Miles Davis - Kind of Blue - 1959 (Complete Album) - YouTube Miles Davis - Kind of Blue - 1959 (Complete Album) Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Oct 20, 2013 Discography (with links to each song's starting point): 1. So What - 00m00s 3. Blue in Green - 19m19s 4. All Blues - 24m47s 6. Flamenco Sketches (Alternate Take) 45m51s Album Description: Kind of Blue is a studio album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released on August 17, 1959, by Columbia Records. Recording sessions for the album took place at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City on March 2 and April 22, 1959.

The sessions featured Davis's ensemble sextet, with pianist Bill Evans, drummer Jimmy Cobb, bassist Paul Chambers, and saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley. After the entry of Evans into his sextet, Davis followed up on the modal experimentations of Milestones (1958) by basing Kind of Blue entirely on modality, in contrast to his earlier work with the hard bop style of jazz. Though precise figures have been disputed, Kind of Blue has been described by many music writers not only as Davis's best-selling album, but as the best-selling jazz record of all time. On October 7, 2008, it was certified quadruple platinum in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It has been regarded by many critics as the greatest jazz album of all time and Davis's masterpiece. This is the one jazz record owned by people who don't listen to jazz, and with good reason.

The band itself is extraordinary (proof of Miles Davis's masterful casting skills, if not of God's existence), listing John Coltrane and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley on saxophones, Bill Evans (or, on "Freddie Freeloader," Wynton Kelly) on piano, and the crack rhythm unit of Paul Chambers on bass and Jimmy Cobb on drums. Coltrane's astringency on tenor is counterpoised to Adderley's funky self on alto, with Davis moderating between them as Bill Evans conjures up a still lake of sound on which they walk. Meanwhile, the rhythm partnership of Cobb and Chambers is prepared to click off time until eternity. It was the key recording of what became modal jazz, a music free of the fixed harmonies and forms of pop songs. In Davis's men's hands it was a weightless music, but one that refused to fade into the background. In retrospect every note seems perfect, and each piece moves inexorably towards its destiny. --John Szwed The album's influence on music, including jazz, rock, and classical music, has led music writers to acknowledge it as one of the most influential albums ever made.

In 2002, it was one of fifty recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. In 2003, the album was ranked number 12 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Read more about the album on Wikipedia Category Top 25 Jazz Albums of All Time Top 25 Jazz Albums of All Time The jazz albums listed below are among the greatest ever recorded. Mostly selected from the golden "modern" jazz music era of 1940's to the 1970's, these recordings captured the great passion and emotion that these musicians spent a lifetime developing. Kind Of Blue - Miles Davis While it is one of the top selling jazz albums of all time, many consider this to be THE best jazz album of all time. This may be because this unrehearsed recording session from 1959 marks a great turning point in jazz history as well as showcasing the top form of some legendary musicians. Miles showed up to the Columbia recording studio with some rough melodies and chords jotted down on paper and the band proceeded to track each song in one or two takes.

That's how Miles liked to do it, he made sure the music was spontaneous and in the moment. This album also marked a departure from the traditional bebop style with songs that are simple melodies over simple chord progressions leaving room for the deep improvisational exploration. What a treat it is to listen to time and time again. A Love Supreme - John Coltrane This album completely revolutionized the jazz scene in 1965 and even today its influence can be found in many musical styles. Instead of showcasing the complex and dense harmonic language in a post-bop style developed with Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk, Coltrane blows over simpler chords freely with a raw spiritual passion. The four songs on this album convey emotions of anger, joy, sadness, ecstasy, tragedy and triumph. Many types of artists, such as writers or painters, use this album to inspire energy and passion from within themselves for their own personal art. This album also marked a turning point in Coltrane's playing as he ventured into performing music from it's deepest, most spiritual roots rather from a his previous technical perspective. Time Out - Dave Brubeck Dave Brubeck created a masterpiece which became the first instrumental jazz album to sell over a million copies.

The single, "Take Five" was a number one hit on music charts which is outstanding for a jazz song, especially a song with 5/4 time signature. This album had a strong influence from Eastern European culture as Brubeck used many of their rhythms and time signatures. The complex rhythms he uses sound unique yet very natural and easy to listen to, probably the reason for it's success. Ellington At Newport - Duke Ellington This historic concert was a triumphant moment for Ellington's band... It was 1956 and many big bands were struggling due to the rise of bebop and modern small group format. So at the 3rd annual Newport Jazz Festival, Ellington attempted to please the crowd with some new suites and arrangements, but the crowd was still sedated. Then finally on a two-section song, Dimuendo and Crescendo in Blue, Duke had the two sections connect with a sax solo by Paul Gonzalves and allowed him to play the solo as long as he felt like playing. He only usually took a couple choruses but this time Gonzalves took a 27 chorus solo that eventually had the crowd off its feet and dancing!

