All Blues

All Blues is a jazz blues composition by Miles Davis, written for his landmark 1959 album Kind of Blue. Rather than following a conventional blues approach, Davis reimagined the form by setting it in 6/8 time as a jazz waltz and replacing standard chord cycling with modal harmonies, including Mixolydian and Dorian voicings over dominant chords. The result is a spacious, unhurried piece built on a hypnotic repeating bass line and a signature four-bar horn vamp that introduces the head, separates solo choruses, and anchors the overall structure. Davis provided his sextet with only minimal harmonic sketches and no rehearsal, capturing a spirit of spontaneous expression; the recording was essentially a first complete take with no edits. The harmonic movement is distinctive for how long it lingers on the tonic before shifting to unexpected tensions through a sharp-nine dominant chord and a chromatic neighbor chord a half step above, creating color without the predictable pull of traditional blues changes. As one of the most recognized pieces from the best-selling jazz album of all time, All Blues has become a widely performed standard, valued by improvisers for its openness and by listeners for its blend of blues feeling with modal subtlety. It remains a defining example of how Davis could transform the simplest musical elements into something quietly radical.