"Nardis" is a composition by

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

trumpeter The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard B ...

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

. It was written in 1958, during Davis's modal period, to be played by

Cannonball Adderley Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley (September 15, 1928August 8, 1975) was an American jazz alto saxophonist of the hard bop era of the 1950s and 1960s. Adderley is perhaps best remembered for the 1966 soul jazz single "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy", whi ...

for the album ''

Portrait of Cannonball ''Portrait of Cannonball'' (1958) is the ninth album by jazz saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, and his first release on the Riverside label, featuring performances by Blue Mitchell, Bill Evans, Sam Jones, and Philly Joe Jones.Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block ch ...

, who performed and recorded it many times.

Composition

From 1955 to 1958, Miles Davis was leading what would come to be called his First Great Quintet. By 1958, the group consisted of

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of br ...

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

Red Garland William McKinley "Red" Garland Jr. (May 13, 1923 – April 23, 1984) was an American modern jazz pianist. Known for his work as a bandleader and during the 1950s with Miles Davis, Garland helped popularize the block chord style of playing in jazz ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

Paul Chambers Paul Laurence Dunbar Chambers Jr. (April 22, 1935 – January 4, 1969) was an American jazz double bassist. A fixture of rhythm sections during the 1950s and 1960s, he has become one of the most widely-known jazz bassists of the hard bop era. ...

on bass, and

Philly Joe Jones Joseph Rudolph "Philly Joe" Jones (July 15, 1923 – August 30, 1985) was an American jazz drummer. Biography Early career As a child, Jones appeared as a featured tap dancer on ''The Kiddie Show'' on the Philadelphia radio station WIP. He was ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, Richard Cook. ''It's About That Time: Miles Davis On and Off Record.'' New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. , pp. 44-45. and had just been expanded to a sextet with the addition of

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

. Coltrane's return to Davis’s group in 1958 coincided with the "modal phase" albums: ''Milestones'' (1958) and ''

Kind of Blue ''Kind of Blue'' is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Miles Davis. It was recorded on March 2 and April 22, 1959, at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City, and released on August 17 of that year by Co ...

'' (1959) are both considered essential examples of 1950s modern jazz. Davis at this point was experimenting with modes—i.e. scale patterns other than major and minor. In mid-1958,

Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block ch ...

replaced Garland on piano and

Jimmy Cobb Wilbur James "Jimmy" Cobb (January 20, 1929May 24, 2020) was an American jazz drummer. He was part of Miles Davis's First Great Sextet. At the time of his death, he had been the band's last surviving member for nearly thirty years. He was a ...

replaced Jones on drums, but Evans too left after eight months, replaced by

Wynton Kelly Wynton Charles Kelly (December 2, 1931 – April 12, 1971) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He is known for his lively, blues-based playing and as one of the finest accompanists in jazz. He began playing professionally at the age of ...

in late 1958. This group backing Davis, Coltrane, and Adderley, with Evans returning for the recording sessions, would make ''

'', often considered the greatest jazz album of all time. Adderley left the band in September 1959 to pursue his own career, returning the line-up to a quintet. In July 1958, Evans appeared as a sideman in Adderley's album ''

Portrait of Cannonball ''Portrait of Cannonball'' (1958) is the ninth album by jazz saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, and his first release on the Riverside label, featuring performances by Blue Mitchell, Bill Evans, Sam Jones, and Philly Joe Jones.Phrygian mode The Phrygian mode (pronounced ) can refer to three different musical modes: the ancient Greek ''tonos'' or ''harmonia,'' sometimes called Phrygian, formed on a particular set of octave species or scales; the Medieval Phrygian mode, and the modern ...

and the

minor Gypsy scale The term ''Gypsy scale'' refers to one of several musical scales named after their support of and association with Romani or "Gypsy" music: * Double harmonic scale (major), the fifth mode of Hungarian minor, or Double Harmonic minor, scale, also kn ...

in this tune is also present in other "Spanish" works from those dates, like Davis's ''

Sketches of Spain ''Sketches of Spain'' is an album by Miles Davis, recorded between November 1959 and March 1960 at the Columbia 30th Street Studio in New York City. An extended version of the second movement of Joaquín Rodrigo's ''Concierto de Aranjuez'' (1939) ...