This historical moment changed the face of jazz and also gave Ellington's band some new success. Duke's band continued performing from this newfound popularity for 18 more years. Jazz At Massey Hall - The Quintet This album appears reissued under the name "The Greatest Concert Ever". It is an all star lineup of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach; all who were prominent in the development of bebop about 15 years beforehand (1953) and thus were all seasoned veterans by the time of the concert. This is the only recording of these five legends playing together and everyone plays brilliantly. In addition, the recording quality is very good for its time so it is a great album to really hear these masters perform at their best. The Best of the Hot 5 & Hot 7 Recordings - Louis Armstrong No greatest jazz album list is complete without Louis Armstrong. Besides being a legendary entertainer and musician, he helped bring jazz out of it's dixieland roots into a more contemporary sound.

This album is a compilation of some of his best recordings from his early years in the 1920's as he set up the template for modern jazz era to come having musician taking turns soloing individually rather than the group jam style of dixieland. The musicians on these recordings are tight, joyous, and even a little silly at times. Louis Armstrong is jazz's first superstar and this album showcases him at his best. Blue Train - John Coltrane Recorded in 1957, this album was Coltrane's first album as a leader. It's very interesting to hear how Coltrane was playing before he started heading to the freer, passionate playing that he later developed in the mid 60's. Did you know that just a few years earlier, Coltrane was considered just a mediocre player? He studied and performed so much that he has became an icon of musical discipline. He was known to constantly practice after gigs late into the night while other band members partied. These songs and performances show his immense strength and power he had developed up to this point.

Getz/Gilberto - Stan Getz & Joao Gilberto This album was very popular and even won the 1965 Grammy Award for Best Album. Additionally, it created a bossa nova craze in the United States as people embraced it's lush chords and subtle, mellow style. Stan Getz, Joao and Astrud Gilberto are extremely graceful and intimate as they float along through this wonderful material composed by the great Antonio Carlos Jobim. I think the best word to describe this album is relaxing. Mingus Ah Um - Charles Mingus Charles Mingus had a way of making his bands sound complex, original, and of course swing like crazy. In addition to the swinging tunes, there are some amazing ballads filled with colorful and inventive horn arrangements. I personally love the song "Fables of Faubus", a track dedicated to the infamous former governor of Arkansas who strongly opposed racial integration in schools in 1957. It is a great example of musicians using their art to make a powerful political statement. Concert By the Sea - Errol Garner Errol Garner is a legendary pianist who has a wonderful recognizable style.

It's worth mentioning that he couldn't read a note of written music and plays entirely by ear. This album is very interesting both harmonically and rhythmically. His left hand swings so hard in a way that was not typical of other pianists. While his playing exudes joy he is also quite technically fluent and plays extravagant arrangements of many popular standards like Autumn Leaves and I'll Remember April. Bitches Brew - Miles Davis This album was a triumph for Miles Davis later in his career in 1970. Two drummers, two bassists, three keyboardists consisting mostly of free spontaneous electric improvisation. Also for the first time, the recording tape was sliced and diced a bit in the studio to make certain parts repeat and to add effects which was unheard of on a jazz record. Yet even with all that... or maybe because of all that... it is Miles' second best selling album of all time behind Kind of Blue. When it was released, people were debating whether it was a great album or just experimental nonsense but today in hindsight it is easy to see that it is truly is a timeless masterpiece.

Saxophone Colossus - Sonny Rollins This is one of Sonny Rollins best albums he ever recorded among the hundreds he has made over a long lifetime that still continues today. Recorded in 1956, every song is feels so sophisticated yet soulful and smooth. It only has five songs but each one is a hit and Sonny's playing never fails. Sonny plays complex bebop that is very accessible because he plays every note with conviction and has a great sense of melody. Fred Kaplan Fred Kaplan, Slate's "War Stories" columnist, also writes frequently about jazz and culture. His new book is 1959: The Year Everything Changed . When Miles Davis came to New York in 1945, at the age of 19, he replaced Gillespie as Parker's trumpeter for a few years and played very much in their style. A decade later, he, too, was wondering what to do next. The answer came from a friend of his named George Russell (who died just last month at the age of 86).

