Solar — Form, Changes & How to Play It

About Solar

Miles Davis’s Compact Modern Jazz Classic

Solar is credited to Miles Davis and was first recorded by his quintet on 3 April 1954 at Rudy Van Gelder’s home studio in Hackensack, New Jersey. The personnel were Davis on muted trumpet, Davey Schildkraut on alto saxophone, Horace Silver on piano, Percy Heath on bass and Kenny Clarke on drums — Schildkraut was an “underground legend” who would soon disappear from the jazz scene. The recording was first released later that year on the 10-inch LP Miles Davis Quintet (Prestige PRLP 185), and Solar was subsequently included on the 1957 12-inch compilation Walkin’ (Prestige PRLP 7076), which is how most listeners came to know the tune.

In just 12 bars, the harmony moves through four key centres — C minor, F major, E♭ major and D♭ major. Each chord change leads logically into the next; the descending whole-step and half-step movements between key centres are an excellent tool for study.

The composition’s authorship has been the subject of long-running debate. In 2012 evidence emerged showing that Solar is nearly identical to “Sonny”, a piece written by guitarist Chuck Wayne in the 1940s — Wayne having played with Woody Herman, the George Shearing Quintet and many other groups of that era. Some musicologists now consider Wayne the original composer, but the tune is most commonly credited to Davis on lead sheets and recordings, and was copyrighted in his name in 1963. The opening four bars of the melody are inscribed on Miles Davis’s tombstone in Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, which gives some sense of the importance of the tune to his legacy regardless of its disputed origins.

The Form & Harmony

A Compact 12-Bar Study in Voice Leading

Solar has a 12-bar form rather than the standard 16-bar AB or 32-bar AABA. The lead sheet is typically marked with repeat barlines, so the head is played twice through (or more) before solos begin. What makes the form so distinctive is the way the harmony moves through four different key centres in those 12 bars, with elegant voice leading connecting each one to the next.

The tune is normally treated as being in the concert key of C minor — D minor for tenor saxophone, A minor for alto saxophone — but the harmony moves quickly. Bars 1–4 sit in C minor (Cm7 → Gm7 → C7), with the C7 functioning as a V chord setting up the move to the next key centre. Bars 5–8 lift to F major (Fmaj7 → Fm7 → B♭7) — the B♭7 is then the V chord that resolves to E♭ major in bar 9. Bars 9–12 cycle through E♭ major and D♭ major (E♭maj7 → E♭m7 → A♭7 → D♭maj7), then a final Dm7♭5 → G7♭9 ii–V brings the harmony back to C minor for the next chorus.

For improvisers, this is one of the great teaching tunes. Each four-bar phrase is its own little study in chord-scale relationships, and the connections between them — particularly the way the 7th of one chord becomes the 3rd of the next — are textbook examples of smooth voice leading. Bill Evans was particularly fond of Solar; he recorded it many times throughout his career, and his solo piano version on the album Alone (1968) demonstrates just how much harmonic depth can be drawn out of these 12 bars.

How to Learn Solar

A Practical Approach for Saxophonists

1. Learn the head from the recording. Listen to the original Miles Davis Quintet recording on Walkin’ (1954) and copy Davis’s phrasing exactly. The melody is short and singable but full of subtle articulation that the lead sheet can’t fully capture. Bill Evans’s many recordings of the tune are also essential listening — his trio version on Sunday at the Village Vanguard (1961) is a masterclass in conversational interplay over the Solar changes.

2. Map the four key centres. Solar moves through four key centres in just 12 bars: C minor for bars 1–4, F major for bars 5–8, then E♭ major and D♭ major for bars 9–12 before resolving back to C minor. Practise each four-bar section as its own exercise before stringing them together. Once you can name the key centre for each chord rather than just reading the chord symbols, the tune becomes much easier to navigate.

3. Drill the voice leading. Solar’s harmony can be navigated very smoothly. The 7th of one chord often becomes the 3rd of the next, and key centres descend by whole steps and half steps rather than by interval. Practise scales and arpeggios that emphasise these connections rather than treating each chord as its own isolated unit.

4. Study Bill Evans. No one understood Solar better than Bill Evans. Listen to as many of his versions as you can find — the Sunday at the Village Vanguard trio reading is essential, and his solo piano version on Alone (1968) shows how much harmonic information can be drawn out of just 12 bars. Try transcribing a chorus or two of his improvisation on the tune.

If you would like one-to-one guidance working through Solar or any standard, saxophone lessons in person in South East London or online are available, with a focus on jazz repertoire, transcription study and technique. You may also find our free saxophone transcriptions useful — studying how Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley approached changes-rich tunes is one of the most direct ways to build your jazz vocabulary.

Essential Solar Recordings

Five Versions Worth Knowing

The unmissable recording is Miles Davis Quintet (1954) on Walkin’ — the original. Recorded on 3 April 1954 with Davey Schildkraut on alto saxophone, Horace Silver on piano, Percy Heath on bass and Kenny Clarke on drums, this is the version that introduced the tune to the world and remains the benchmark for any musician approaching Solar.

From there, the most important Solar recordings are by Bill Evans. His trio reading on Sunday at the Village Vanguard (1961) with Scott LaFaro and Paul Motian is one of the great examples of jazz trio interplay, and his solo piano version on Alone (1968) is a study in how much harmonic depth can be drawn out of just 12 bars. Other essential readings include Chet Baker on Chet Baker in New York (1958), Pat Martino on El Hombre (1967) for a guitar perspective, and Keith Jarrett on Standards Volume 1 (1983) with Gary Peacock and Jack DeJohnette.

If you enjoy this style of jazz, browse the online real book index for the standards we can offer as free PDFs in Concert, B♭ and E♭.