No Blues-Miles Davis

No Blues--Miles Davis

No Blues was an interesting song. Done in almost a swing style, nearly every instrument playing on the recording got a chance to solo. As the song was an instrumental, the majority of the music was an artist soloing or the rhythm section playing between solos.

The music started with a trumpet playing an introduction while being backed by the drummer. An upright bass comes in, as does a piano, and the trumpet takes a solo to start the piece off. The trumpet then fades, allowing an alto saxophone to jump in. This transition works well, as the saxophone seems to pick up right where the trumpet left off.

When the trumpet faded there was a pause in the melody as the drummer, bassist, and pianist all played harmonic pieces. Eventually the pianist steps in and takes a solo, but the delay seems almost too long. The ear was straining for melody long before any came, this being the first of two disappointments of the piece.

Again, after the pianist drops out, there is a long wait before the next solo is performed. The bassist stops playing backbeat and does melody, but this is marred with the usage of a bow. The bow was too sharp a noise in a smoother sounding piece like this, with a tenor saxophone and a smooth trumpet. The scratching jarred the ear.

After the bassist commenced, all of the instruments came together and played until the end of the song. The only regrettable thing was the drummer did not take a solo, as it seemed at times that the drums were all that was holding the piece together.