A brilliant composer and scholar in his own right, Russell spent the better part of the '50s devising a new theory of jazz improvisation based not on chord changes but on scales or "modes." The kind of music that resulted was often called "modal" jazz. (A scale consists of the eight notes from one octave to the next. * A chord consists of three or four specific notes in that scale, played together or in sequence: For instance, a C chord is C-E-G.) Advertisement This distinction may seem slight, but its implications were enormous. In a bebop improvisation, the chord changes (which occur when, usually, the pianist changes the harmony from one chord to another) serve as a compass; they point the direction to the next bar or the next phrase. Chords follow a particular pattern (that's why it's easy to hum along with most blues and ballads); you know what the next chord will be; you know that the notes you play will consist of the notes that comprise that chord or some variation on them.

Playing blues, you know that the sequence of chord changes will be finished in 12 bars (or, if it's a song, 32 bars), and then you'll either end your solo or start the sequence again. Get Slate in your inbox. Russell threw the compass out the window. You could play all the notes of a scale, which is to say any and all notes. "It is for the musician to sing his own song really," Russell wrote, "without having to meet the deadline of a particular chord." In other words, he continued, "you are free to do anything" (the italics were his), "as long as you know where home is"—as long as you know where you're going to wind up. One night in 1958, Russell sat down with Davis at a piano and laid out his theory's possibilities—how to link chords, scales, and melodies in almost unlimited combinations. Miles realized this was a way out of bebop's cul-de-sac. "Man," he told Russell, "if Bird was alive, this would kill him." In an interview that year with critic Nat Hentoff, Miles explained the new approach.

"When you go this way," he said, "you can go on forever. You don't have to worry about changes, and you can do more with time. It becomes a challenge to see how melodically inventive you are. … I think a movement in jazz is beginning, away from the conventional string of chords and a return to emphasis on melodic rather than harmonic variations. There will be fewer chords but infinite possibilities as to what to do with them." Advertisement Davis needed one more thing before he could go this route: a pianist who knew how to accompany without playing chords. This was a radical notion. Laying down the chords—supplying the frontline horn players with the compass that kept their improvisations on the right path—was what modern jazz pianists did. Russell recommended someone he'd hired for a few of his own sessions, an intense young white man named Bill Evans. Evans was conservatory-trained with a penchant for the French Impressionist composers, like Ravel and Debussy, whose harmonies floated airily above the melody line. When Evans started playing jazz, he tended not to play the root of a chord; for instance, when playing a C chord, he'd avoid playing a C note.

Instead, he'd play some other note in, or hovering around, the chord, suggesting the chord without locking himself into its restraints. Davis hired Evans for his next recording date, the session that became Kind of Blue, which would be the perfect expression of this new approach to playing. The clearest example of its novelty is a piece, composed (without credit) by Evans, called "Flamenco Sketches." At most jazz sessions, the sheet music that the leader passes around to the band consists of "heads"—the first 12 or so bars of a tune, with the chords notated above. The band plays the head, then each player improvises on the chords. But for "Flamenco Sketches," Evans had jotted down the notes of five scales, each of which expressed a slightly different mood. At the top of the sheet, he wrote, "Play in the sound of these scales." Advertisement For the band's two saxophone players, John Coltrane on tenor and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley on alto, it was a particularly bizarre instruction.

Both were astonishingly adept improvisers, but they built their creations strictly on chords, Adderley as an acolyte of Charlie Parker (with a gospel-infused tone), Coltrane as an almost spiritual explorer, searching for the right sound, the right note, mapping out his voyage on charts of chords, piling and inverting chords on top of chords, expanding each note of a chord to a new chord, not knowing which combinations might work and therefore trying them all. A few months after the Kind of Blue sessions, Coltrane led his own band on an album called Giant Steps , which pressed this quest to its ultimate degree—literally: Giant Steps marked the end of the bebop frontier; Coltrane knew this, and, afterward, would go in a whole new direction, less tethered to structure, more "free," than even Russell's concept envisioned. But on Kind of Blue, especially "Flamenco Sketches," he took his first—and most lyrical—step out on that brink: Advertisement The departure from bebop is clear from the album's opening tune, "So What," which would emerge as this new sound's anthem.

Evans describes it on the album's liner notes as "a simple figure based on 16 measures of one scale, 8 of another and 8 more of the first … in free rhythmic style." (Loose as it is, this was more structured than some of the pieces. Evans writes that, for "Flamenco Sketches," the improvisations on each scale can last "as long as the soloist wishes.") In this 30-second clip from "So What," Davis improvises on a single scale for all but the last few seconds, when Evans signals a shift to a different scale: Compare this with "Freddie Freeloader," the album's only conventional blues.

