Friday Night Jazz: 50th Anniversary of Kind of Blue
The long awaited return of Friday Night Jazz!
Last year, we took an eclectic look at some of the lesser known works of Miles Davis.
Tonight, I want to go in the opposite direction, and simply focus on one disc: Kind of Blue.
Why? Well, it is the 50th anniversary of the recording of Kind of Blue.
If that is not reason enough, then consider the simple fact that it is Davis’ best-selling album. Indeed, it may very well be the best known jazz record of any artist, of all time.
Even though it was released almost 50 years ago, it still sells over 5,000 copies per week today.
In addition to its commercial success, it has come to be described by many Jazz critics as the greatest jazz album of all time.
Writing in AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted:
“Kind of Blue isn’t merely an artistic highlight for Miles Davis, it’s an album that towers above its peers, a record generally considered as the definitive jazz album, a universally acknowledged standard of excellence. Why does Kind of Blue posses such a mystique? Perhaps because this music never flaunts its genius. It lures listeners in with the slow, luxurious bassline and gentle piano chords of “So What.” From that moment on, the record never really changes pace — each tune has a similar relaxed feel, as the music flows easily. Yet Kind of Blue is more than easy listening. It’s the pinnacle of modal jazz — tonality and solos build from the overall key, not chord changes, giving the music a subtly shifting quality.”
And Charles Gans of the Associated Press takes a look behind Davis’ masterpiece:
Today, the five tunes on “Kind of Blue” — particularly “So What” and “All Blues” — have become deeply embedded in the musical landscape. But at the March 2 and April 22, 1959, recording sessions, nearly all the tunes were new to the band members, who didn’t even have a chance to rehearse them. Davis gave the musicians written sketches of the scales and melodies, offering brief verbal instructions about the feeling he wanted on a particular tune.
Davis was moving away from bebop with its complex harmonies and improvisations structured around chord changes. The trumpeter asked his musicians to play in a modal style — a concept developed by pianist-composer George Russell — in which the musicians improvised on scales, with the soloists having more freedom to explore long melodic lines.”
The one jazz record to own even if you don’t listen to jazz — the band is extraordinary: John Coltrane, Julian “Cannonball” Adderley on saxophones, Wynton Kelly and Bill Evans on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Jimmy Cobb on drums. I recently received a remastered CD of kind the album, thus retiring my scratchy hiss and pop laden vinyl version. (And another intelligent CD pricing: $6.99 at Amazon)
For those of you looking for some , check out NPR: Kind of Blue (54 minutes)
videos after the jump . . .
Blue in Green
So What
Sources:
Miles Davis Official Site
http://www.milesdavis.com
Miles Davis: ‘Kind of Blue’
NPR
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10862796
Kind of Blue
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kind_of_Blue
All Music Review: Kind of Blue
All Music
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:hx68mpnd9f8o~T1
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October 9th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
“So What” live performance….sweeeet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4TbrgIdm0E
October 9th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
about time BR- and i don’t even like Jazz-
how about Friday Night Lallapalooza-
just an idea-
and another thought- could the ” Bird” play the alto sax better then Miles can play the trumpet?
lets call that the Friday Night Riddle™
October 9th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
@ahab -
that’s like comparing oranges with pears…
October 9th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
@Wes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4TbrgIdm0E
Ditto. This is the best ‘music video’ of all time.
Kind of Blue has been in my top 10 list of albums since high school.
October 9th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
but Wes-
i can still say that an orange is better than a pear-
or i could say Van Gogh is a better painter than Picasso-
who could prove me wrong?
October 9th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
@Tom K-
absolutely, I’ll bet Coltrane’s Giant Steps is on that list as well.
October 9th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
@ahab-
agreed there is nothing that can be proved, since it is all subjective, personal taste/preferences
even comparing sporting achievement, even the measurable ones across generations is apples and pears
nevermind the steroids, epo, better training methods….in any case Eddy Merckx is the greatest cyclist of all time :-)
October 9th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
Slate had a pretty good article about the album and the significance of it in ushering in modal jazz and helping to usher out bebop as the frontier:
http://www.slate.com/id/2225336/
My personal opinion is that the 20th century was the period of time when music theory basically got “solved”, once and for all – any further enhancements to it are just in the minutia but basically, intellectually, the map of possible music is both pretty well understood and fairly extensively explored. Whereas Miles, with “Kinda Blue” got to bring new forms – new compositional and performative methods to the fore – by 2009 it’s pretty impossible to innovate in those areas. Everything you do is either some already extant form, or easily understood as a simple hybrid of earlier forms. In pop music this has had the effect of putting a greater emphasis than in previous decades on virtuosity but, basically, music is “done”, “solved”, “finished”. It’s a huge change from even as recently as when Kinda Blue came out.
