So What

Hi everybody,

I have been working on a version of Miles Davis's "So What", which I have recorded this afternoon and put on SoundCloud:

 So What (Miles Davis) by Malcolm81

or if that doesn't work, try clicking this.

I realize that this is not very good, in fact the coordination between the hands during the solos is remarkably bad, but I still think there is a good idea here.  The two chords listed in the real book for the solo are taken not as modes (which I believe was the point of the song as originally recorded), nor chords, but as an underlying pentatonic which can either be incorporated into a full mode by the melody, or more commonly in this solo what is done is that the melody plays a pentatonic other than the one in the bass and harmony, but the new pentatonic is for the most part compatible with the other one in that adding up all the notes gets you something that's either a mode or something that ought to be a mode (close enough for jazz man!).  The idea then is that there is an incomplete mode droning in the left hand bass and accompaniment, with the melody shifting the function of the notes in the underlying pentatonic as it fleshes it out.

I guess that's a long way of saying I play one pentatonic in the left hand, and then a different in the right, while occasionally going in for full modes (major, jazz minor derived, or bebop) with the right hand.  I also more or less ignore the bar counts on the solo and letting the lines determine when is a good time to switch, a luxury of the lonely.

As for the artistic success of this, nothing jaw dropping yet, but definitely some sweet sounds and I think some relatively dramatic changes in textures can be attained with this after I get a better feel for it.

Well have fun with all that jazz,
Malcolm