(For this track alone, Miles let his usual pianist, Wynton Kelly, a straight blues-and-bebop keyboardist, sit in for Evans): Advertisement Structurally, it's similar to the early bebop tunes that Davis played with Parker in the mid-1940s, the melody latched to the pianist's chord changes, which occur nearly every bar, as in this 1946 Parker recording of "Ornithology" with Davis as sideman: Now contrast these conventional bop pieces with the most fully developed piece of "modal" jazz" on Kind of Blue, called "All Blues": Advertisement It has the same feel as the other blues tunes,­­ but listen closely: The horns, blowing harmony in the background, are playing the same notes in each bar; they're not shifting them to follow the chord changes; there are no chord changes. It sounds (hence the album's title) kind of blue. So Kind of Blue sounded different from the jazz that came before it. But what made it so great? The answer here is simple: the musicians.

Throughout his career, certainly through the 1950s and '60s, Miles Davis was an instinctively brilliant recruiter; a large percentage of his sidemen went on to be great leaders, and these sidemen—especially Evans, Coltrane, and Adderley—were among his greatest. They came to the date, were handed music that allowed them unprecedented freedom (to sing their "own song," as Russell put it), and they lived up to the challenge, usually on the first take; they had a lot of their own song to sing. The album's legacy is mixed, precisely for this reason. It opened up a whole new path of freedom to jazz musicians: Those who had something to say thrived; those who didn't, noodled. That's the dark side of what Miles Davis and George Russell (and, a few months later, Ornette Coleman , in his own even-freer style of jazz) wrought: a lot of noodling—New Age noodling, jazz-rock-fusion noodling, blaring-and-squealing noodling—all of it baleful, boring, and deadly (literally deadly, given the rise of tight and riveting rock 'n' roll).

Some of their successors confused freedom with just blowing whatever came into their heads, and it turned out there wasn't much there. Another appealing thing about Kind of Blue, though it's also a heartbreaking thing: There was no sequel. Soon after the recording date, the band broke up. Evans formed his own piano trio; Adderley went back to playing gospel-tinged bop; Coltrane (after making Giant Steps) took his own road to freedom; Davis, too, retreated to earlier forms for the next few years, until he formed his next great band, in the mid-'60s, with younger musicians who pushed him on to more adventurous experiments. Kind of Blue is a one-shot deal, so dreamily perfect you can hardly believe someone created it. Which is why it remains so deeply satisfying, on whatever level you experience it, as moody background music or as the center of your existence. Listen to it 100 times or so, and you still marvel at its spontaneous inventions; now and then, you'll even hear something new. Correction, Aug.

19, 2009: The article originally stated that a scale consists of 12 notes, which is true for chromatic scales (scales with all the notes—natural, flat, and sharp), but since Russell was talking about scales or "modes" that sound different from one another (meaning they include at least some different notes), this can be true only of scales with eight tones or eight notes. ( Return to the corrected sentence.) Kind of Blue by Miles Davis on Apple Music 5 Songs iTunes Review From the opening bass vamp of “So What” to the muted trumpet lines on “Blue in Green,” from the slow groove of “All Blues” to the sentimental “Flamenco Sketches,” Kind of Blue is ingrained in every jazz musician’s DNA. And for good reason: These simple, haiku-like song sketches cover the range of human emotion. Davis' cool trumpet work is complemented by the fiery saxophones of John Coltrane and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, while the rhythm section swings like mad. Customer Reviews by golfinguru11 I'll keep this short and sweet, because iTunes seems to be deleting all of the reviews/ratings from classic albums.

One of the greatest pieces of music ever made. It doesn't matter if you're a jazz fanatic or have never listened to it in your life, buy this album. Nuff said. Kind Of Blue by MoonOak I recently purchased Davis' "Kind of Blue" and am glad it's my first foray into jazz. It's been hailed as the father of modern jazz, and it's chocolate-smooth rhythms, disciplined horns, tight but mellow grooves, and overall gentle compentence makes this 1959 effort a true classic and an historic watershed in American music. It's stately beauty and unrivaled skill creeps up on you and fills the heart with soulful sounds, made possible by the unique and peerless instrumentalists, including the great sax god John Coltrain. In it, I hear all the jazz that came after, encapsulated in this once in a lifetime jam session.