-t
~~~
Kind of Blue: Why the best-selling jazz album of all time is so great.
October 9th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
I bought this album about 40 years ago when I was in college and I’ve never been without a copy. MIles use of the harmon mute still blows me away.
October 9th, 2009 at 9:24 pm
I’ll add this to my rotation. Not easy to say, but I’ve never had an educated appreciation of the blues.
October 9th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
…not blues per se, but jazz within a blues context…
October 9th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
dasht,
>> My personal opinion is that the 20th century was the period of time when music theory basically got “solved”, once and for all – any further enhancements to it are just in the minutia but basically, intellectually, the map of possible music is both pretty well understood and fairly extensively explored.
Sounds about right. Would you say we’ve been on a plateau since the 1984 release of Yngwie Malmsteen’s “Marching Out”album??
October 9th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Thanks for the suggestion Barry. I’ll go put it on now.
October 9th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
Was driving home tonight with Bill Evans Waltz for Debby playing. Genius never gets old. Welcome back BR.
October 9th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
Call me ahab – Diz could play circles around Miles – he didnt make this album.
October 9th, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Wunascon, call me foolish but I don’t know that album. I would say pop/rock entered it’s post-modern phase with Lou Reed’s “Metal Machine Music”.
-t
October 9th, 2009 at 11:17 pm
Cannonball Adderley featuring Miles Davis
” Autumn Leaves”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPHtQn1t1n4
….as cool as the other side of the pillow….
:)
October 10th, 2009 at 12:42 am
dasht, I was being silly… I mighta made it more obvious by referring instead to a genuine “hair band”. But, my programming prevents me from typing any of their names.
October 10th, 2009 at 12:44 am
Bar, when’s the last time you did a FNJ? I don’t remember seeing it ever since the crisis really took hold (or since you were working on your book).
October 10th, 2009 at 6:30 am
Long while a go
I’d like to start bringing it back
October 10th, 2009 at 6:42 am
Barry:
How can you give up your vinyl. I have been buying reissues of all the great blue note, prestige, and fantasy jazz on 45 on 180 gram vinyl. They sound great. CDs are getting better but the best is just reaching vinyl. I think jazz of the 50s and 60s has a timelessness that is unique to great music. When I listen to Wayne Shorter’s Schizophrenia it sound like it was recorded yesterday. Unfortunately, it set a high water mark for jazz that has never been surpassed. Friday night opera and classical is another option. Horowitz, Gould, Rubenstein, Beethoven, and Wagner are equally inspiring.
October 10th, 2009 at 11:17 am
http://www.soundstagedirect.com/miles-davis-kind-of-blue-vinyl-lp-200-gram.shtml
it is nice to see that Vinyl is, still, appreciated. if peep only knew what MP3′s, really, sounded like..
also, I’m surprised that this: “…but, basically, music is “done”, “solved”, “finished”.” goes unchallenged/unquestioned..
though, to this: “In pop music this has had the effect of putting a greater emphasis than in previous decades on virtuosity..”
these guys, ably, make the case..
http://clusty.com/search?input-form=clusty-simple&v%3Asources=webplus&query=vinyl+records+David%26David+%22Boomtown%22
to be clear, in no way am I denigrating Miles Davis, even I, relatively Ignorant on such matters, know that he’s one of the Great ones, of any genre`.. and, better, his Jazz, actually, Rocks.
October 11th, 2009 at 10:22 am
Thank you for posting a play of Blue in Green. Kind of Blue is indeed the pinnacle of jazz – inspired, amazingly fresh still. For me, after the artists on this album finished further experiments in the late 60’s, the genre ended; nothing since then more than a retread, echo, elevator music, brilliant attempts by excellent musicians and artists to add something to the American invention.
As is so with other mediums, inventions, arts, that seem to have died or ended with one or a score of great lights, a brilliant creator appears and resurrects the art and majesty of the moribund. Twenty years after the decade since Coltrane et al recorded together, the sad realization that jazz was now at best just an echo chamber exercise, the long wait for genius continues. Contemporary jazz may be pleasant to listen to but I can’t imagine any of it commemorated 30 years, certainly not fifty-years hence.
Luis de Agustin
Thanks again.
October 18th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
Jazz within a blues context. I stand corrected.