"So What" is the first track on the 1959 album ''

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 ...

'' by American trumpeter

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 is one of the best-known examples of

modal jazz Modal jazz is jazz that makes use of musical modes, often modulating among them to accompany the chords instead of relying on one tonal center used across the piece. Although precedents exist, modal jazz was crystallized as a theory by compose ...

, set in the

Dorian mode Dorian mode or Doric mode can refer to three very different but interrelated subjects: one of the Ancient Greek ''harmoniai'' (characteristic melodic behaviour, or the scale structure associated with it); one of the medieval musical modes; or—mos ...

and consisting of 16 bars of D Dorian, followed by eight bars of E Dorian and another eight of D Dorian. This

AABA Aaba ( ar, عابا) is a village in the Koura District of Lebanon, whose inhabitants are Greek Orthodox The term Greek Orthodox Church ( Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. ...

structure puts it in the

thirty-two-bar form The 32-bar form, also known as the AABA song form, American popular song form and the ballad form, is a song structure commonly found in Tin Pan Alley songs and other American popular music, especially in the first half of the 20th century. A ...

at of American popular song. The piano-and-bass introduction for the piece was written by

Gil Evans Ian Ernest Gilmore Evans (né Green; May 13, 1912 – March 20, 1988) was a Canadian–American jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader. He is widely recognized as one of the greatest orchestrators in jazz, playing an important role ...

for

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 ...

(no relation) and

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 ''Kind of Blue''. An orchestrated version by Gil Evans of this introduction is later to be found on a television broadcast given by Miles' first quintet (minus

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 ...

who was ill that day) and the Gil Evans Orchestra; the orchestra gave the introduction, after which the quintet played the rest of "So What". The use of the double bass to play the main theme makes the piece unusual. This arrangement was later performed and recorded as part of the album ''

Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall ''Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall'' is a live album by American jazz musician Miles Davis. Subtitled ''The Legendary Performances of May 19, 1961'', it was released by Columbia Records as CL 1812 in monaural and CS 8612 as "electronically re-cha ...

''. While the track is taken at a very moderate tempo on ''Kind of Blue'', it is played at an extremely fast tempo on later live recordings by the quintet, such as ''

Four & More Four' & More: Recorded Live in Concert'' is a live album by Miles Davis, recorded at the Philharmonic Hall of Lincoln Center, New York City, NY on February 12, 1964, but not released until 1966. Two albums were assembled from the concert recordi ...

''. The distinctive voicing employed by Bill Evans for the chords that interject the

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...

: from the bottom up, three notes at intervals of a

perfect fourth A fourth is a musical interval encompassing four staff positions in the music notation of Western culture, and a perfect fourth () is the fourth spanning five semitones (half steps, or half tones). For example, the ascending interval from C to ...

followed by a

major third In classical music, a third is a musical interval encompassing three staff positions (see Interval number for more details), and the major third () is a third spanning four semitones. Forte, Allen (1979). ''Tonal Harmony in Concept and P ...

, has been given the name " So What chord" (shown below) by such theorists as

Mark Levine Mark Andrew LeVine is an American historian, musician, writer, and professor. He is a professor of history at the University of California, Irvine. Education LeVine received his B.A. in comparative religion and biblical studies from Hunter ...

. The same chord structure was later used by

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 ...

for his standard " Impressions". Both pieces originate in

Ahmad Jamal Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones, July 2, 1930) is an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and educator. For six decades, he has been one of the most successful small-group leaders in jazz. Biography Early life Jamal was born Fr ...

's 1955 cover of

Morton Gould Morton Gould (December 10, 1913February 21, 1996) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, and pianist. Biography Morton Gould was born in Richmond Hill, New York, United States. He was recognized early as a child prodigy with abilities ...

's "Pavanne" In 2021, "So What" was ranked 492 on

Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" is a recurring survey compiled by the American magazine ''Rolling Stone''. It is based on weighted votes from selected musicians, critics, and industry figures. The first list was published in December 2004 in ...

References

External links

*"So What" a
jazzstandards.com
{{Authority control 1959 compositions 1950s jazz standards Modal jazz standards Jazz compositions Compositions by Miles Davis Jazz compositions in D minor

See also

References

External links