Miles Davis
Trumpet Solo on
If I Were A Bell

About

Miles Davis's trumpet solo is the first of three solos on this recording. Spanning two choruses of the 32-bar ABAC form in F at a driving 188 BPM with a swing feel, Davis's famous spoken intro sets the casual, relaxed tone before he launches into two trumpet choruses of sublime melodic invention, his muted horn painting lyrical lines of deceptive simplicity. All soloists on this recording ended their solo by repeating the last 4 bars of the form as many times as they wanted. Miles did it 3 times for 12 total extra bars.

Miles Davis was 29 to 30 years old at the time.