Biography Born: May 26, 1926 in Alton, IL Genre: Jazz Years Active: '40s, '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s Throughout a professional career lasting 50 years, Miles Davis played the trumpet in a lyrical, introspective, and melodic style, often employing a stemless Harmon mute to make his sound more personal and intimate. But if his approach to his instrument was constant, his approach to jazz was dazzlingly protean. To examine his career is to examine the history of jazz from the mid-'40s to the early '90s, since he was in the thick of almost every important innovation and stylistic development in the... Top Albums and Songs by Miles Davis 1. Kind of Blue - Miles Davis | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic Kind of Blue google+ AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine 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.

To be reductive, it's the Citizen Kane of jazz -- an accepted work of greatness that's innovative and entertaining. That may not mean it's the greatest jazz album ever made, but it certainly is a universally acknowledged standard of excellence. Why does Kind of Blue posses such a mystique? Perhaps it's that 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 chords, not the overall key, giving the music a subtly shifting quality. All of this doesn't quite explain why seasoned jazz fans return to this record even after they've memorized every nuance. They return because this is an exceptional band - Miles , Coltrane , Bill Evans , Cannonball Adderly , Paul Chambers , Jimmy Cobb , and Wynton Kelly -- one of the greatest in history, playing at the peak of its power.

As Evans said in the original liner notes for the record, the band did not play through any of these pieces prior to recording. Davis laid out the themes and chords before the tape rolled, and then the band improvised. The end results were wondrous, filled with performances that still crackle with vitality. Few albums of any genre manage to work on so many different levels, but Kind of Blue does. It can be played as background music, yet it amply rewards close listening. It is advanced music that is extraordinarily enjoyable. It may be a stretch to say that if you don't like Kind of Blue , you don't like jazz -- but it's hard to imagine it as anything other than a cornerstone of any jazz collection. Track Listing Miles Davis, 'Kind of Blue' | 500 Greatest Albums of All Time | Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time 500 Greatest Albums of All Time Rolling Stone's definitive list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. 500 12. Miles Davis, 'Kind of Blue' Columbia, 1959 This painterly masterpiece would become one of the most important, influential and popular albums in jazz.

But at the time it was made, Kind of Blue was a revolution all its own, a radical break from everything going on. Turning his back on standard chord progressions, trumpeter Miles Davis used modal scales as a starting point for composition and improvisation – breaking new ground with warmth, subtlety and understatement in the thick of hard bop. Davis and his peerless band – bassist Paul Chambers, drummer Jimmy Cobb, pianist Bill Evans, and the titanic sax team of John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley – soloed in uncluttered settings, typified by "melodic rather than harmonic variation," as Davis put it. Two numbers, "All Blues" and "Freddie Freeloader" (the latter featured Wynton Kelly at the ivories in place of Evans), were in 12-bar form, but Davis' approach allowed his players a cool, new, collected freedom. Evans wrote in his original liner notes, "Miles conceived these settings only hours before the re­cording dates and arrived with sketches which indicated to the group what was to be played.

Therefore, you will hear something close to pure spontaneity in these performances." Or as the late critic Robert Palmer wrote, "Kind of Blue is, in a sense, all melody – and atmosphere." The bass line in "So What" is now among the most familiar obbligatos in jazz, and there is no finer evocation of the late-night wonder of jazz than the muted horns in "All Blues." 1959: A Great Year in Jazz 1959: A Great Year in Jazz Sign in to view read count My father really enjoys wine. We can go to a restaurant and he will talk to the waiter about wine for what seems like an eternity. The conversation normally revolves around the year a certain wine was fermented. He will settle on a year and enjoy a couple glasses with his meal. For the life of me, I could never understand the importance of the year of a glass of wine. Wine is wine: you order it, you drink it and you enjoy it. However, I have finally seen the light, just like the cartoon characters in the old Looney Tunes. The light bulb came on one day when I noticed that the jazz CDs I listened to the most came from one particular, wonderful year.

That year was 1959. Consider if you will, what the year 1959 meant to jazz. Just sit back and think about what happened in 1959. From Miles Davis to Ornette Coleman , you had jazz stretching out into new forms and becoming, in my opinion, some of the most beautiful music ever recorded. Of course, 1959 also had its sad moments. We had the loss of both Billie "Lady Day" Holiday and Lester "Pres" Young. Billie Holiday , considered by many the greatest jazz singer of all, took a tune and made you feel it. Not just hear it-but, more importantly, feel it. She could sing you the manual for the latest DVD player and you would be moved. President, or Pres, as Lester Young was known (nicknames given to each other by the other) was the model for many a saxophonist for years to come (along with Coleman Hawkins). His light, airy tone helped carry the music deep into your soul. The two worked together for years, but had a falling out.

