parallel chords used in "So What"
So What is one of the best examples of modal jazz music. It appears on Miles Davis' best selling album Kind of Blue. Although improvisation takes up the majority of the piece, it does have a compelling riff that sets the piece in motion and sets up the stage harmonically for the improvisations. This riff is notable in that involves the interplay between the upright bass and the rest of the band. The antecedent phrase is played by the bass, which plays an ascending line of notes that begin with a fourth leap starting from the root note. This is followed by the "response" by the piano or rest of the band, which consists two chords that move in parallel motion downwards in answer to the bass. These chords are a whole step apart and are made up of a root, fourth, minor seventh, minor third, and fifth. The second chord-and final statement of the phrase-is an altered minor chord. This establishes the harmonic center of the piece.
Harmonically speaking, this piece is fairly simple. It takes place in dorian mode. It is centered around the D dorian mode, and there are no harmonic progressions other than the modulation from D dorian to Eb dorian, which occurs throughout the piece. The piece is made up of a jazz sextet, with Miles Davis on trumpet, John Coltrane on tenor saxophone, Cannonball Adderly on Alto Saxophone, Bill Evans on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Jimmy Cobb on Drums.
The piece follows a 32 bar AABA structure, both during the melodic line and during the solos. This translates to 16 bars in d dorian, 8 bars in Eb dorian, and 8 bars again in d dorian. The piece begins with a piano and bass opening with a slower tempo than the rest of piece. After this bass and piano alone play the melodic line with the drum as accompaniment. The drums serve to get the atmosphere going with a laid back, 'cool' atmosphere. The other instruments join in and after one chorus, each performer takes an extended solo in the following order: trumpet, tenor sax, alto sax, and piano. After the solos, the melody line is played for a chorus. The piece ends with the melody being just played with the bass and piano (with drums for accompaniment) before fading out.
The harmonic simplicity of So What gives the instrumentalists a certain freedom in their improvisations not found in other forms of jazz music. The differing creative approaches are evident in each of the different solos; for example, Miles Davis' solo can be characterized as very melodic which is mainly focused on thoughtful phrasing whereas Coltrane uses a harder and often scalar approach, playing faster and leaving less space between his phrasings. Despite this, the atmosphere throughout So What remains mostly unchanged thanks to the vamping of the rhythm section and the careful upholding of the structure of the piece.
Harmonically speaking, this piece is fairly simple. It takes place in dorian mode. It is centered around the D dorian mode, and there are no harmonic progressions other than the modulation from D dorian to Eb dorian, which occurs throughout the piece. The piece is made up of a jazz sextet, with Miles Davis on trumpet, John Coltrane on tenor saxophone, Cannonball Adderly on Alto Saxophone, Bill Evans on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Jimmy Cobb on Drums.
The piece follows a 32 bar AABA structure, both during the melodic line and during the solos. This translates to 16 bars in d dorian, 8 bars in Eb dorian, and 8 bars again in d dorian. The piece begins with a piano and bass opening with a slower tempo than the rest of piece. After this bass and piano alone play the melodic line with the drum as accompaniment. The drums serve to get the atmosphere going with a laid back, 'cool' atmosphere. The other instruments join in and after one chorus, each performer takes an extended solo in the following order: trumpet, tenor sax, alto sax, and piano. After the solos, the melody line is played for a chorus. The piece ends with the melody being just played with the bass and piano (with drums for accompaniment) before fading out.
The harmonic simplicity of So What gives the instrumentalists a certain freedom in their improvisations not found in other forms of jazz music. The differing creative approaches are evident in each of the different solos; for example, Miles Davis' solo can be characterized as very melodic which is mainly focused on thoughtful phrasing whereas Coltrane uses a harder and often scalar approach, playing faster and leaving less space between his phrasings. Despite this, the atmosphere throughout So What remains mostly unchanged thanks to the vamping of the rhythm section and the careful upholding of the structure of the piece.