“Footprints” is one of Wayne Shorter’s most famous compositions, first recorded on his 1966 album Adam’s Apple and soon after on Miles Davis’s Miles Smiles. It’s a modern-sounding minor blues with a hypnotic bass line, and it has become a standard for jazz students learning modal and post-bop harmony.
The tune is a 24-bar minor blues in C minor, usually felt in 6/4 or 3/4. It starts with a long stretch of Cm, then moves to Fm, then back to Cm. The ending is what makes it special: instead of a standard ii-V, it uses a chromatic sequence of altered dominant chords (built around F#ø, F7, E7 and A7 sounds, depending on the version) before returning to C minor. The bass ostinato underneath is part of the tune’s identity.
For improvisation, C Dorian is a great sound over the C minor sections, and F Dorian over the F minor sections. The turnaround is the challenge: treat each altered dominant as its own color, using altered or half-whole diminished scales, and make the chromatic motion audible. Many players think of the turnaround as a chance to go “outside” briefly before resolving back home, which matches the adventurous spirit of the tune.
Practice the bass line first, so you feel the 6/4 groove. Then play the chord changes slowly with a metronome. Loop the turnaround on its own until it’s comfortable. Then improvise using motifs and space, as Shorter often did.
Transposing tip: Bb instruments read it in D minor, Eb instruments in A minor. Keep a copy of the lead sheet in your key handy.
How to use this Footprints 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.
Common mistake: losing the long form. Count the 24 bars. Recordings to study: Shorter’s Adam’s Apple, Miles Davis’s Miles Smiles and later Shorter quartet versions. Learn more about the composer on Wayne Shorter’s Wikipedia page, and find more post-bop lead sheets on Minedit.