.'' Davis never recorded "Nardis", and Adderley only did once. George Russell recorded it on his album ''Ezz-Thetics''. Pianist Richard Beirach recorded it on his album Eon, guitarist

Ralph Towner Ralph Towner (born March 1, 1940) is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and bandleader. He plays the twelve-string guitar, classical guitar, piano, synthesizer, percussion, trumpet and French horn. Biography Towner was born i ...

recorded the tune for his ''Solo Concert'' album, and The John Abercrombie Quartet recorded it on the album ''Up and Coming''.

Bill Evans

Unlike in the cases of Davis and Adderley, "Nardis" was an important part of Bill Evans's repertoire, as it appears on many of his albums: '' Trio at Birdland'' (1960), '' Explorations'' (1961), '' The Solo Sessions, Vol. 1'' (1963), '' Trio Live'' (1964), ''

Bill Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival ''Bill Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival'' is a 1968 album by the American jazz pianist Bill Evans, recorded live at that year's Montreux Jazz Festival. The trio's performance on this album won them the 1969 Grammy for Best Jazz Instrumental A ...

'' (1968), ''

Quiet Now ''Quiet Now'' is an album by jazz pianist Bill Evans, recorded in 1969. It was released in 1981 on the Affinity label. The same recordings were officially released in 2021 in cooperation with the Bill Evans estate as part of the album '' Behind T ...

'' (1969), '' You're Gonna Hear from Me'' (1969), "Live at the Festival" (1972), '' The Paris Concert: Edition Two'' (1979), '' Turn Out the Stars: The Final Village Vanguard Recordings'' (1980), and '' The Last Waltz: The Final Recordings'' (1980). It also appears on many of Evans's filmed appearances. Evans' version was later sampled by

Madlib Otis Jackson Jr. (born October 24, 1973), known professionally as Madlib, is an American DJ, music producer, multi-instrumentalist, and rapper. He is widely known for his collaborations with MF DOOM (as Madvillain), J Dilla (as Jaylib), and Fr ...

on the ''

Madvillainy ''Madvillainy'' is the only studio album by American hip hop duo Madvillain, consisting of rapper MF Doom and producer Madlib. It was released on March 23, 2004, on Stones Throw Records. The album was recorded between 2002 and 2004. Madlib cr ...

'' track "Raid".

Form

Nardis makes use harmonically and melodically of the

Phrygian dominant scale In music, the Phrygian dominant scale is the fifth musical mode, mode of the minor scale#Harmonic and melodic minor, harmonic minor scale, the fifth being the dominant (music), dominant.Dave Hunter (2005). ''Play Acoustic'', San Francisco: Backbe ...

and the

(technically known as the

double harmonic scale In music, the double harmonic major scaleStetina, Troy (1999). ''The Ultimate Scale Book'', p. 59. . is a scale whose gaps may sound unfamiliar to Western listeners. This is also known as Mayamalavagowla, Bhairav Raga, Byzantine scale, Arabic (Hi ...

), and it is set in thirty-two-bar AABA form. Bill Evans usually played the piece in

E minor E minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative major is G major and its parallel major is E major. The E natural minor scale is: : Changes needed ...

Other notable recordings

* Marc Johnson included the composition in his 2022 album ''

Overpass An overpass (called an overbridge or flyover in the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries) is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that crosses over another road or railway. An ''overpass'' and ''underpass'' together form ...

''.

References

Books

*{{cite book , last = Pettinger , first = Peter , title = Bill Evans: How My Heart Sings , publisher = Yale University Press , orig-year= 1999 , year = 2002 , edition = New , isbn = 0-300-09727-1 1950s jazz standards Jazz compositions Compositions by Miles Davis Jazz compositions in E minor