素有“黑暗王子”之称的迈尔斯·戴维斯是爵士乐史上一个伟大的名字。他的经典专辑“Kind Of Blue”被评为爵士史上的不朽之作，其中首支单曲“So What”更是经久不衰。今天我们就来欣赏这首上世纪50年代爵士乐的代表作。

Miles Davis's “So What” is one of the most famous compositions in jazz, instantly recognisable from its introductory bass phrase.Recorded in 1959, it has sold millions of copies as the opening track of the album Kind Of Blue.It is simple, melodic and catchy, but the song's origins are complex.They can be found in what was once revolutionary harmonic theory, in classical music and African ballet, and several sections of the song were “borrowed”.

迈尔斯·戴维斯的“So What”是世界上最著名的爵士乐之一。当开头的一段贝斯响起，人们就立刻可以辨认出这首歌的旋律。以这支1959年录制的曲子作为首支单曲的专辑Kind Of Blue卖出了高达几百万张。这支曲子很简单，曲调悠扬而迷人，但它的渊源却非常复杂。你可以从中找出革命性的和声理论、古典音乐和非洲芭蕾舞团的一些痕迹。不仅如此，这支曲子中的一些部分是直接“借鉴”来的。

Davis was a musically restless soul.He played with Charlie Parker in the 1940s as part of the bebop movement; he launched “cool” jazz in 1948 alongside arranger Gil Evans, and had spent the mid-1950s playing hard bop, churning out jazz standards, show tunes and pop songs with precision and energy.But Davis, a brilliant trumpeter, grew bored with this; improvising over the numerous chord changes of jazz tunes was not a challenge to him.Always as interested in the notes he didn't play as much as those he did, Davis realised less could be more.

戴维斯在音乐上有颗躁动不安分的心。在20世纪40年代，他与查理·帕克一同投身于波普运动的浪潮中。1948年，他与编曲家吉尔·埃文斯一同创造了“冷爵士”，20世纪50年代中期又转向改良咆哮乐，将旋律和流行乐曲用一种精准而有力的方式表现出来，为爵士乐立下新的标准。而戴维斯这位杰出的小号手却渐渐对此失去了兴趣。即兴创作无数爵士乐旋律和弦变换对他来讲毫无挑战性。喜新厌旧的戴维斯意识到简单就是美。

Davis and Gil Evans had fallen under the influence of composer and pianist George Russell.In the late 1950s, Davis began to see Russell's methods as the way out of the musical cul-de-sac he felt trapped in.He was further intrigued when he saw Les Ballets Africains, a dance ensemble from Guinea who used rhythm and space rather than complex chord changes in their music.Davis's initial response was to record “Milestones”, a 1958 track that came to epitomise the modal jazz of its era.Davis decided to cut an entire album of modal material, Kind Of Blue.

戴维斯和吉尔·埃文斯受到了作曲家和钢琴家乔治·拉塞尔的影响。20世纪50年代末，戴维斯将拉塞尔的理论视作引领他走出音乐死胡同的方式。后来他更是被非洲芭蕾舞团深深吸引。这是一支来自几内亚的舞蹈团，他们擅长在音乐中利用旋律和空间而非复杂的和弦变换。戴维斯的第一个尝试是录制了“Milestones”，这首录制于1958年的曲子成为了那个时代爵士乐的代表作。戴维斯决定录制一整张专辑，Kind Of Blue。

Kind Of Blue was a runaway success, and made stars of saxophonists John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley, who played on it, as well as Bill Evans.“So What” has been particularly popular with guitarists, who like tunes based on riffs.

Kind Of Blue收获了巨大的成功，捧红了演奏者萨克斯手约翰·克特兰、加农炮艾德利和比尔·埃文斯。“So What”尤其受到喜欢即兴重复段的吉他手的欢迎。

Davis remained restless.Kind Of Blue made him one of the few jazz names known to the wider public, but his opinion of this masterwork was pretty much a shrugging “So what?” In 1986 he dismissed Kind Of Blue as “like warmed over turkey”, even though many other jazz musicians would have loved to have made a record that brought them such commercial and critical acclaim.

戴维斯并没有就此停止，Kind Of Blue让他成为了仅有的几个有大众知名度的爵士音乐家，但他对此的态度不过是耸耸肩“So What”？1986年他不屑地将Kind Of Blue比作“炒冷饭”，尽管很多其他爵士音乐人梦想着能制作这样一张带来巨大商业利益和赞誉的专辑。

词汇总结

melodic[m??l?d?k]

adj.有旋律的;调子美妙的

It is simple, melodic and catchy, but the song's origins are complex.

这支曲子很简单，曲调悠扬而迷人，但它的渊源却非常复杂。

epitomise[?'p?t?m?s]

vt.成为（某事物）的缩影

Davis's initial response was to record “Milestones”, a 1958 track that came to epitomise the modal jazz of its era.

戴维斯的第一个尝试是录制了“Milestones”，这首录制于1958年的曲子成为了那个时代爵士乐的代表作。

runaway success一举走红

Kind Of Blue was a runaway success, and made stars of saxophonists John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley, who played on it, as well as Bill Evans.

Kind Of Blue收获了巨大的成功，捧红了演奏者萨克斯手约翰·克特兰、加农炮艾德利和比尔·埃文斯。