Miles Davis, music · Introduced on the album Kind of Blue, 1959
So What
So What is a 32-bar modal tune by Miles Davis, built on two scales a half step apart. Players love it because so few chord changes leave a soloist room to build ideas. It opens Kind of Blue, and Miles Davis kept it in his live sets for years.
▶ Plays the whole path in order, one recording after another.
- 1 Learn the song Miles Davis✓
- 2 Hear it live Miles Davis Quintet✓
- 3 Hear it very fast Miles Davis Quintet✓
- 4 Hear it with words Eddie Jefferson✓
- 5 Same changes, new tune John Coltrane✓
- 6 Hear it with guitar and organ George Benson✓
- 7 Hear it as a piano trio Bill Evans Trio✓
- 8 Hear a later generation play it Herbie Hancock Quintet✓
How the tune works
A 32-bar AABA tune with almost no chord changes. The two A sections stay on D Dorian, a minor sound that uses the white keys from D to D. The bridge moves up a half step to E♭ Dorian for eight bars, and the last A returns to D Dorian. Charts write the two sounds as D minor 7 and E♭ minor 7, held for 16, 8 and 8 bars.
The changes under Cannonball Adderley's solo on Miles Davis's Kind of Blue (1959), transcribed in the Weimar Jazz Database. Fake books write the same 16-8-8 plan.
Use the key buttons to move the chart to the key you play in.
Listen in this order
Play all 8 on YouTube ↗Start with the Kind of Blue recording, then hear the tune get faster on stage in 1960 and 1964. The last five steps show it as a vocal, a different tune on the same changes, a guitar and organ groove, a piano trio and a 1990s tribute band.
-
Step 1 · Learn the song Now playing
Miles Davis 1959
Kind of Blue
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Count four eight-bar sections: two that match, one a half step higher, then home again. The bass plays the main theme, which is unusual, and Bill Evans's piano chords answer it.
- Try this
- Play a D minor 7 chord and hold it for 16 bars, counting each bar aloud. Then play E♭ minor 7 for 8 bars and finish with D minor 7 for 8 bars. Do it without the recording first, then listen once and note where the bridge arrives.
-
Step 2 · Hear it live Now playing
Miles Davis Quintet (with John Coltrane) 1960
“So What (Live from Konserthuset, Stockholm - March 1960)”, The Final Tour: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 6
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- The band plays it faster than on the album. Follow one chorus by counting 32 bars, and listen for the bridge, where the harmony moves up a half step for eight bars.
- Try this
- Count bars aloud with the recording. The bridge starts on bar 17. Try one full chorus; for a smaller version, count only the first eight bars and start over each time.
-
Step 3 · Hear it very fast Now playing
Miles Davis Quintet 1964
"Four" & More: Recorded Live in Concert
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- At this tempo a 32-bar chorus goes by quickly. The bridge, eight bars a half step higher, is the easiest place to find your place.
- Try this
- Tap beats 2 and 4 with the recording for one chorus. For a smaller version, tap only beat 1 of each bar.
-
Step 4 · Hear it with words Now playing
Eddie Jefferson 1968
Body and Soul
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- The words are fitted to the tune's own phrases, so you hear its shape as sentences. Listen for the bridge, where the band moves up a half step.
- Try this
- Hum the main theme along with the record for one chorus. Then hum just the bridge on its own.
-
Step 5 · Same changes, new tune Now playing
John Coltrane 1961
“Impressions”, Impressions
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- This take runs nearly fifteen minutes on the same 32-bar plan as So What. Eric Dolphy is in the band but plays only the final chord. Listen for the bridge to count how many choruses go by.
- Try this
- Play the 16-8-8 chord plan from step 1 and make up short phrases over it, using the white keys D to D over D minor 7 and the same pattern a half step higher over E♭ minor 7. This is soloing over changes, so for a smaller version play only the notes D, F and A over the D minor 7 bars and E♭, G♭ and B♭ over the E♭ minor 7 bars.
-
Step 6 · Hear it with guitar and organ Now playing
George Benson 1971
Beyond the Blue Horizon
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Benson and organist Clarence Palmer take the solos. Listen for the groove change, from funk to fast swing to half-time, as the band plays the same tune.
- Try this
- Play eight bars of D minor 7 twice on guitar or piano. First play short, even funk chords, then long, relaxed swing chords. Notice how the feel changes while the harmony stays put.
-
Step 7 · Hear it as a piano trio Now playing
Bill Evans Trio 1974
Blue in Green: The Concert in Canada
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- There are no horns, so the piano carries the tune. Listen for the bridge, where the harmony moves up a half step, and compare the sound of a trio with the sextet on the album.
- Try this
- At the piano, play the 'So What' voicing on D minor 7: stack perfect fourths from the bottom with a major third on top (E, A, D, G, B). Move the same shape up a half step for E♭ minor 7 and back. For a smaller version, play only E, A and D.
-
Step 8 · Hear a later generation play it Now playing
Herbie Hancock Quintet (Hancock, Shorter, Carter, Williams, Roney) 1992
“So What (Live)”, A Tribute to Miles
Couldn't play this one here. Try the links below.
- Listen for
- Hancock, Carter and Williams were the rhythm section on Four & More (step 3), recorded 28 years earlier. Listen to how the same three players handle the tune now.
- Try this
- Play only the root of each chord with the record: D for 16 bars, E♭ for 8, then D for 8. For a smaller version, play just the first note of each eight-bar section.
More great versions
-
Miles Davis Quintet 1961
“So What (Live at the Black Hawk, San Francisco, CA - April 22, 1961)”, In Person Saturday Night at the Blackhawk, San Francisco, Volume II
The 1961 quintet with Hank Mobley on tenor, recorded live in a San Francisco club.
-
Miles Davis with the Gil Evans Orchestra 1961
“So What (Live)”, Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall
A 1961 Carnegie Hall concert with Gil Evans conducting a 21-piece orchestra.
-
Miles Davis Quintet 1964
“So What (Live at the Berlin Philharmonie, Germany - Sept. 1964)”, Miles in Berlin
The second quintet with Wayne Shorter on tenor in place of George Coleman, recorded in Berlin in September 1964.
-
Miles Davis Quintet 1965
“So What (Live at the Plugged Nickel, Chicago, IL (2nd Set) - December 23, 1965)”, Miles Davis at Plugged Nickel, Chicago
The quintet in a Chicago club in December 1965, a long live version from the second set of the night.
-
Monty Alexander 1971
Here Comes the Sun
A piano-led quartet with a conga player, in a 1971 version that runs over ten minutes.
-
Ronny Jordan 1992
“So What!”, The Antidote
A London acid-jazz single built on Miles Davis's tune, popularised by DJs in 1992.
-
Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker & Roy Hargrove 2001
“So What / Impressions (Live)”, Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall
A 2001 concert tribute to Miles Davis and John Coltrane that plays So What and Impressions as one piece, since they share a chord structure.