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Analysis Of Miles Davis So What, And Robert Johnson's Cross Road Blues

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Analysis Of Miles Davis So What, And Robert Johnson's Cross Road Blues
Music Analysis Essay
The roots of each jazz and blues are tangled along. It is typically difficult to differentiate one from the opposite. Each have their traditions that emerged from the south of America and specially the African-American populations of that region. The musical styles of each are the results of the collision of traditionally African rhythms and musical techniques with European classical and popular music genre. Each are adored American styles of music. Miles Davis “So What” and Robert Johnson’s “Cross Roads Blues” have some similarities and some differences. Miles Davis “So What” is Modal Jazz, used whole band tenor Saxophone, Alto Saxophone, Piano, Drums, trumpet, bass, and emphasis on melody and rhythms whereas Robert Johnson’s …show more content…
However, sort of a tone of solo Delta blues artists, Johnson commonly departs from the strict twelve-bar structure, adding additional improvisatory measures here and there. The sections are not steady and range from fourteen to fifteen bars in length. In addition, the harmonic advancement is frequently understood rather than stated (full IV and V chords are not used). Johnson uses a Spanish or open G tuning with the guitar tuned up to the key of B. This enables Johnson's use of a slide, which features as prominently in the song as the vocal the slide shares purpose more as a second "answer" vocal than addition, with the pressure of emphasizing the dark confusion in the lyrics. For example of you listen to the track “Cross Road Blues” from 0:44 Notice the “call-and-response” between the vocals and the guitar; each line of lyric is tracked by an “answer” from the guitar (Both are Johnson). And if you listen to the track by Miles Davis “So What” musically speaking this track is honestly straight forward. It takes place in Dorian mode. It’s focused on the D Dorian mode, and there are not any harmonic advancements aside from the modulation from D Dorian to Eb Dorian, which happens everywhere in the piece. The piece is created from a jazz sextet, with Miles Davis on trumpet, John Coltrane on tenor saxophone, cannonball Adderley on Alto saxophone, Bill Evans on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Jimmy Cobb on Drums. It takes place in Dorian mode. It’s focused on the D Dorian mode, and there are not any harmonic advancements aside from the modulation from D Dorian to Eb Dorian, which happens everywhere in the piece. The piece is created from a jazz sextet, with Miles Davis on trumpet, John Coltrane on tenor saxophone, cannonball Adderley on Alto saxophone, Bill Evans on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Jimmy Cobb on Drums. Portion starts with a piano and bass gap with a slower tempo
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