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	Transcriptions Share your transcription work on this page. Having trouble transcribing something? Post the incomplete work, and ask for some help.     So What ~ Tune & Miles' Solo  More Information   Home   About FJI   Contact Us  Departments   Linear Jazz Improvisation   Transcriptions   Theory & Analysis   Changes   Originals   Discussions   Announcements   Private Instruction   Resources   Ear Training  All About Jazz Orchestra   Work In Progress   Archive   Concerts   Summer 2010   Summer 2009  Help   How To Post   MWSnap to Insert Images  EdByrne   ed@byrnejazz.com   www.byrnejazz.com So What ~ Tune & Miles' Solo submitted: 2008/11/06 10:00:58 revised: 2010/07/21 14:12:06 Since some here found my analysis of Miles Davis's "Circle" useful, I am posting my analysis of "So What," excerpted from the same book, The Influence of Claude Debussy's and Maurice Ravel's Music on Jazz, as Seen in the Compositions of Bix Beiderbecke, Bill Evans and Miles Davis, by Ed Byrne (© Ed Byrne 1998). Analysis of “So What,” both the exposition and Davis’s trumpet improvisation, will be drawn from my own transcriptions. “So What” is based on the dorian mode, reflecting its presence in Ravel’s Concerto for the Left Hand, as we shall see below.14 D and Eb, respectively, are established as priority notes by their prominent placement in the double-bass melody, and they are both approached from below by a note at the interval of a 5. A modal transposition can be found moving up a semitone from D dorian to Eb dorian for the eight-measure B section of this AABA recurring form at measure 17 of the exposition, before returning back down a semitone to D dorian for the last eight measures, at measure 25 (Example 3a). In addition to modal transposition, Davis, in his trumpet improvisation, creates a brief pc mixture in measures 24 and 62. In anticipating the modal transposition back to D dorian at two beats before 25, he plays a pc comprised of G, A C# and D, rather than playing the expected C of the D dorian mode (Example 3b). These examples could also be viewed as chromatic enhancements in the form of added leading-tones that help to emphasize the D and Eb priority notes. A non-functional chord succession is present in the form of two chords that oscillate throughout the D dorian A sections, modulated up a semitone for the B sections, and back down for the last eight-measure A section (Example 3a). Similar to the frequent avoidance of resolving the leading-tone in cadences in Ravel’s Concerto, which we will examine below, avoidance of resolution of the leading-tone in Davis’s “So What” is also evident: it contains no cadences whatsoever. A similarity between “So What” and Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe is the presence of vertical quartal harmony. Beginning on beat three of measure 1 of the exposition of “So What,” pianist Evans repeatedly plays a quartal voicing that jazz musicians now call the "So What Voicing” (Example 3a). Quartal harmonies oscillate throughout “So What.” Unresolved melodic tensions are present in Davis’s trumpet improvisation on “So What.” He sustains an E, the ninth of the D dorian mode, on beats two and three of measure 14, and in measures 33-35 (Example 3b). He plays elevenths, G’s, in measures 2, 11, 15, and elsewhere; and unresolved melodic thirteenths, C’s, can be seen in measures 24, 54 and 55 of the Eb dorian B sections. Through his use of modes in “So What,” Davis realizes his desire to be free to concentrate on melodic improvisation. He is no longer obliged to constantly adapt his lines to chord progressions, which often contain harmonic clichés that force the improviser into playing melodic formulas. Like Evans’s “Peace Piece,” Davis’s “So What” is based on a static background of two oscillating chords. The two pieces differ, however, in that “So What” is based on the traditional AABA recurring form while remaining mostly diatonic to a dorian mode throughout. Through modal transposition, Davis is able to give the piece periodic lifts in color and tension levels. Pc mixture and chromatic enhancement provide Davis additional pitch classes with which to add melodic interest and forward motion to his trumpet solo. The presence of parallel quartal harmony (not a commonplace in jazz in 1959) and unresolved melodic and harmonic tensions also help to endow “So What” with a sense of unhurried, thoughtful charm. SCROLL TO SEE ALL PAGES BELOW:   click here to display PDF in a new window    jay norem Re:So What ~ Tune & Miles' Solo submitted: 2008/11/06 13:45:17 revised: 2008/11/06 13:45:17 A beautiful analysis, Ed. Great work!  