Miles Davis Four (opening)
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
BEBOP
COMPLICATED
HARMONIES
DIZZY GILLESPIE
ALTERED CHORDS
• 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
PERFORMING FORCES AND THEIR
HANDLING
• Davis uses a small ensemble for this piece – a
quintet
BASS
TENOR
SAXOPHONE
TRUMPET
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.
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
Use of ‘Fall offs’ - a
(beginning of 3rd
chorus) Pitch Bend - eg. 1.19-
kind of glissando eg. End
of 1.15
1.20
Ghost notes - quiet note
2nd
that hardly exists eg.
note of the 2nd chorus
Half Valving - pushing
valve only part way down
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
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
TONALITY
• What’s the main key?
Eb major
• Very chromatic in style so key is often blurred
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)
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
• 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?
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