On March 2, 2009 Miles Davis teamed up with Jonh Coltrane, Cannonball Adderly, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers, Jimmy Cobb, and Paul Chambers to record the first three tracks of Kinnd of Blue, arguably the greatest jazz album of all time.
Now I don’t know crap about music theory. But to me this is the perfect album. Every song is emotional and layered. Highly accessible and complicated at the same time, not light or pop-ish. So What that starts the album is so inviting and still has a smooth swing and groove to it give me goosebumps everytime I listen to it.
The idea that this is in many ways this is an completely improvised album, yet has such a themeatic consistency is amazing. In my mind this is the essential album for anybody to have. I don’t care if you like rap, country, rock, or folk music, this album is special.
I have to say though, that this is an album it took me a bit of time to really appreciate. I don’t know if it was because I wasn’t coming at it from a traditional Jazz background and new just enough about Jazz to put me in the wrong place, or if I was just too young at the time and it’s an album that needs some maturity to really appreciate or both, but it really didn’t do anything at all for me on first listen.
Easily my favorite of all time, by a longshot really, and it’s what I used to introduce my wife to jazz as well. 50, eh? I think it’s still got a few miles left on it.
I’m a sucker for modal jazz, and Kind of Blue is my favorite album in that genre. The album is so cool – laid-back, intellectual, yet emotional and soulful. A great melodic counterpoint to the frenetic pace and hurried chord changes of bebop and hard bop which preceded it. Because of its melodic emphasis, it is far more accessible to the casual listener, yet free from the cheesiness and predictability of today’s “Cool Jazz”/“Light Jazz”/Kenny G crap. Really, a timeless classic.
my favorite jazz album and easily in my top 3; so many reasons why.
I enjoyed Ashley Kahn’s book about the Making Of… - It revealed that the original CD was recorded at the wrong speed because (I think I am remembering this correctly) the Master Tapes were recorded a tad too slowly, so when they were played back at the normal speed, they sped things up (and increased pitch) slightly…
My favorite album! I bought the LP the year it came out. Have it on every medium I own: LP, cassette, CD. No DVD yet. Is such a thing available?
My favorite cut is Blue in Green which I am convinced was written (mostly) by Bill Evans, even though Miles has copyright credit on it.
It’s the only album you can play end-to-end and turn right around and hear again. There are others like Dark Side of the Moon where a second playing is okay, but a little less exciting the second play. KOB just keeps on sounding fresh, over and over.
I wouldn’t even want to guess how many times I have heard it. Hundreds. And it’s so eaily recognized when it’s background in a movie or on a TV show. Always conveys class, taste and cool for whoever has it on their player.
The first jazz album I can recall buying in my senior year of high school. It was a sort of litmus test for hipness amongst high school students. Had you outgrown rock ‘n’ roll and were you ready to move on to adult music? If asked and you could name all the musicians on the album, your credentials were guaranteed.
Thank you, Gangster Octopus, for calling the anniversary to our attention. I called a number of friends I knew to enjoy the album to let them know and I imagine that they, like I, put it on last night and enjoyed it all over again. Even my eight year old got into it. Her first comment; “Dad, it’s music like this playing in the background of wii bowling.”
You just don’t get adoration and praise like that with your standard jazz tracks - Dizzy Gillespie on Wii Fit was a no go. And do they like it when Wii Baseball went with Ornette Coleman? No! Kids these days.
