So What (Miles Davis composition)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"So What" is the first track on the 1959 Miles Davis album Kind of Blue.
The introduction to "So What", attributed to Gil Evans, which is closely based on the opening measures of French composer Claude Debussy's Voiles (1910), the second prelude from his first collection of preludes.
History
"So What" is one of the best known examples of modal jazz, set in the Dorian mode and consisting of 16 bars of D Dorian, followed by eight bars of E flat Dorian and another eight of D Dorian. This AABA structure puts it in the thirty-two bar format of American popular song.
The piano-and-bass introduction for the piece was written by Gil Evans for Bill Evans (no relation) and Paul Chambers on Kind of Blue.Template:Citation needed An orchestrated version by Gil Evans of this introduction is later to be found on a television broadcast given by Miles' Quintet (minus Cannonball Adderley who was ill that day) and the Gil Evans Orchestra; the orchestra gave the introduction, after which the quintet played the rest of "So What".
The distinctive voicing employed by Bill Evans for the chords that interject the head, from the bottom up three perfect fourths followed by a major third, has been given the name "So What chord" by such theorists as Mark Levine.
While the track is taken at a very moderate tempo on Kind Of Blue, it is played at an extremely fast tempo on later live recordings by the Quintet, such as Four & More.
The same chord structure was later used by John Coltrane for his standard "Impressions".
The actor Dennis Hopper, in an interview in 2008 with Men's Journal, claims that Davis named the song after intellectual conversations with Hopper, in which Hopper would reply, "So what?"
Renditions
Grant Green recorded a version on his 1961 album Sunday Mornin'.
George Benson recorded a version on the 1971 album Beyond the Blue Horizon.
Ron Carter recorded a version on his 1974 album Spanish Blue.
Larry Carlton recorded "So What" (as well as "All Blues") during a live performance at the Baked Potato in 1985. Those performances were released in 1986 on his album Last Nite.
In 1992, Ronny Jordan covered the song on his album The Antidote.
In 2005, Larry Coryell Trio covered the song on the album Electric.
See also
