chorus, which has that more floating,
upper texture: [MUSIC]
Hopefully, you heard the differences between those two colors.
Let's move on to John Coltrane's solo now.
His solo is much more filled with notes than Miles's solo is.
It starts in the upper register of the tenor saxophone.
And then later on in his excerpt, he goes quite high in the upper register.
He plays a lot of fast arpeggios, dense arpeggios [MUSIC]
and moves them around quickly.
So that's typical of John Coltrane's style.
Let's listen:
[MUSIC - JOHN COLTRANE, "SO WHAT"]
So I'd like for you to focus on those dense arpeggios that Coltrane uses.
So, I've extracted those so you can hear them clearly.
Here they are.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Coltrane is creating a lot of energy with those rapid notes.
The "So What" progression is the same progression as a famous John Coltrane
composition called "Impressions." But Coltrane's and Miles's approaches are
quite different, both in their own improvisations and in what the rhythm
section does on each of those songs.
I think you can hear Coltrane leaning towards a more energetic
interpretation, even in this solo on "So What." So we're going to hear the
difference between "Impressions" and "So What" when we talk
about Coltrane in depth.
Our second modal selection is the song "Flamenco Sketches" from the Kind of
Blue album.
The changes of mode in this song, or the changes of chords, are more
apparent because of the slow tempo and the contrasting colors of the modes.
Each solo consists of five modes.
And in most solos on this song, the length of the mode is four measures.
A few times, it's eight measures.
It's very slow, 1, 2, about that speed.
So, there's a long time on each mode.
And you can kind of clearly hear when the modes change.
Bill Evans' piano touch was very important to this record.
You have this beautiful pristine touch.
So let's listen to the modes that are in "Flamenco Sketches." The first mode
is kind of at home.
It's this mode here, [MUSIC], a restful, beautiful sound.
Our second mode is a little more complicated (or our second chord),
it's this sound.
[MUSIC]
It feels like it might want to go somewhere.
[MUSIC]
And it does go to the third mode, that's more at home again, [MUSIC],
slightly different than the first mode [MUSIC]
in pitch.
It's still restful.
Now the fourth mode is much more tense.
[MUSIC]
It's an expectant chord and it wants to resolve.
And we get that resolution, a bittersweet one, in the fifth mode.
[MUSIC]
And when the improviser goes through one group of those five modes, the
solo is over and we move on to the next solo.
So let's listen to some excerpts from the recording.
So here's Miles Davis' improvisation.
He uses the harmon mute, which you've heard before, many long, still,
beautiful notes.
He starts with just the simple [MUSIC]
two-note descending motive.
And then [MUSIC]
a slight pick up and then [MUSIC]
right back to those two notes.
You'll keep hearing him referring to those two notes throughout his first
four measures.
So I'll indicate the modes as they go by.
Here we go:
[MUSIC - MILES DAVIS, "FLAMENCO SKETCHES"]
1,
here comes mode 2,
and 3,
mode 4, the tense mode.
There's a beautiful arc to Miles' solo and a great deal of space at the end
of his improvisation.
So in addition to these more modally oriented selections, there are two
different takes on the blues on the album Kind of Blue, "All Blues" and
"Freddie The Freeloader." Freddie is more like a hard bop style because of
Wynton Kelly on piano, who was a different pianist than Bill Evans.
And then the fifth song, "Blue In Green," it's a beautiful ballad,
definitely worth listening to.
I hope that you appreciate the significance of Kind of Blue and that
you'll more fully investigate this album and share the music with others.
In our next video, we'll talk about Miles' Second Great Quintet, which
made a major impact on the jazz of the 1960s.
We're ending the video today with the final portion of Miles's solo on
"Flamenco Sketches," that leads from the fourth tense mode to the final
fifth resolution.
There's a beautiful change in tone quality on a held note that's four
seconds into this excerpt.
Enjoy and we'll see you next time.
[MUSIC]