All Blues

All Blues is a jazz composition by Miles Davis first appearing on the influential 1959 album Kind Of Blue. This piece was included on the album for recording purposes

It is a 12 bar blues in 6/8 - the chord sequence is that of a basic blues and made up entirely of 7th chords, but it is principally characterised by the last IV chord being replaced by the chord of the tonic minor. In the case of "All Blues" which is in G major, this replacement chord is G minor 7th.

The piece is made even more distinctive by the bass vamp that repeats through the whole piece, except when a V or flattened VI chord is reached (the 9th and 10th bars of a chorus). Further to this, there is a harmonically similar vamp that is played by the horns (the two saxophones in the case of Kind Of Blue) at the beginning and then (usually) continued by the piano under any solos that take place. Each chorus is usually separated by a four-bar vamp which acts as an introduction to the next solo/chorus.

While originally an instrumental piece and usually performed as such, lyrics were later written for it by Oscar Brown Jr.