"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. It is one of the best-known examples of modal jazz, set in the Dorian mode and consisting of 16 bars of D Dorian, followed by eight bars of E Dorian and another eight of D Dorian. This AABA structure puts it in the thirty-two-bar format of American popular song. The piano-and-bass introduction for the piece was written by Gil Evans 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 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''. 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''. 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 followed by a major third, has been given the name "

So What chord In jazz harmony, a So What chord is a particular 5-note chord voicing. From the bottom note upwards, it consists of three perfect fourth intervals followed by a major third interval. It was employed by Bill Evans in the "'amen' response figure" t ...

" (shown below) by such theorists as Mark Levine. The same chord structure was later used by John Coltrane 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'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