Miles Davis Chapter's
Listening Guide for "Flamenco Sketches"
(One of 24 listening guides in the book corresponding to selections on the Jazz Classics CDs)

Recorded April 22, 1959 by Miles Davis Sextet; available on the Jazz Classics CDs;
also on Miles Davis, Kind of Blue, Columbia: 40579 (8163), CD/AC.

Suggestions for keeping your place while hearing "Flamenco Sketches" and following the modal construction:

  1. Remember that the first track on the second side of Kind of Blue has been labeled "Flamenco Sketches" on many copies of this album. So, if you hear a feeling of "ONE two three Four five six ONE two three Four five six" instead of a very slow "ONE two three four ONE two three four," you are listening to the wrong selection.

  2. To begin synchronizing your counting with the record, notice that the piece starts with a bass note on the fourth beat of a measure that actually precedes the beginning of your counting. If you are to count accurately, you must say "FOUR" when that first note is sounding, then say "One" when the next bass note sounds. That note lasts three beats, so you must continue counting even though there is no clear statement of any beats until the pattern is repeated. In other words, to get you through the introduction and well synchronized with the tempo of the piece, you need to count "FOUR One two three FOUR One two three FOUR." When you say "FOUR One," you are acknowledging the bass notes. When you say "two three," you are acknowledging the middle of the measure, a time when the bass note is still ringing and no clear statement of beats is coming from the musicians. Eventually, you should be able to count "ONE two three four ONE two three four" with or without assistance from the musicians. This will become important later because bassist Paul Chambers sometimes plays figures that purposely delete the simple pattern outlined above and leave the listener to fill in the beats. You will have some assistance, though, beginning with John Coltrane's entrance, because drummer Jimmy Cobb starts using a wire brush to play ride rhythms on the ride cymbal. If you still have yet to figure out where the beats are by the time you are near the end of the selection, simply listen to Cobb's playing under the final Miles Davis solo. It is almost exclusively quarter notes, one note on each beat.

  3. Remember that the tempo is very slow, and that you should therefore take care to not be counting twice as fast or four times as fast as the beats are passing.

  4. If your mind wanders, let the sound of mode #4 refocus your attention. It has a Spanish flavor that differs noticeably from the flavors of the other modes. It has also attracted the longest improvisations from the musicians and can therefore give you the most time to get back with it. In fact, if you lose your place and all of a sudden find yourself in the middle of that mode, you can restart your counting when that flavor disappears. The disappearance of that flavor will signal the beginning of mode #5.

  5. Start counting anew when a different solo voice enters. Remember that the sequence is four measures of piano and bass introduction followed by these sounds each running five modes in sequence: muted trumpet, tenor sax, alto sax, piano, and muted trumpet.

  6. Listen carefully for the bass notes that begin the measures. If a new mode is starting, this will often be signalled by the sound of a NEW bass note on the first beat of the measure.

  7. To help you anticipate each new mode within a single musician's solo, keep in mind that generally

  8. Once you know where you are, if it is the beginning of a mode, count "1234 2234 3234 4234" in order to keep your place by tallying beats as they pass. Each group of four beats ("1234") accounts for one measure. You tag the measures by saying a number to yourself at the beginning of each one. If it is the first measure for the mode, you say, "ONE two three four." If it is the second measure of a given mode, you say, "TWO two three four." If it is the third measure, you say, "THREE two three four."
Eventually you should be able to follow the changing modes without referring to the guide. Your ears will tell you what mode is in effect at a given moment. The whole point of this exercise is to help you peek into what the jazz improviser is doing. By being able to identify the same sounds that the improviser is using as basis for his solos, you will lessen the mystery of how solos are put together and how musicians manage to play well together without having to discuss their parts or use prewritten themes. The more you recognize in the sounds, the better prepared you are to go on to an appreciation of the compositional beauties present in the improvised lines. Listening for modes to change at the slow pace used by these performers should better equip you for listening to chords changing in conventional jazz pieces. The better you get at accurately anticipating chord changes, the more you will realize how the improviser's lines reflect his own appreciation of how the chords are progressing in a given piece. To a great extent, the progress of a melody line mirrors the progression of harmonies that lies beneath it in the accompanying chord changes. The improvised line reflects the flavor of the underlying chord, and a line improvised in "Flamenco Sketches" often bears the same character as the mode that is implied in that moment's accompaniment harmonies. Once you begin confidently following the music in this piece, it will be as though you are peering through a microscope. But instead of tiny things being made to appear large, ordinarily quick-paced improvisational processes have been slowed down for your calm examination.
Track

55Introduction
56Miles Davis Muted Trumpet Improvisation (with only piano and bass accompaniment)
57John Coltrane Tenor Saxophone Improvisation (with piano, bass, and ride cymbal accompaniment)
58Cannonball Adderley Alto Saxophone Improvisation (with piano, bass, and cymbals accompaniment)
Notice that bassist Chambers plays less predictably during this solo.
59Bill Evans Piano Improvisation (with bass and ride cymbal accompaniment)
60Miles Davis Muted Trumpet Improvisation (with piano, bass, and ride cymbal accompaniment)
Please note that this is only 1 of 24 listening guides that are contained in the book. To see more, please refer to ordering instruction below.

When ordering, refer to ISBN of desired product(s).

DescriptionISBNPrentice Hall Online
Jazz Styles: History & Analysis, Ninth Edition.        0-13-193115-6Order Item
Jazz Styles Demonstration CD0-13-193149-0Order Item
Jazz Classics CDs0-13-193146-6Order Item

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