All Blues — Chord Changes & Harmonic Analysis
- Composer:
- Miles Davis
- Year:
- 1959
- Key:
- G major
- Form:
- Blues (12 bars)
- Style:
- Modal Jazz
- Tempo:
- 100–160 BPM
A modal jazz waltz blues from Kind of Blue. Features a simple but effective 12-bar blues structure in 3/4 time with modal approach.
About This Standard
Composed by Miles Davis for the landmark album Kind of Blue (1959), All Blues is a 12-bar blues in G played in 3/4 waltz time. Rather than conventional bebop substitutions, it uses sustained dominant 7th chords and parallel chromatic tritones in the saxophone voicings, creating a hypnotic, modal atmosphere that exemplified the new direction Davis was charting.
Notable recordings:
- Miles Davis — Kind of Blue (1959)
- Miles Davis — Miles Davis in Person: Friday Night at the Blackhawk (1961)
- Widely covered — (standard blues-waltz in the jazz repertoire)
Chord Changes
Notation
Harmonic Analysis
All Blues is a 12-bar blues in G major in 3/4 time, using I7 (G7), IV7 (C7), and V7 (D7) with a 4-bar introductory vamp on G7 before each chorus. The harmonic simplicity is by design — Davis wanted soloists to focus on melodic development over modal harmony rather than navigating rapid chord changes. The saxophones play parallel tritone voicings (Db/D) during the G7 sections, adding orchestral texture. Its waltz feel and modal approach distinguish it from conventional jazz blues.