January 27, 2026
About the Author: Reuben
The 12-bar blues has been the most central and essential form used since the dawn of jazz.
The short and harmonically simple nature of the form, combined with its potential for manipulation, makes it the ultimate vehicle for improvisation.
Every great jazz pianist has recorded versions of a 12-bar blues, making it a very good way of bottling up an artist’s individual sound.
The short form also allows for bitesize transcription, removing the potential necessity for hours of work.
With all of this in mind, here are 5 solos that I would recommend for any pianist to transcribe.
Wynton Kelly (Miles Davis Quintet) – Freddie Freeloader – Kind of Blue
Many jazz pianists would call this the first solo they ever transcribed, and with good reason.
This solo stands as the most fundamental solo for all jazz pianists to transcribe; understated, brief, and very clear to dissect.
In this solo you will find very clear phrasing, as well as very simple harmonic interpretation.
The simple and subtle comping used by Kelly allows for very easy transcription, and most of your focus will want to be on the right hand.
The exception to this is at the beginning of the final chorus, where he plays a brilliant blues chord melody with both hands.
Wynton Kelly was a masterful practitioner of blues language, and his work alongside Wes Montgomery is well worth looking into also.
Christian Sands (Christian McBride Trio) – Fried Pies – Live at the Village Vanguard
This powerful, driving take on a Wes Montgomery tune is a great place to look for a modern take on a 12-bar blues that harkens back to multiple influences from the past.
Christian Sands’ solo combines hard-hitting blues phrasing, modal manipulation and an intense swing feel (generously assisted by Christian McBride and Ulysses Owens Jr.).
This results in a performance that feels both fresh and very recognisable against the sounds of older greats.
In particular, phrase endings and transitions are something I have taken note of personally, and consider the best elements of this solo to transcribe.
This whole album (and the majority of the Christian McBride Trio’s discography) is a masterclass in modern jazz piano trio playing, and is worth studying in detail.
McCoy Tyner – Blues on the Corner – The Real McCoy
McCoy Tyner stands as one of the most uniquely influential figures in jazz piano.
His style, characterised by quartal voicings and strong pentatonic-shaped melodies, still ricochets conspicuously in the language of modern jazz pianists.
This track, from his 1967 album The Real McCoy, demonstrates perfectly this style, which he had developed over years with the John Coltrane Quartet.
Where many 12-bar blues tracks have a swinging drive and an abundance of blues phrasing, this has neither.
Tyner’s dense modal overlay on the chord changes substitutes cleanly dovetailed phrasing with chaotic shape-shifting.
The result is a 12-bar blues that takes on the feel of a ritual dance. For anyone wishing to bridge the gap from blues and bop language to modal language, this is your go-to track.
Oscar Peterson – C Jam Blues – Night Train
This would not be a reasonable list of 12-bar blues tracks without something by Oscar Peterson.
A technical behemoth, his explorations of the blues form went to the limits of physical capability.
His Boogie Blues Etude is the ultimate example of his, however it is practically untranscribable other than by the most proficient pianists.
Instead, his rendition of C Jam Blues is much easier to stomach, and contains plenty of useful quaver language for people to work on their uptempo chops.
Peterson demonstrates immaculate phrasing in this recording, and so individual lines are easy to piece together, while not being too fast for most players.
As with all Peterson transcriptions, careful allocation of fingers is suggested to assist with playing this as smoothly as the original!
Other tracks worth looking at include Now’s the Time, Blues for Martha and Easy Listening Blues.
Brad Mehldau (Joshua Redman Quartet) – Blues on Sunday (Munich 1994)
The Joshua Redman Quartet was one of the great jazz supergroups of the 90’s, boasting an outrageous rhythm of Brian Blade on drums and Christian McBride on bass. This recording of a Redman original shows a young Brad Mehldau near the beginning of his evolution as a master improviser.
There are many useful elements to take from transcribing his solo here, from the overall shape and story of the solo to small motivic details.
This solo has a perfect combination of strong recognisable phrases, deep implied harmony and motif development.
This recording is also worth studying for Mehldau’s comping patterns, which are both highly reactive to the other soloists, and equally a positive contributing factor in their solos.
His interplay with Redman during the saxophone solo is a perfect example of supportive comping.
As with all transcriptions, these solos are all worth studying in detail to get the most out of them.
Having learned a solo, it is also advisable to turn ideas from it into exercises, so that you can explore each idea fully and turn it into your own improvisational device.
With the knowledge you gain from these solos, you will be able to expand your language on a 12-bar blues very quickly.
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