However, in the end, they left the earth in the same year and, I believe, are making beautiful music again in the great Birdland in the sky. Two musical soul mates that helped to define the music of jazz for years to come, taken before their time. Yet, from these tragic losses came beautiful and challenging music. Here are five of the major albums released in 1959: Kind of Blue (Miles Davis); Mingus Ah Um (Charles Mingus); Time Out (Dave Brubeck); The Shape of Jazz to Come (Ornette Coleman); Giant Steps (John Coltrane). Many would consider those five albums alone the backbone of a great jazz collection. All were released the same year and all helped to define jazz for years to come. You may be asking yourself now, as I did with my father, why are these albums so important? Why are they so great? Here are my thoughts on the matter. Miles Davis Kind of Blue Columbia In Kind of Blue, Time Out, and The Shape of Jazz to Come, jazz explores new approaches. Miles Davis had for years been interested in the development of George Russell's theory of modal music.

For years, solo improvisations were based around the specific key of a piece-that is, its tonal center, the starting point to which its melodies and chord progressions would return for a feeling of resolution or completeness. Modal improvisations, on the other hand, were based on modes, or scales-but not just the typical major and minor scales familiar to nearly all musicians. The most commonly used modes did relate to major scales, though; each note in the scale was also the first note of a new mode, which would incorporate all of the notes in the original major scale, but sounded different because the new starting point rearranged the order of distances between notes. So, in 1959, Miles Davis, always the innovator, decided to record an album using mostly modal formats for the tunes. The outcome is breathtaking. In his sextet, you have some of the best players of the day, of any time for that matter, stretching out and playing some outstanding music. This album is considered to be, by many, THE jazz album of all time.

I remember placing this in my CD player and thinking about a time in college a friend of mine decided we should kill some time by asking each other questions from a new book he had bought called, if memory serves, The Big Book of Questions. If you aren't familiar with this item, it asks a bunch of tough questions and makes you decide which one is the better option in your mind. I remember one of the questions he asked me that day was "Would you rather be blind or deaf?" I pondered the question for a moment and told him that I would rather be blind. If I were deaf I wouldn't be able to enjoy music, I reasoned with him. Placing Kind of Blue into my stereo one fateful day, a few years later, reaffirmed my decision. If you do not own this album, get it now. This music can change your life. Charles Mingus Mingus Ah Um Columbia Next, we have the "Angry Man" of jazz, Mr. Charles Mingus. 1959 saw the release of arguably Mingus's best album, Mingus Ah Um. Opening with the swinging "Better Git it in Your Soul," Mingus defies you to not feel and, maybe more importantly, dance to his music.

With the well timed shouts from the leader and the band, the record oozes a distinct feeling of a church revival. Mingus clearly rooted his music in the time-honored tradition of the spiritual and testimonial. There are times I just want to jump up, clap my hands and praise not only to The Lord, but also to Mingus and his mates for making such a great song. Following that great track, Mingus laments the loss of his friend and jazz legend Lester "Pres" Young. As I mentioned above, the loss of Young left many jazz musicians saddened. In the beautiful ballad "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" (Young's chosen head wear for most of his life) Mingus vents his feeling of loss. It is a beautiful piece and finds John Handy doing his best interpretation of Young's beautiful, rich and open tone on tenor. One word suffices to describe this song: beautiful. Very few albums have two great songs on them, let alone open with two greats. The combination punch of "Better Git it in Your Soul" and "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" sealed the deal for me. This was going to be a great album!

From there Mingus and his band launch into such great numbers as "Boogie Stop Shuffle," another number daring you to dance along, the beautiful ballad "Self-Portrait in Three Colors," and the other famous cut from this album, "Fables of Faubus," which was named after the 1950's Arkansas governor Faubus. He famously fought school integration in Little Rock, leading to President Eisenhower sending federal guards to the state to force his hand. Mingus, who spoke out early and often about racial issues in America, wrote this song with famously bitter lyrics. However, Columbia execs at the time requested he leave the lyrics out in fear of upsetting too many people. Mingus, not usually one to cave into label demands, surprisingly recorded and released this version without the lyrics (you can find the "original" "Fables of Faubus" on Charles Mingus presents Charles Mingus, another great album). Overall, I would say this is an outstanding place to start looking into Mingus's music. The volatile, stubborn, "angry man" of jazz made many great albums before his premature death in 1979. Very few albums he made after this were as consistent or moving.

