All Blues - Miles Davis

[Woolybug25]

Hi y’all. I’m playing in a trio where we play mostly bluegrass but we wanted to do a jazz instrumental piece as well. We are thinking of All Blues into Sweet Georgia Brown. I have the latter down but for the life of me can’t pin the melody down on All Blues by ear. Can anyone point me to some tab or have any other suggestions? Thanks in advance.

[onswah]

Do you read music? You can find the lead sheet through a sheet music search in a search engine. Be sure to check the images.

[rcc56]

If you can read, it's in "The Real Book," along with a couple hundred jazz standards.
If you want to really dig deep into jazz and you don't read, it would be well worth your while to take a few months of lessons to learn how to read.

[j. condino]

All Blues has been one of my favorite Miles tunes for decades. You can find it in almost every real book and fake book ever printed; it works great for almost any string instrument including the mandolin and all horn players know it.

I was not a music major and the jazz police will likely rip me apart; my knowledge & ability to express it is from thousands of gigs and sessions from tons of great players and as many teachers as I can find over a lifetime. Here is how I lay it out in rehearsals and often on the bandstand as a live first take with new folks; we played it last week.

The basic structure of the tune is a blues in G minor, with an accent on the last form five chord up a half step to the minor six, then back down to the five and out :

G7 > C min> G7 > D7 -D#-D7 > G7

The melody & improvisation are essentially a G minor pentatonic, but I'll usually hang out in D mixolydian for the jam (D major with emphasis on the flatted seven)

SOOOOO...the main lead riff is G > A >A#>A over the G chord and then the same form up to C min et cetera. A lot of people try to push the tempo, but I find it much better if you slow it down just a bit and burn it in the pocket. If you really want to add tension in the classic Miles form, modulate up a half step to G sharp for one round and then drop it back down to G for the sucker punch.

All Blues is a great tune that is universally liked & the audience recognizes it. What stood out to me more is how do you plan to transition between that and Sweet Georgia Brown? The two more common keys & forms for that tune are F/D & E....

'Hope that helps!

[Woolybug25]

Wow, thanks everyone. This is all really helpful. I don’t read music and am planning to learn, so this will kick start me. In the meantime I appreciate all the feedback.

@J.condino - thank you! That helps a lot for getting me going. Appreciate it. Regarding the key change, we are just going to play SGB in the key of G to make it transition. Definitely not a common key for the song but it seemingly works well for our purpose. That one’s melody is so recognizable that it works despite the unusual key.

[M19]

[jefflester]

[urobouros]

Nicely played! Great arrangement!

[ralph johansson]

All Blues has been one of my favorite Miles tunes for decades. You can find it in almost every real book and fake book ever printed; it works great for almost any string instrument including the mandolin and all horn players know it.



The basic structure of the tune is a blues in G minor, with an accent on the last form five chord up a half step to the minor six, then back down to the five and out :

G7 > C min> G7 > D7 -D#-D7 > G7

The melody & improvisation are essentially a G minor pentatonic, but I'll usually hang out in D mixolydian for the jam (D major with emphasis on the flatted seven)



'Hope that helps!

In what sense is this a g MINOR tune?????

[Bob Visentin]

Here is the real progression:

G7 Gm G7 D7 D#7 D7 G7

Many fakebooks say to play a C but it is really a Gm

[Colin Botts]

Here's a pdf of mandolin tablature for the basic tune. Good luck!

[Woolybug25]

Here's a pdf of mandolin tablature for the basic tune. Good luck!

[/awkward internet hug]

Oh my goodness. Thank you so much for this. It's exactly what I was looking for. It's much appreciated.

I have been working on learning to read music since I posted this so in the future I can figure these tunes out with sheet music. That being said, the guys are getting together tomorrow to pick some tunes (including this one) and this tab is going to save my butt! Thank you again.

[Colin Botts]

You're welcome! Here's an updated version of the chart with chord changes. It is basically just a blues, other than that altered V chord.

[j. condino]

I saw Miles live six times.

Every show, he played this tune completely different.

[j. condino]

Every show was also with a different band, yet as soon as he hit that first note, he owned the song and put a spell on the entire audience, always reaching outside of the box.

