Blue in Green
(by Miles Davis)
from the album Kind of Blue

Written in 1959 by Miles Davis for the classic album Kind of Blue, Blue in Green is an incredible ballad. It should be part of every jazz guitarist's trick bag...

The piece is usually performed very, very slow as ballad; watch out for the tricky 10-bar form! It messes up everyone who's not paying attention. Around bar number 8, you'll feel like it's coming back to the top... but it's not! Always be careful and vigilant.

To complicate things a bit further, the form is often altered for soloing : it goes in "real" double time. Every chord lasts half the time of it's actual written value (see the chart for reference). The form is thus 5 bars long!

Listen to the original album, it should clear things up. Be extra careful and practice it for a while before calling this tune at jam session.

The jazz guitar chord melody arrangement presented here is again very minimal : find how you like to play that song and which voicings fit best with the way you phrase the melody. Also, try the melody an octave down.

Have fun!

Video Demonstration

Blue in Green jazz guitar chord melody demonstrated, with some improvisation. See the pdf (with TABS) for the complete arrangement.
The chord melody PDF contains :
 
-the leadsheet (chord symbols + melody),
-the chord melody arrangement (played in the video here)
-a basic chord chart (basic guitar shapes for you to use.)


Suggested listening:

Kind of Blue (1959) : Classic album that launched the "modal" era.

Bill Evans Live : I heard him on various album. Incredible, as always.