Miles Davis Quintet: Four (p.468)
Context
 Recorded live in 1964 – the passage in the Anthology is only the beginning of a
6” track (there are several different versions by Miles, running between 4” and
15”)
 An example of bebop which arose in New York in the 1940s as a reaction to the
simpler dance music of the swing Big Bands. Bebop is a more intense, complex
style which used advanced harmonies and encouraged virtuosic solo playing.
Instrumentation
 Quintet comprises trumpet and tenor sax as the front line, with piano, bass and
drums as the rhythm section.
 On this extract all the solo improvising is done by the trumpet; the sax only
plays in the opening section
 The drums play and 8-bar introduction and the rhythm section thereafter play
throughout the track. NB. Only the bass part is notated from chorus 1.
Stucture
 Like many jazz tracks, Four consists of an opening theme or Head, followed by
an improvised solo over the chord sequence (called changes) from the head
 Each complete set of the changes is called a chorus, and the first three are heard
on the extract
 The complete track presumably returns eventually to the head to close the piece
The Changes
 Basically a fast 32-bar chord sequence in Eb, divided into two halves of 16 bars
each – the score helpfully indicates each 8-bar segment above the stave (1.1, 1.9,
1.17, etc) so it is relatively easy to get one’s bearings
 The chords of the head are more or less the same as those used in the choruses,
with a few differences:
H
Eb
Eb
Ebm7
Ab7
Fm7
Fm7
Abm7
Db7
Gm7
F#m7
B7
Gm7
Fm7
Bb7
Gm7
C
Eb
Eb
Ebm7
Ab7
Fm7
Fm7
Abm7
Db7
Gm7
H
Eb
Eb
Ebm7
Ab7
Fm7
Fm7
Abm7
Db7
C
Eb
Eb
Ebm7
Ab7
Fm7
Fm7
Abm7
Db7
F#m7
B7
Gm7
Fm7
Bb7
Fm7
Bb7
Gm7
Fm7
Bb7
Gm7
F#m7
B7
Fm7
Bb7
Gm7
F#m7
B7
Fm7
Bb7
Eb
Eb
Eb
C7
Fm7
Bb7
Eb
Bb7
Eb
Bb7
The solo and bass lines
 Trumpet solo is improvised over the chords – which are comped by the piano –
but often ignores the main notes of the harmony, creating a a lot of passing
dissonances, but since the chords are only sketched in, the music does not
sound harsh.
 The solo line is made up of a series of ideas (cells) which are explored before
moving on to the next. In the first half of each chorus there tend to be two
identifiable cells, one in each 8-bar section, but the second half tends to flow
across the divide at b.25 in choruses 2 and 3
 The bass line – notated only in chorus 1, but continuing throughout – is
structured around the chords most of the time, but sometimes does its own
thing (bars 1.4 & 1.24). It is a (very) fast walking bass, often high up the neck of
the instrument –compare this with the very low and simple bass line in the
Oasis song)
 The bass line forms a sort of counterpoint with the trumpet solo, keeping a
steady pulse but outlining its own distinctive melodic patterns (cf the Bach
Sarabande)
Piano and drums
 The piano provides the harmonic structure by interjecting the chords in
irregular stabs of sound, frequently off beat
 The drums provide a continuous stream of swung quavers on the hi-hat, with
fills and other bits of punctuation. Together with the walking bass, this drum
part holds the rhythmic foundation of the music together, whilst the piano
provides the harmony