Miles Davis' original tune So What was first recorded in 1959 on his album Kind of Blue (Columbia CS-8163) with the famed "'56 Quintet". For purposes of comparison, this 1959 debut studio recording and a subsequent 1961 live performance recording of the same tune will be transcribed and analyzed.

The conservative tempo of = 138 lends itself well to the cool icy-blue sound of Miles Davis' playing and to the smooth simplicity of statement he observes in this rendition of So What.

(The music is available for viewing at the end of the article)

Measures 1-10, including the pick-up beat, firmly establish the tone E, which appears one or more times in every measure except measure 6. Even later in measure 14, where he ventures into polytonality by ascending to the eleventh, he still ends the phrase in measure 15 on the tonic. Despite the danger of too much tonic repetition, Miles manages to camouflage and integrate it into a masterful melodic line.

In the first five measures of the B section, beginning at measure 17, Miles uses this same technique of emphasizing the tonic to declare the key change to F dorian. In measure 23, he

Understanding the So What analysis requires understanding music theory. To start with, most music is defined as being either in a major key (such as C major) or a minor key (C minor). The notes between these two scales vary (C minor contains an Eb, while C major uses E ). The first note of the scale in each of these keys is referred to as the tonic. Distance between notes is an interval. An ascending minor third interval, such as C to Eb, has three upward half-steps. An ascending eleventh, such as C to F in the next octave, contains an octave plus a fourth. Chromaticism refers to the prominent use of half-step intervals (C-C#-D-D#-etc.). Our ears have become accustomed to hearing music in only one key (or tonality) at a time, such as C major. However, sometimes music can be in two different keys (or tonalities) at the same. This is called polytonality and occurs at different spots in So What.

sets up an anticipation of the return to E dorian with the chromatic interplay of Eb and E. However, in this last A section of chorus one, beginning in measure 25, he places less emphasis on tonic E than before and uses, instead, a B on the phrase endings, serving as a smoother transition to the new polytonal sound (D major over E minor) of chorus two.

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