Sippin' at Bell's is a 12-bar blues written by Miles Davis, recorded on August 14, 1947 as his first album as a leader. The session features Charlie Parker on tenor, John Lewis on piano, Nelson Boyd on bass, and Max Roach on drums, in a group billed as The Miles Davis All-Stars. The tune is a tribute to a Harlem bar called Bell's and is noted for its unusual harmonic substitutions within the blues form. It opens in F major 7, moves to Eb in measure two with Fm7-Bb7, and in measure five uses a IV major 7 instead of the usual IV7. From the same date, the session also produced Milestones, Little Willie Leaps, and Half Nelson, all of which became jazz standards and helped shape the bebop era. The progression of Sippin' at Bell's has a notable connection to Bud Powell's Dance of the Infidels, which uses a nearly identical progression.