[mandocrucian]

This will probably sound "heretical", but the last time I listened to the Kinda Blue album (4 or 5 months ago), I thought that the best solos came not from Davis or Coltrane, but were those played by Cannonball Adderly (alto sax).

NH

[stevo58]

This will probably sound "heretical", but the last time I listened to the Kinda Blue album (4 or 5 months ago), I thought that the best solos came not from Davis or Coltrane, but were those played by Cannonball Adderly (alto sax).

NH

I couldn’t say “best,” but he certainly wasn’t leaving anything on the table. Always liked Cannonball’s playing; imho few can play a ballad as well as he did. “Something Else,” recorded about the same time, with Miles, is a fine LP.

And speaking about heresy, as much as I like Trane, his playing always sounds slightly flat to me. As in, a few cycles out of tune on the low side. I’m sure that it’s my ears, but I don’t hear it with anybody else, and I almost always hear it with him.

Don’t shoot me.

And thanks for the lead sheet.



Steven

[mandopops]

Interesting that Niles brings up Adderly’s contributions to the album. Over the years, I’ve picked up criticism whether he belonged on the album at all. I disagree. I believe he brings a welcome Blues sensibility to several of the tunes. He even throws in a Little Junior Parker quote into Freddie Freeloader, interestingly Miles had Wyn Kelly replace Evans on the track. I like that decision.
Then Miles had Adderly sit out on Blue in Green. I like that decision, too. I think he could have followed up by having him layout on Flamenco Sketches, as well. I think he flounders a bit & he changes the mood somewhat. He’s ok, but not necessary. It would also add a symmetry to the album.
That’s my “heretical” arm chair quarter backing.

Joe B

[Bob Buckingham]

Bill Evans is no slouch on that recording.

[lowtone2]

This will probably sound "heretical", but the last time I listened to the Kinda Blue album (4 or 5 months ago), I thought that the best solos came not from Davis or Coltrane, but were those played by Cannonball Adderly (alto sax).

NH

You’re not alone.

[lowtone2]

Check out the tempo here.

[Bob Visentin]

Not a C7. It is a Gm7 with an ostinato bass line.

[ralph johansson]

All Blues has been one of my favorite Miles tunes for decades. You can find it in almost every real book and fake book ever printed; it works great for almost any string instrument including the mandolin and all horn players know it.

I was not a music major and the jazz police will likely rip me apart; my knowledge & ability to express it is from thousands of gigs and sessions from tons of great players and as many teachers as I can find over a lifetime. Here is how I lay it out in rehearsals and often on the bandstand as a live first take with new folks; we played it last week.

The basic structure of the tune is a blues in G minor, with an accent on the last form five chord up a half step to the minor six, then back down to the five and out :

G7 > C min> G7 > D7 -D#-D7 > G7

The melody & improvisation are essentially a G minor pentatonic, but I'll usually hang out in D mixolydian for the jam (D major with emphasis on the flatted seven)

SOOOOO...the main lead riff is G > A >A#>A over the G chord and then the same form up to C min et cetera. A lot of people try to push the tempo, but I find it much better if you slow it down just a bit and burn it in the pocket. If you really want to add tension in the classic Miles form, modulate up a half step to G sharp for one round and then drop it back down to G for the sucker punch.

All Blues is a great tune that is universally liked & the audience recognizes it. What stood out to me more is how do you plan to transition between that and Sweet Georgia Brown? The two more common keys & forms for that tune are F/D & E....

'Hope that helps!

SGB is a song hence done in a variety of keys. For instance, as I recall, Milton Brown sang it in Bb. As an instrumental it is often done in F by swing-oriented
players, and in Ab by beboppers. Miles Davis' contrafact, Dig, is in Ab. Never heard an instrumental version in E, and I don't understand the notation F/D in this context.

[ralph johansson]

In what sense is this a g MINOR tune?????

No answer. Which makes me wonder, as so many times before -- why do people post on a forum when they don't want to be understood? Your description is not at all what I hear.

[ralph johansson]

Not a C7. It is a Gm7 with an ostinato bass line.

If I were to play this tune in a group I would think modes, with bars 1-4 (counting 6/8) in the Mixolydian and 5-6 in the Dorian. Not sure what to make of the V7#9 and VI7#9, possibly just ignore them or not take them too seriously, superimposing some free stuff. Actually bars 5-6 have an almost Phrygian flavor, at least in the melody.