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Posts: 14806
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC
Flamenco Sketches
Perhaps the most famous jazz album of all time, “Kind of Blue” by Miles Davis. I always thought it was cool that he had the “flamenco” sketches piece on there, even though it is jazz. And as everyone knows Jazz is born out of the blues etc. All the tracks are in the Real Books, so most students such as myself in college, had our first exposure to standards and improvisation with this album. I was always bummed Flamenco Sketches was not included. However, I only recently realized that every single track on this album is a “Blues” in terms of formal structure. Basically all are the same “palo” as we think in flamenco, and Sketches is not different. Miles got the idea to do this from Bill Evans’ “Peace Piece”, a meditative Ionian vamp. Here is the structure with the 12-bar standard blues in (…):
C Ionian (C-F) Ab Mixolydian (C-C7) Bb Ionian (F-F) D Phrygian, or the “flamenco” part (C-C-G7-F) Gm (C-G7, the turn around)
Here is a transcription, where the structure is represented by 24-bars (start at double bar line) due to the extremely slow tempo (imagine half-notes are the normal blues beats).
Obviously after the C, all the chords are substitutes. The idea is to explore those relative modes, ignoring the “blues” concept. Interesting to see each player’s take on the Phrygian section. Ironically, Davis and Coltrane don’t emphasize the F#, yet sound more “flamenco” than Cannonball who makes a concerted effort to emphasize the F#. It is also funny he can’t help himself but to toss in the bebop chromatics (something it seems Miles wanted to do different on this record). I sense that the 12-bar structure breaks down at times (the math is not adhered to by each soloist), in particular Bill Evans gets out of the Phrygian thing as fast as possible.
Anyway, recently we heard Faustino Nuñez use the blues to show a relationship to Fandango, in terms of the chordal progression. Originally I thought that was funny (ie very wrong) as we see the chords don’t properly line up. However, if we imagine the above Miles version to be slightly restructured (mainly flip the D Phrygian and the turn around phrase), it is ironic that it is sort of like fandango/cante Levante. (C for 8, F for 4, turn around C-G7, swapped with C-C-G7-F, end E Phrygian). Suddenly, the connection between Jazz and Flamenco makes a lot of sense (sorry purists ). To be fair, the analogy of African American blues to that of gitano working class folk song has long been pointed out…however, not in a specific musical way like this.
Great associations man, appreciate you posting about this. I think it speaks to the common roots of a lot of folklore, a subject I've always found fascinating.
And it's a great reminder also to explore (or in my case, go back to) Evans' albums -- I've probably listened to everything he's ever recorded at this point -- one of my all-time favorite musicians, just an incredible combination of cerebral and emotional.
When you first wrote this I went and listened to Sketches of Spain, but forgot to mention it. I think the flugelhorn and trumpet fit it better than guitar, the Rodrigo concerto. Normally I’m not a fan of the Three Cornered Hat, that also sounds best with Evans and Miles.
Printable Version
). To be fair, the analogy of African American blues to that of gitano working class folk song has long been pointed out…however, not in a specific musical way like this. 
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