Mingus Ah Um definitely got into my soul! The Dave Brubeck Quartet Time Out Columbia On Time Out, Dave Brubeck's quartet delved into different time signatures and broke from the traditional, swinging 4/4 rhythm found in jazz and in most Western music for that matter. They explored time signatures from Turkey and India and really opened up the music. Of course, the big hit "Take Five" came from this album and was the first jazz single to sell a million copies. So, as you can see, they not only broke new musical ground but also broke new commercial ground for the genre. I remember putting this album on and just having a smile come over my face. It was actually one of the first jazz albums which prompted my girlfriend to stop and tell me how much she liked it. I love the worldly feel of the music and how each song swings, regardless of whatever odd time signature it happens to occupy. I can put on Time Out and just sit back and relax, too. Sadly, this album has been lambasted over the years for being associated with the upscale ambience of the Starbucks of the world.

However, as Steve Huey wrote at "as someone once said of Shakespeare, it's really very good in spite of the people who like it." That sounds just about right to me. Ornette Coleman The Shape of Jazz to Come Atlantic Nineteen fifty-nine also brought us a new branch of jazz called Free Jazz or the Avant-Garde (the first major movement in jazz since the advent of be-bop). Many considered free jazz to be just noise, the equivalent to letting the barn door open and letting all the animals come out to make noise. Ornette Coleman saw it differently. He always heard melody in a different way, and in 1959 he released the The Shape of Jazz to Come. It opened up jazz like never before. Essentially Coleman wanted his musicians to forget about the rules and just play. He took Miles's innovations of modal improvisation to the next level. To him this meant not obeying any specific chordal convention, but playing according to the feel of a tune. This approach baffled many listeners because it tossed away the old rules of jazz and opened the door to a new world.

The importance of The Shape of Jazz to Come can be found in not only the fact that it opened the music to a new realm, but also in that it drew a line in the sand that even today has musicians and critics alike debating its merits. (The recent television series Ken Burns Jazz, for example, was quite ambivalent about Ornette's contributions.) Certainly there are players that are even more avant-garde than Ornette (i.e. Cecil Taylor) and they opened up the music even further. In listening to the record today, the music is much more accessible than I thought it would be and it even swings (which is so very important to jazz music!). Coleman, however, is significant because he fired the first shot in a musical revolution. One of the key musicians influenced by Coleman's "new" music was John Coltrane. Nineteen fifty-nine found Coltrane musically awakened by both Davis's modal concept of music (to which he contributed on Kind of Blue ), but being one of the first musicians to "get" what Ornette was doing. These two factors influenced his music for years to come.

Meanwhile, by the end of 1959 he was working on his major breakthrough solo album, Giant Steps, which would be released the following year. John Coltrane Giant Steps Atlantic With Giant Steps, one of the greatest jazz musicians of all time found his voice and created a masterful album at the same time. Every tune on this record is a Coltrane original. Coltrane rewrote jazz pieces to focus primarily on solos. He also introduced an approach to soloing which critic Ira Gilter termed "sheets of sound." Many of the solos on this album had a very high level of creative energy, Coltrane strives to fit every note possible into his solos. From the opening chords of the title song (nearly impossible to play for many jazz musicians), the band goes through a workout. And that alone is a sign that Coltrane recruited some top-notch musicians for the session. For me, the most beautiful song on the album is "Naima." Coltrane wrote this sweet and tender ballad for his wife at the time. It is one of the seminal jazz pieces in the history of the music. I always tell my friends that if they haven't heard this tune, they haven't lived.

The rest of the album, while taken at a much different pace than "Naima," is just as beautiful. The music he made launched the most creative decade years any jazz musician has ever had. Coltrane, who was never satisfied with his music, created what many consider his most approachable albums while working with Atlantic Records. A close listen reveals not only beautiful musicbut also signs of a musician preparing to take jazz fans where they never had gone before. For me, jazz from the year 1959 is the equivalent of a great bottle of Viader wine from 1994 (which, if you're interested in a critical opinion, earned a rating of 100 from The Wine Spectator magazine). So, next time you are in the record shop and you're wondering what to pick up, stop and think about my dad. Remember that 1959 is the year jazz made some of its biggest changes and introduced some of its best. So order a round of 1959 jazz next time you have a chance. You won't be disappointed.

