Lady Day and John Coltrane

Structure

• Modified 12 bar Blues form

• Strophic Form

• Intro

• Verse

• Refrain

• Verse

• Chorus

• Extended virtuosic solo

• Verse

• Refrain

• Extended outro

Tonality

INTRO (4 bars repeated)

• F major key signature

• C is clearly the tonic

• Blues scale

VERSE 1 / Refrain & Verse 2 / Refrain

• Same as intro

EXTENDED VIRTUOSIC SAX SOLO

• No change

CODA

• No change

Melody

INTRO (4 bars repeated)

• Melisma on “oh”

• Blue note (flattened 5th - Gb)

• Improvised feel

VERSE 1 / Refrain & Verse 2 / Refrain

• Improvised feel

• Blue notes

• Narrow vocal range

• Conjunct

• Regular phrases

• Min 3rd (flattened 3rd)

EXTENDED VIRTUOSIC SAX SOLO

• Improvised saxophone (no vocals)

• Wide pitch range (use of the high tessitura)

• Chromatic scale

• Ornamentation

CODA

• Improvised saxophone countermelody

• Vocal ad libs (improvised), including flat 3rd and 7th

• Repeated backing vocal phrase

• Chromatic scale

• Ornamentation

Harmony

INTRO (4 bars repeated)

• C7 (#9) - C, E, G, Bb, D#

• D# is written as harmonic equivalent (Eb)

• False relation of E and Eb

VERSE 1 / Refrain & Verse 2 / Refrain

• C7 (#9) for 8 bars

• F7 (#9) for 4 bars - F, A, C, E, G#

• C7 (#9) returns for 4 bars

EXTENDED VIRTUOSIC SAX SOLO

• New 4 chord sequence

• C7 (#9), E (b9), A (b7), G (+7)

• Bar 53, the chord sequence is extended to include descending chromatic passing 7th chord Bm7 to B (b7) (sus 4)

• Bar 60 D7 (b9) to more familiar chord progression Gm7, Fm9 to B (b13)

• Chord progression from 65 to end of section is the same as bar 25 to 1st time bar

CODA

• Starts with B (b13), moves down a semitone to B11 and back up a semitone to B (b13)

• Repeats (an ostinato) 3-chord sequence of 9ths using the tonic, subdominant and dominant chords (C7 [#9], F9, G9)

• Bar 119 has a G+ for 4 bars

• Song ends on a Bb7 (add 4)

Texture

INTRO (4 bars repeated)

• Layers of samples (multitrack recording)

• Block chords

• Use of stereo field (hard left and right)

VERSE 1 / Refrain & Verse 2 / Refrain

• Melody and accompaniment

• Saxophone licks / fills between phrases

EXTENDED VIRTUOSIC SAX SOLO

• Sax and accompaniment

CODA

• Counterpoint

Rhythm, Tempo & Metre

INTRO (4 bars repeated)

• Fast tempo - cotchet = 160

• Simple quadruple

• Syncopation

• Tied notes (across bar lines and beats)

VERSE 1 / Refrain & Verse 2 / Refrain

• Same as Intro

EXTENDED VIRTUOSIC SAX SOLO

• Same as Intro

• Semiquaver runs

• triplets & sextuplets

CODA

• Same as extended virtuosic sax solo

• Change in metre to simple duple in bar 122

Sonority

INTRO (4 bars repeated)

• Samples

• Drum loop (Lo-fi)

• Turntablism / vinyl hiss

• Synth Bass

• EP-electric piano (with pedal)

• Vocalisation

VERSE 1 / Refrain & Verse 2 / Refrain

• Saxophone (horn section)

• Drum loop

• Synth Bass

• EP- electric piano

• Hammon Organ with vibrato

• Lead Vocals (Soul)

EXTENDED VIRTUOSIC SAX SOLO

• No vocals

• Pitch bend (gradual semitone slide)

• Glissandos

• Vibrato

• Detailed

• Articulation (slurs, accents, staccatos)

CODA

• Vocals ad libs

• Backing harmonies

• Saxophone

• Multiphonics (several distorted notes at once)

• Key clicks (pressing the keys without blowing)

• Glissandos, pitch bend

• Band instrument as in previous sections.

Dynamics

INTRO (4 bars repeated)

• Keyboard mark ‘mp’

• Vocal mark ‘mf’

VERSE 1 / Refrain & Verse 2 / Refrain

• Same as Intro

EXTENDED VIRTUOSIC SAX SOLO

• Sax plays a wide range of dynamics (expressive)