• Source: Footprints (composition)

"Footprints" is a jazz standard composed by saxophonist Wayne Shorter and first recorded for his album Adam's Apple in 1966. The first commercial release of the song was a different recording on the Miles Davis album Miles Smiles recorded later in 1966, but released earlier. It has become a jazz standard.




Rhythm



Although often written in 34 or 68, it is not a jazz waltz because the feel alternates between simple meter and compound meter. On Miles Smiles, the band playfully explores the correlation between African-based 128 (or 68) and 44. Drummer Tony Williams freely moves from swing, to the three-over-two cross rhythm—and to its 44 correlative.
The ground of four main beats is maintained throughout the piece. The bass switches to 44 at 2:20. Ron Carter’s 44 figure is known as tresillo in Afro-Cuban music and is the duple-pulse correlative of the 128 figure. This may have been the first overt expression of systemic, African-based cross-rhythm used by a straight ahead jazz group. During Davis’s first trumpet solo, Williams shifts to a 44 jazz ride pattern while Carter continues the 128 bass line.
The following example shows the 128 and 44 forms of the bass line. The slashed noteheads indicate the main beats (not bass notes), where one ordinarily taps their foot to "keep time."




Harmony


Harmonically, "Footprints" takes the form of a 12-bar C minor blues, but this is masked not only by its triple time signature but by its avant garde turnaround. In the key of C minor, a normal turnaround would be Dm7(♭5), G7, Cm7. But Shorter doubles the harmonic rhythm of the turnaround, and the progression reads: F♯m9(♭5), F7(♯11), E9(♭5), A7(♯9), Cm7. In jazz jam sessions and for educational purposes, players often choose D7(♯11) D♭7(♯11) Cm7 as turnaround, which also fits with the original melody.




Notable covers


Kenny Barron included the composition in his 2004 studio album Images.




References

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Footprints (composition)
• Footprint (disambiguation)
• Water footprint
• Adam's Apple (album)
• Footprints Live!
• Miles Smiles
• Water
• Modal jazz
• Speak No Evil (Wayne Shorter album)
• Slow Horses