Blue in Green — Chord Changes & Harmonic Analysis
- Composer:
- Miles Davis
- Year:
- 1959
- Key:
- Bb major
- Form:
- Through-composed (10 bars)
- Style:
- Modal Jazz
- Tempo:
- 60–100 BPM
A hauntingly beautiful ballad from Kind of Blue, featuring a 10-bar form in 3/4 time. The sparse, modal harmony and chromatic voice leading create an impressionistic soundscape. Authorship disputed between Miles Davis and Bill Evans.
About This Standard
First recorded on Kind of Blue (1959), Blue in Green is a hauntingly beautiful 10-bar ballad with a disputed composer credit — Miles Davis claimed authorship, but Bill Evans maintained he composed the tune. This credit dispute remains unresolved; the copyright is registered to Miles Davis. The piece exemplifies the impressionistic, floating harmonic quality of the Kind of Blue sessions.
Notable recordings:
- Miles Davis — Kind of Blue (1959)
- Bill Evans — Waltz for Debby (1961)
- Ahmad Jamal — (1994 recording)
Chord Changes
Notation
Harmonic Analysis
Blue in Green has an unusual 10-bar form (not the standard 8, 12, or 32 bars) with a slow harmonic rhythm of extended chords. The harmony drifts between Bb major and G minor: Dm7→G7alt→Cmaj7→A7alt→Dm7→Db7→Cmaj7→Am7b5 D7→Gm7 Bb7→A7alt→Dm7 creating an impressionistic, tonally ambiguous atmosphere. The wide-spaced, slow-moving chords reward patient melodic development over rapid bebop lines.