Jazz Changes

Wayne Shorter, music · First recorded on Adam's Apple (Blue Note, 1966), first released on Miles Smiles (Columbia, 1967)

Footprints

Footprints is a twelve-bar minor blues by saxophonist Wayne Shorter, first recorded in 1966. Players like its blues frame, its triple-time feel and its unusual turnaround. You will hear it at jam sessions and on records by Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter and many others.

▶ Plays the whole path in order, one recording after another.

  1. 1 Learn the song Wayne Shorter
  2. 2 Hear the classic band Miles Davis Quintet
  3. 3 Hear it live Miles Davis Quintet
  4. 4 Hear the composer today Wayne Shorter Quartet
  5. 5 Hear it on guitar Pat Martino
  6. 6 Hear the rhythm section Ahmad Jamal
  7. 7 Hear it sung Karrin Allyson
  8. 8 Hear it today Ezra Collective

How the tune works

C minorusual key
12 barsA form
C mkey centers

The tune is a 12-bar blues in C minor, counted in 6/4 so each bar has six beats. Some charts write the same music as 24 bars of 3/4. Bars 1 to 4 stay on Cm7. Bars 5 and 6 move to Fm7, and bars 7 and 8 return to Cm7. Bars 9 and 10 hold two chords each, F♯m7♭5 and F7 in bar 9, then Em7♭5 (or E7) and A7 in bar 10. The usual blues turnaround in C minor would be Dm7♭5, G7, Cm7, and this chain takes its place. Bars 11 and 12 return to Cm7 and lead into the next chorus.

The changes as played on Adam's Apple (Wayne Shorter, 1966), transcribed in the Weimar Jazz Database. Fake books differ in places.

Key C minor
Abars 1–12
Bar 1: Cm7
Bar 2: Cm7
Bar 3: Cm7
Bar 4: Cm7
Bar 5: Fm7
Bar 6: Fm7
Bar 7: Cm7
Bar 8: Cm7
Bar 9: F♯m7♭5F7♯11
Bar 10: Em7♭5A7alt
Bar 11: Cm7
Bar 12: Cm7

Counted in 6/4, so each bar holds six beats; some charts write the same music as 24 bars of 3/4. Use the key buttons to move the chart to the key you play in.

Source: Weimar Jazz Database: Wayne Shorter, Footprints

Listen in this order

Play all 8 on YouTube ↗

Eight versions, from Shorter's own recording to a London band's rework. On the way you hear the Miles Davis quintet in the studio and on stage, Shorter's later quartet, a guitar quartet, a rhythm section with no horn and a sung lyric.

  1. Step 1 · Learn the song Now playing

    Wayne Shorter (Quartet) 1966

    Adam's Apple

    C minor · 6/4 · swing · medium tempo · Led by the composer

    Listen for
    A tenor saxophone, piano, bass and drums play it with no second horn. Count twelve bars of six beats in each chorus. Bars 9 and 10 hold two chords each, then the music settles back on C minor in bar 11.
    Try this
    Play the chart on this page at a slow tempo with six beats in each bar. In bars 9 and 10, play the first chord for three beats and the second chord for three.
    Apple Music ↗YouTube ↗

  2. Step 2 · Hear the classic band Now playing

    Miles Davis Quintet 1966

    Miles Smiles

    swing alternating with a three-over-two cross rhythm · The first version released

    Listen for
    Trumpet and tenor saxophone are the front line over piano, bass and drums. Listen to Tony Williams move from swing to a three-over-two cross rhythm, and to Ron Carter's bass, which switches to a four-beat pattern about 2:20 in.
    Try this
    Count six steady beats to the bar. Tap them as two groups of three, then as three groups of two. The drums on this recording move between swing and a three-over-two cross rhythm.
    Apple Music ↗YouTube ↗

  3. Step 3 · Hear it live Now playing

    Miles Davis Quintet 1967

    “Footprints (Live at Konigin Elizabethzaal, Antwerp, Belgium - October 1967)”, Miles Davis Quintet: Live in Europe 1967: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1

    Live concert recording

    Listen for
    Compare this live version with the studio take. Count six beats to each bar and listen for the turnaround in bars 9 and 10, where the chords change.
    Try this
    Count six beats to each bar along with the recording for one chorus, saying 'turn' at bar 9. Keep counting through the turnaround until bar 11.
    Apple Music ↗YouTube ↗

  4. Step 4 · Hear the composer today Now playing

    Wayne Shorter Quartet 2001

    “Footprints (Live)”, Footprints Live!

    Led by the composer · Live concert recording

    Listen for
    Shorter plays tenor and soprano saxophone on this track, with Danilo Pérez on piano, John Patitucci on bass and Brian Blade on drums. A review of the album points to a nursery-rhyme quote from Shorter in this track.
    Try this
    Play or hum the root of each chord through bars 1 to 8: C for four bars, F for two, C for two. If that is easy, add bars 9 and 10: F♯ and F, then E and A.
    Apple Music ↗YouTube ↗

  5. Step 5 · Hear it on guitar Now playing

    Pat Martino 1972

    The Visit!

    Guitar-led version

    Listen for
    Pat Martino plays lead and Bobby Rose is the second, rhythm guitarist, with bass and drums behind them. No piano or horn plays on this track.
    Try this
    Play one chord per bar for four bars on guitar or piano, then stop and listen to the next four bars of the recording. If the key differs from your chart, hum the root of each chord instead.
    Apple Music ↗YouTube ↗

  6. Step 6 · Hear the rhythm section Now playing

    Ahmad Jamal 1985

    Digital Works

    No horns

    Listen for
    No horn plays here, so the rhythm section is the whole band. Listen to what the bass and the drums do while the piano plays.
    Try this
    Listen once and hum the bass notes. Then play one chord per bar from the chart without the recording, at a pace you like.
    Apple Music ↗YouTube ↗

  7. Step 7 · Hear it sung Now playing

    Karrin Allyson (with Nancy King) 2005

    “Follow the Footprints (Footprints)”, Footprints

    Sung with a lyric

    Listen for
    Two voices, Karrin Allyson and Nancy King, sing new words by Chris Caswell. Listen for the turnaround in bars 9 and 10 and for how the words fit it.
    Try this
    Play Cm7 for four bars and hum the melody of bars 1 to 4 over it. Then add the Fm7 of bars 5 and 6.
    Apple Music ↗YouTube ↗

  8. Step 8 · Hear it today Now playing

    Ezra Collective 2020

    Blue Note Re:imagined

    Reworked by a UK band

    Listen for
    Blue Note says this version moves between post-bop, funk, hip-hop and Afrobeat. Listen for where the feel changes and for what stays from the 1966 tune.
    Try this
    Play the 12-bar chart with a funk feel of your own: keep the chords from the page and change only the rhythm.
    Apple Music ↗YouTube ↗

More great versions