In jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 and jazz harmony

Jazz harmony

Jazz harmony is the theory and practice of how chords are used in jazz music. Jazz bears certain similarities to other practices in the tradition of Western harmony, such as many chord progressions, and the incorporation of the major and minor scales as a basis for chordal construction, but...

, a So What chord is a particular 5-note chord

Chord (music)

A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...

 voicing

Voicing (music)

In music composition and arranging, a voicing is the instrumentation and vertical spacing and ordering of the pitches in a chord...

 such as employed by Bill Evans

Bill Evans

William John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...

 in the "'amen' response

Call and response (music)

In music, a call and response is a succession of two distinct phrases usually played by different musicians, where the second phrase is heard as a direct commentary on or response to the first...

 figure

Figure (music)

A musical figure is the shortest idea in music, a short succession of notes, often recurring. It may have melodic pitch, harmonic progression and rhythmic . The 1964 Grove's Dictionary defines the figure as "the exact counterpart of the German 'motiv' and the French 'motif'": it produces a "single...

" to the head

Head (music)

In its broadest sense, the head of a piece of music is its main theme, particularly in jazz, where the term takes on a more specific set of connotations. In other types of music, "head" may refer to the first or most prominent section of a song...

 of the tune "So What

So What (composition)

"So What" is the first track on the 1959 Miles Davis album Kind of Blue.-History:"So What" is one of the best known examples of modal jazz, set in the Dorian mode and consisting of 16 bars of D Dorian, followed by eight bars of E Dorian and another eight of D Dorian...

".

For example, an 'Em' "So What" chord (see second example) is an Em7

Minor seventh chord

In music, a minor seventh chord is any nondominant seventh chord where the "third" note is a minor third above the root.Most typically, minor seventh chord refers to where the "seventh" note is a minor seventh above the root...

sus4

Suspended chord

A suspended chord is a chord in which the third is omitted, replaced usually with either a perfect fourth or a major second , although the fourth is far more common...

 voicing, or as a polychord:



From the top note downwards, it consists of a major third

Major third

In classical music from Western culture, a third is a musical interval encompassing three staff positions , and the major third is one of two commonly occurring thirds. It is qualified as major because it is the largest of the two: the major third spans four semitones, the minor third three...

 interval followed by three perfect fourth

Perfect fourth

In classical music from Western culture, a fourth is a musical interval encompassing four staff positions , and the perfect fourth is a fourth spanning five semitones. For example, the ascending interval from C to the next F is a perfect fourth, as the note F lies five semitones above C, and there...

 intervals. The So What chord is often used as an alternative to quartal voicings and may be used in diatonic and chromatic planing, and is identical to the standard tuning of a guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

's bottom five strings (minus the top E-string). It is essentially a minor eleventh chord

Eleventh chord

In music, an eleventh chord is a chord which contains the tertian extension of the eleventh. Typically found in jazz, an eleventh chord will also usually include the seventh and ninth along with elements of the basic triad structure. Variants include the dominant eleventh, minor eleventh, and the...

 (-11, m11), arranged as it would be played on a guitar (root, 4th, 7th, 3rd, 5th, or voiced like this: x77787, or without the 5th, like this: x7778x).

It may also be thought of as a five-note quartal

Quartal

Quartal may refer to:*Quartal harmony, music featuring chords built from fourths*Quaternary numeral system, a system for representing numbers based on powers of four...

 chord (built from fourths) with the top note lowered by a semitone

Semitone

A semitone, also called a half step or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically....

. More modern sounding than "tertial chords" (built from thirds), it is useful in comping

Comping

Comping is a term used in jazz music to describe the chords, rhythms, and countermelodies that keyboard players or guitar players use to support a jazz musician's improvised solo or melody lines....

; since the structure of quartal harmony is usually vague, many roots may be applied to the So What chord and it may work well in various contexts including, "a major scale

Major scale

In music theory, the major scale or Ionian scale is one of the diatonic scales. It is made up of seven distinct notes, plus an eighth which duplicates the first an octave higher. In solfege these notes correspond to the syllables "Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Ti/Si, ", the "Do" in the parenthesis at...

 context; a Mixolydian mode

Mixolydian mode

Mixolydian mode may refer to one of three things: the name applied to one of the ancient Greek harmoniai or tonoi, based on a particular octave species or scale; one of the medieval church modes; a modern musical mode or diatonic scale, related to the medieval mode.-Greek Mixolydian:The idea of a...

 context; or a minor

Minor scale

A minor scale in Western music theory includes any scale that contains, in its tonic triad, at least three essential scale degrees: 1) the tonic , 2) a minor-third, or an interval of a minor third above the tonic, and 3) a perfect-fifth, or an interval of a perfect fifth above the tonic, altogether...

 context". For example, the E chord described above can also be C6Δ9, Asus4⁷⁹, G6⁹, Dsus2^{46 [no 7]}, F^lydian (FΔ911^{13 [no 5]}) or F^phrygian (Fm79^{1113 [no 5]}).

Other jazz recordings that make extensive use of the chord include McCoy Tyner

McCoy Tyner

McCoy Tyner is a jazz pianist from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career.-Early life:...

's "Peresina" and Gary Burton

Gary Burton

Gary Burton is an American jazz vibraphonist.A true original on the vibraphone, Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the usual two-mallets. This approach caused Burton to be heralded as an innovator and his sound and technique are widely imitated...

's "Gentle Wind and Falling Tear." Tyner's use of similar voicings was an early influence on Chick Corea

Chick Corea

Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...

; it can be heard in tunes such as "Steps" and "Matrix" (both featured on his landmark album "Now He Sings, Now He Sobs

Now He Sings, Now He Sobs

Now He Sings, Now He Sobs is a highly influential jazz piano trio album by Chick Corea, released March 14, 1968.The musicians on this album are Corea , Miroslav Vitouš , and Roy Haynes...

").

The term "So What chord" is used extensively in Mark Levine

Mark Levine

Mark Levine is the name of:* Mark Levine , jazz musician* Mark Levine , host of Mark Levine's Inside Scoop radio show, and The American Dream television show on Press TV*Mark Levine , American poet...

's landmark work The Jazz Piano Book

The Jazz Piano Book

The Jazz Piano Book is a tutorial by Mark Levine that aims to summarise the musical theory, including jazz harmony, required by an aspiring jazz pianist. Upon its publication in 1989, it quickly garnered widespread praise from both established jazz musicians and educators for its concise, friendly...

, wherein he describes a range of uses for which the voicing might be employed. Frank Mantooth

Frank Mantooth

Frank Mantooth was an American jazz pianist and arranger.Mantooth attended University of North Texas College of Music, graduating in 1969, then played in and arranged for the Air Force Academy Falconaires from 1969 to 1973...

dedicated two chapters to the chord under the name "Miracle voicing" in his work Voicings for Jazz Keyboard.