Dick Parry’s Sax on Dark Side: Where Did Pink Floyd’s Jazz Harmonies Come From?

The most obvious jazz moment on Dark Side of the Moon is Dick Parry’s saxophone solo on “Us and Them” — a slow, breathy line that leans on flat ninths and suspended chords, straight out of a Miles Davis ballad. Parry was a session player, not a band member, but the question lingers: did any of Pink Floyd actually study jazz? The answer is mostly no, with one exception.

Rick Wright had the strongest jazz leanings. He studied architecture at Regent Street Polytechnic but spent his free time absorbing modal jazz records — particularly Kind of Blue and Bill Evans. His chord voicings on “Us and Them” (the F#m7 to Bm11 vamp) use Evans-style quartal harmony, which gives the track its floating, unresolved feel. David Gilmour has said in interviews that he never formally studied jazz, but he admired saxophonists like John Coltrane and Ben Webster for their phrasing, and he tried to translate that vocal-like legato into his guitar work.

The coexistence with progressive rock identity was actually seamless. Pink Floyd’s prog side was built on long forms, dynamic shifts, and atmospheric textures — jazz’s modal structures and extended harmonies fit naturally into that language. Roger Waters, never a jazz fan, often pushed back against “wanky” solos, but he recognized that Parry’s sax added a layer of melancholy that straight rock couldn’t touch. So the jazz influence was absorbed not through formal study, but through Wright’s ear and Gilmour’s instinctive phrasing — and then parked right in the middle of a concept album about madness.