This is a performance of Miles Davis’ song So What at the Robert Herridge Theater. The reason I chose this performance is because it is one of the most well known jazz performances, and perceived to be one of the greatest. Because I am someone that doesn’t really listen to jazz, starting with something like this is a good idea. This is one of the only jazz performances of this era to be recorded as no one was focusing on jazz. Miles Davis is a trumpeter, and he writes all the music, there is also a drummer, a double bassist, a pianist and a saxophonist.
This is filmed and put on TV, so the live audience that is there probably isn’t a big audience, which is good because it fits the style of music, a big audience would ruin the feel of the occasion. However there would’ve been lots of people watching at home.
The quintet communicate between themselves quite regularly, such as when the song changes into another part, and just to make sure everything is going right. However there isn’t much communication with the audience, or so I know of because the audience isn’t really shown in the video. The communication between the quintet shows that they have a strong bond together and play well musically together. If one part of the quintet they will have a break and go stand or sit with another member of the quintet that isn’t playing at the same time, this gives the performance an element of relaxation as they aren’t just stood still they are interacting.
As the video is in black and white, lighting doesn’t really affect the performance. The staging of the performance is good as everyone is near each other and you can see everyone well, no one is clumped together and they aren’t too far away from each other. They mostly stay still when they are playing unless they aren’t playing for a certain part in the song.
The dynamics in the song are very subtle, as it isn’t suddenly louder or suddenly quieter, it changes during the song loads as sometimes it’s slightly quiet, sometimes it’s medium, sometimes it’s loud and it switches a lot, it’s very impressive. The rhythm in the song is memorable as there is the main rhythm where the whole quartet is playing, then there are solos for each of them. It’s very relaxing music and the rhythm is very calming. People drop in and out of the song, but mostly the drums and the bass are playing throughout, the piano isn’t in it that much but when it is it has a prominent part. The saxophonist is the same as the pianist just different times.