Miles Davis
Trumpet Solo on
Half Nelson

About

Miles Davis's trumpet solo is the first of two solos on this recording, followed by John Coltrane on tenor sax. Spanning six choruses of the 16-bar form in C at a vigorous 259 BPM with a swing feel, Davis opens with six choruses of trumpet, his solo demonstrating the crisp articulation and rhythmic clarity that allowed him to swing convincingly at extreme tempos while maintaining his characteristic cool. "Half Nelson" is a contrafact built on the chord changes of "Lady Bird," requiring the soloist to navigate a familiar harmonic framework with a different melodic identity.

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