Gil Evans - 1949
‘Boplicity’ was recorded in 1949 and released on the seminal 1957 compilation album ‘Birth of the Cool’. Most people credit both Miles Davis and Gil Evans as the composers but Evans’ orchestration is what makes the piece a classic for me.
“Tritone Substitution” – A tritone is three whole tones up from another note (c to gb). A V chord can be substituted with the chord a tritone away. It works because the two chords have common notes but also because a chord just a semitone higher wants to resolve down just as much as the original V chord wanted to resolve to the same chord.
In the first bar Gil Evans uses the Tritone Substitution (TT) brilliantly. Notice how the 11th of the Gb chord is put in the bass. This makes the bass follow the ordinary II-V-I pattern, while the rest of the orchestra plays the TT, increasing the drive to the F major release.
In the second bar Evans goes from the Fmaj7 chord to the Dm7 by simply adding a ‘d’ in the bass. Which sets up the G7 that moves back to the I chord (F) rather than an expected C chord (II – V – I = Dm – G7 – C)
Bars 7 & 8 – This passage features 11th chords prominently . The C half diminished has the 11th on top and it resolves to the F major with a sharp 11 on top.
The F major chord that ends the eight bars is a good example of what people mean when they say “chord stacks”. This lovely chord is simply an E major triad over a F major triad. For more on Upper Structure Triads go here (Link).
