ENDEIT

Tenor saxophone solo · 1964

John Coltrane: Bessie's Blues

Key
E♭ major
Tempo
184 BPM UP
Rhythm feel
Swing
Style
Postbop
Choruses
5
Form
A12

John Coltrane's solo on “Bessie's Blues” has 352 notes in 80 seconds (4.4 notes per second), spanning 32 semitones from D3 to Bb5. The average tempo is 184 BPM with a swing feel. About 49% of the melodic motion is stepwise (one or two semitones).

Notes

352Notes
80sSolo length
4.4Notes per second
D3–Bb5Range (32 semitones)
49%Stepwise motion

Pitch-class distribution

Most frequent intervals

  • -2 ×60
  • +2 ×42
  • -1 ×41
  • -4 ×30
  • +1 ×29
  • -3 ×27

Changes played over

A1
E♭7
A♭7
E♭7
E♭7
A♭7
A♭7
E♭7
E♭7
B♭7
A♭7
E♭7
E♭7

Record

Record
Crescent · impulse! · 1987
Recorded
27.04, 01.06.1964
Line-up
John Coltrane (ts); McCoy Tyner (p); Jimmy Garrison (b); Elvin Jones (dr)
Composer
John Coltrane

Source: Weimar Jazz Database, Jazzomat Research Project (HfM Weimar), ODbL 1.0.