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Kind of Blue is a 1959 (see 1959 in music) album by jazz musician Miles Davis.
Following Somethin' Else, Kind of Blue is the second album that resulted from the collaboration between Miles Davis and Julian Cannonball Adderley. The album was recorded in two days: March 2 and April 22, 1959.
As was Davis's practice, he called his bandmembers to the recording studio on short notice. The musicians had no idea what they were to record; Davis himself had only a few chords, scales and melody ideas in mind for each song. Once the musicians were assembled, Davis gave brief instructions for each piece, then set to recording.
Excepting "Flamenco Sketches," which required a second take, the sextet recorded all the songs to Davis's satisfaction with only one take each.
(Davis would later use similar recording practices; he thought that giving musicians little notice, little or no rehersal, and only vague instructions forced them to pay very close attention to their own performaces and to the other musicians. See Bitches Brew for information on another epochal Davis record.)
Kind of Blue is notable for its use of modes. While certainly not the first jazz musican to use modes, the album was recorded an released in an era when the jazz world seemed to be aching for change: big bands had lost most of their audience, and there seemed to be nothing new to say with bebop. It's worth noting that Kind of Blue was recorded the same year—almost to the same month—as Ornette Coleman's The Shape of Jazz To Come, a revolutionary album that streched jazz beyond bebop.
Kind of Blue was a startling change for its era, and was almost instantly recognized, both critically and commercially. Though precise figures have been disputed, Kind of Blue has been cited as Davis's best-selling album, and as the best-selling jazz record of all time.
Response
Kind of Blue is not only regarded as one of Davis's masterworks, but one of the finest albums in the history of jazz, one reviewer has gone so far as to call it "a record generally considered as the definitive jazz album, a universally acknowledged standard of excellence." [1] (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:hx68mpnd9f8o~T1)
Widely regarded as a landmark jazz album, Kind of Blue is one of the most universally praised and influential albums in the genre. In 2003 the TV network VH1 named it the 66th greatest album in any genre.
Along with perhaps Dave Brubeck's Take Five, Kind of Blue is often recommened as an introductory jazz album, for similar reasons as the Brubeck record: The music is very melodic, and the relaxed "open" quality of the songs makes the improvisation easy for listeners to follow, without sacrificing one iota of brilliance or creativity.
VH1's Ashley Kahn has devoted an entire book to the record: Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece ISBN 0306810670
Track listing
- "So What" (Davis) - 9:25
- "Freddie Freeloader" (Davis) - 9:49
- "Blue in Green" (Davis) - 5:37
- "All Blues" (Davis) - 11:35
- "Flamenco Sketches" (Davis) - 9:25
- "Flamenco Sketches [alternate take]" (Davis) - 9:32 (included in some re-issues)
Personnel
- Michael Cuscuna - Reissue Producer
- Kevin Gore - Reissue Series
- Larry Keyes - Producer
- Teo Macero - Producer
- Fred Plaut - Engineer
- Irving Townsend - Original Recording Producer
- Mark Wilder - Engineer, Remixing
- Don Hunstein - Photography
- Seth Rothstein - Project Director
- Jay Maisel - Photography, Cover Photo
- Rene Arsenault - Production Assistant, Assistant Producer
Chart positions
Billboard Music Charts (North America) - album
1977 Jazz Albums No. 37
1987 Top Jazz Albums No. 10
2001 Top Internet Albums No. 14
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