What does the symbol F/D stand for? And why does one key require that slash notation, and the other not?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!
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