Space

Miles effectively used space in his playing in order to create anticipation. At the same time the feeling was relaxed and in flux. By leaving space in his playing Miles was making room for his band members to fill and communicate, a kind of call and response. Like his mentors Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie Miles formulated a new way of playing. Dizzy was fast and Bird was faster, I believe there was no where for Miles to go but down, but really he went up! He played beutiful lines that went over and into the next bar line, pause, and then carefully pick a relevant follow up to the notes played before, even if that meant repeating (or slightly altering it) what he had just played because he was interested in developing it further. Miles relevancy also related to his use of the melody in his solos. You could actually here the songs melody and its mood in his solos. The song So What is the first cut on his most famous album, Kind Of Blue, and it demonstrates Miles patience and space when approaching a solo:



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