Ron Carter's (Miles Davis) "Eighty-One"

[baerashbrewer]

I'm getting together with some guys on Monday and one of the songs we are going to try out is Eighty-One. If anyone is familiar with this tune, would you have any tips on playing some interesting chords or harmonic concepts to play over all these dominant sus chords?

Thanks

[randalljazz]

i don't play it, but a cursory glance over the relevant pages in the music of miles davis by lex giel yields the following:

the form is two successive 12 bar blues, with the Dbmaj7b5/F acting as a sub for the F in ms 11-12. the mixolydian is given as the basic mode for improvisation (on the root of each 7sus respectively), and Db lydian for the odd chord--nothing unexpected there.

the author notes that the chromaticism in the melody (ms 4) alludes to the minor 3rd substitutions that 'trane favored, i.e. F7 can be played as F7, Ab7, Cb7 or D7, with mixolydian on the root of each. could also indicate F7b9b13.

the author also notes that comping chords would typically be voiced as quartals.

[baerashbrewer]

Excellent! Thanks! I can get quite a few hours of practice time playing with those ideas. I've also been looking for a way to work in coltrane changes into my playing. This will be a great start (I've worked on them before, but I feel like I never really "work" something into my playing until I've played it many times with a group).