“All Blues” is from Miles Davis’s 1959 masterpiece Kind of Blue. It’s a modal blues in 6/8 time with a hypnotic bass line and a gently swaying feel, very different from the hard-swinging blues of the bebop era. It’s one of the most played tunes from the album in jazz education.
The form is a 12-bar blues in G, felt in 6/8 or 3/4. The changes are G7 for four bars, Gm7 (or C7) for two bars, G7 for two bars, then D7#9 to Eb7#9 to D7#9 in bars 9 and 10, and back to G7. That half-step move from D7 to Eb7 and back is the tune’s signature sound. A recurring piano trill figure and a bass ostinato hold the groove together.
For improvisation, G Mixolydian works over G7, G Dorian over Gm7, and altered or half-whole diminished sounds over the D7#9 and Eb7#9 chords. Make the half-step shift audible by playing an Eb or Bb that clashes and resolves. Miles’s own solo is spacious and lyrical; Cannonball and Coltrane push harder with more notes.
Practice the 6/8 feel with a metronome on the dotted quarter. Learn the bass line and piano figure. Then improvise with modal ideas, using space and motifs.
Ear training with the All Blues Lead Sheet PDF: before reading along, listen to two different recordings and try to hear where each section starts. Then follow the lead sheet while listening. Connecting what you see to what you hear is how lead sheets turn into tunes you truly know.
How to use this All Blues Lead Sheet PDF: print it or keep it on a tablet, mark the form sections and key centers in pencil, and write the guide tones you want to target above the tricky bars. Revisit those notes after each practice session so the tune gets easier every week.
Is it hard to play? It’s beginner to intermediate and a great introduction to modal blues. Recordings to study: Kind of Blue. Learn more about the composer on Miles Davis’s Wikipedia page, and find more modal blues lead sheets on Minedit.