“500 Miles High” is a composition by Chick Corea, recorded on Return to Forever’s 1972 album Light as a Feather with Flora Purim singing. It’s a Latin jazz favorite with a soaring melody and a chord progression that moves smoothly through minor and major key areas.
The tune is commonly played in E minor territory, with a samba or Latin feel. The chords move through minor seventh chords, half-diminished chords and dominant chords, often in long, flowing sequences. The form repeats the main theme with variations.
Section by section: in the opening section, use Dorian over the minor seventh chords and Locrian or Locrian natural 2 over the half-diminished chords. When dominant chords appear, use altered or Mixolydian sounds depending on where they resolve. Keep your phrasing rhythmic and Latin-flavored, with syncopated accents. Corea’s own solos combine bebop language with Spanish and Latin influences.
Practice with a samba play-along. Learn the melody by ear from Light as a Feather.
Transposing tip: Bb instruments read it in F# minor, Eb instruments in C# minor.
Arrangement idea: start with a samba groove from the rhythm section, then bring in the melody on flute, soprano sax or voice. During the solos, let the drummer push the energy, then bring it down for the final melody.
Using the 500 Miles High Lead Sheet PDF on gigs: keep a concert-pitch copy and a copy in your instrument’s key, label the intro and ending on the page, and note the tempo and feel the band usually plays. Small notes like these keep you calm when a tune gets called on the spot.
Practice checklist for the 500 Miles High Lead Sheet PDF: play the melody from memory, play roots through the form, play guide tones, improvise one chorus of chord tones only, and finally record yourself soloing over a play-along. Listening back is the fastest way to spot what to fix next.
Is it hard to play? It’s intermediate. Recordings to study: Light as a Feather and Stan Getz’s Captain Marvel. Learn more about the composer on Chick Corea’s Wikipedia page, and find more Latin jazz lead sheets on Minedit.