Modal Jazz: So What
Fewer chords, more space. Bebop changes chords every bar or two and soloists race through them; modal jazz holds one mode for many bars. Map the AABA form of Miles Davis' So What (16 bars of D Dorian, 8 of E flat Dorian, 8 back on D), build the So What chord from three stacked perfect fourths and a major third, slide it around inside the mode, feel the bridge's half-step shift as a sudden change of light, then improvise in D Dorian and E flat Dorian with the band.
In this lesson you'll
- Know the form of So What: AABA, 32 bars, 16 bars of D Dorian, 8 bars of E flat Dorian and 8 bars back on D, and how holding one mode differs from bebop's chord every bar or two.
- Play D Dorian (the white keys from D to D) and tell it from D natural minor by its raised sixth, B instead of B flat.
- Build and play the So What chord, three perfect fourths plus a major third on top (E A D G B, D G C F A), and improvise for 8 bars in D Dorian before shifting up to E flat Dorian.
Music in this lesson
- So What (from Kind of Blue)Miles Davis · 1959
Remember
Modal jazz holds one mode for many bars instead of racing through chord changes: soloists explore the colours of one scale rather than following chords.
D Dorian is the white keys from D to D, minor with a raised sixth; in So What the bridge shifts the whole scale up a half step to E flat Dorian, a sudden change of light.
The So What chord stacks three perfect fourths with a major third on top; fourths sound open and ambiguous, neither clearly major nor minor, and the shape can move inside the mode (on E, D and A every note is a white key).