EdByrne   ed@byrnejazz.com   www.byrnejazz.com Re:So What ~ Tune & Miles' Solo submitted: 2008/11/07 08:40:09 revised: 2008/11/07 08:40:09 Thank you, Jay. Ed  EdByrne   ed@byrnejazz.com   www.byrnejazz.com Soloing submitted: 2008/11/11 10:33:01 revised: 2008/11/12 08:51:57 Excerpted from Speaking of Jazz: Essays and Attitudes:   click here to display PDF in a new window    jazzguitar391 Re:So What ~ Tune & Miles' Solo submitted: 2010/07/03 23:11:57 revised: 2010/07/03 23:11:57 Most of the time you hit the nail on the head Ed, but your transcirption and analysis of so what couldn't be any more flawed. The main complaint is the melodic line played by the bass. The notes are simply way off the mark. Doesn't even sound like So What. I have seen many charts for this tune, all contradict each other. My version is better, and isn't the first note in the bass a D natural, followed by A,B,C,D,E,C,D. then the punches. the notes you have are bizarre.  bgp   bgp@freejazzinstitute.org   www.freejazzinstitute.org Re:So What ~ Tune & Miles' Solo submitted: 2010/07/04 04:50:29 revised: 2010/07/04 04:50:29 welcome to the site 391, please do share your alternate transcription and analysis to support your position (as you didn't actually address the analysis in your comment). in the meantime, try playing Ed's chart up a 4th, and see if you might really just have a question about transposition.  jazzguitar391 Re:So What ~ Tune & Miles' Solo submitted: 2010/07/07 00:12:05 revised: 2010/07/07 00:12:05 Perhaps you should re-read my comment bpg. I did certainly address the analysis of this transcription, and I most certainly did play the chart up a 4th. I simply don't care for it. As for posting my analysis and transcription of the chart, I don't need to, maybe you should look it up yourself and simply play the tune correctly. Also thank you, but no, I don't have any questions on transposition since I already have a thorough knowledge of the subject thank you very much. Perhaps you are having difficulty in playing this modal masterpiece using the proper melodic content already provided. Thanks for welcoming me to the site, and have enjoyed the transcriptions so far. Especially Porkpie Hat.  engelbach   www.engelbachmusic.com Re:So What ~ Tune & Miles' Solo submitted: 2010/07/11 12:24:53 revised: 2010/07/11 12:27:19 It's obvious that somehow the bass line was transposed down a fourth, which Ed either did unconsciously or copied from somewhere else, since his focus was really on Miles' solo. If you had pointed it out to him at the time, knowing Ed, I'm sure he would have acknowledged the mistake and corrected it. The nasty tone was unnecessary, both to Ed and BGP. Unfortunately, Ed has been off this site and All About Jazz since the middle of 2009 and shows no sign of returning, so the complaint is falling on absent ears.  jazzguitar391 Re:So What ~ Tune & Miles' Solo submitted: 2010/07/20 04:07:12 revised: 2010/07/20 04:07:12 what was unnecessary was such a poor off the wall transcription. my "nasty tone" as you put it was not particularly directed towards Ed, but mainly at BPG. If you take the time to re read my comments, Ed did an excellent analysis and transcription on Porkpie Hat. Where as Bpg's "nasty Tone" is what was unnecessasry, to imply I "have a question about transposition" was quite insulting. I think from time to time some criticism is necessary to correct such blatant transcription miscalculations. Rather than take it personally, try transcribing the melody correctly in the first place.  bgp   bgp@freejazzinstitute.org   www.freejazzinstitute.org Re:So What ~ Tune & Miles' Solo submitted: 2010/07/21 14:12:06 revised: 2010/07/21 14:12:06 Sorry to have offended you 391, I only mentioned transposition because the officially released transcription and Ed's are identical except for transposition. If you hear something else, please share it, that would be the preferred way to handle things here. Log in to Post or Reply

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