Miles Davis: 'Kind of Blue' : NPR Miles Davis (October 1959) Hulton Archive/Getty Images The best-selling jazz record of all time is a universally acknowledged masterpiece, revered as much by rock and classical music fans as by jazz lovers. The album is Miles Davis' Kind of Blue. Kind of Blue brought together seven now-legendary musicians in the prime of their careers: tenor saxophonist John Coltrane, alto saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, pianists Bill Evans and Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers, drummer Jimmy Cobb and, of course, trumpeter Miles Davis. Davis and his cool, measured trumpet style had been attracting attention in the jazz world since the mid-1940s. By 1958, at age 32, Davis was an international jazz star whose playing set the standard for jazz musicians of the day. And just as younger artists looked to Davis for guidance and inspiration, he looked to them for raw, new talent and innovative musical ideas.

In the mid-1950s, Davis discovered gold in the subtle sounds of 25-year-old pianist Bill Evans, whom he recruited into his late-1950s sextet. Evans would prove an essential contributor to the Kind of Blue sessions. Even before Kind of Blue, Davis was experimenting with "modal" jazz, keeping the background of a tune simple while soloists played a melody over one or two "modes," or scales, instead of busy chord progressions — the usual harmonic foundation of jazz. Article continues after sponsorship Embed Embed <iframe src="" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> In addition, Evans introduced Davis to classical composers, such as Béla Bartók and Maurice Ravel, who used modalities in their compositions. Davis also drew on his knowledge of the modal qualities in the blues. With Evans, Davis worked up a few basic compositional sketches, and when the musicians arrived at the studio on March 2, 1959, they were given the outlines. Davis wanted to capture the musicians' spontaneity — and he wanted to capture it on the first take.

The first tune recorded, "Freddie Freeloader," is representative of the "first take" magic on the record, and it features the happy, swinging playing of pianist Wynton Kelly, who had recently joined Davis' sextet. The second tune recorded that day ended up as the lead and probably best-known album track. "So What" took an unusual tack: bassist Paul Chambers stated the opening melody, and with Evans playing rather unorthodox chords underneath, the song serves as somewhat of a fanfare or overture, hinting at what was in store for the listener. Davis was at a musical peak in the 1950s and had been preparing the ideas that would become Kind of Blue for years. A year before the recording, Davis slipped Evans a piece of paper on which he'd written with the musical symbols for "G minor" and "A augmented." "See what you can do with this," Davis said. Evans went on to create a cycle of chords as a meditative framework for solos on "Blue in Green." The second day of recording did not take place for seven weeks.

When the band finally gathered again, this time minus pianist Kelly, the first tune recorded was essentially a series of Flamenco- and North African-derived scales. Ashley Kahn, author of Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece, says that the resulting recording possesses an almost spiritual quality as the musicians — particularly Coltrane — seemed to take a reverent approach to the composition. For the tune "All Blues," Davis again played with the simplest of elements. He took a standard 4/4 time blues and gave it a waltz feel in 6/8. Evans said that was part of Davis' genius — creating a simple figure that becomes much more. The setting allowed alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley to return to his big-band roots. To the musicians who recorded it, Kind of Blue was just another session when it was released in August 1959. But the disc was quickly recognized by the jazz community as a classic. Jazz musicians were startled by the truly different sound on an album that laid out a clear roadmap for further modal explorations. "So What" became the tune, the one that every musician — not just the practitioners of jazz — simply had to know.

The other tracks also quickly became standards, and the individual solos throughout the record continue to inspire musicians to this day. Musicians from all genres perform, record and study the album's songs, and the influence of the songs on culture beyond music continues to grow. Drummer Cobb says it all comes down to simplicity — the reason Kind of Blue has remained so successful for so long. And because of its inherent balance, historian Dan Morgenstern adds, the album never wears out its welcome. Related NPR Stories Kind of Blue Album Miles Davis Review Updated April 30, 2016. About.com Rating Miles Davis was already known as an innovative and prolific trumpet player by the time he recorded Kind of Blue in 1959. Years earlier he had played bebop alongside Charlie Parker , and later set in motion a style that came to be known as "cool jazz" with his 1949 and 1950 Birth of the Cool sessions. Kind of Blue marked a new, elegantly simple, and resoundingly beautiful approach to jazz improvisation.

Captured during two impromptu recording sessions, Kind of Blue features tenor saxophonist John Coltrane , alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, bassist Paul Chambers, drummer Jimmy Cobb, and the pianists Wynton Kelly and Bill Evans (although not at the same time). The band was sort of an odd mix of musicians. Davis and Coltrane had been performing together for some time, during which time Coltrane had been shifting his style from an awkward post-bop to one that involved flurries of furious notes - dubbed "sheets of sound." This method was one he developed while playing with pianist Thelonious Monk . continue reading below our video What Do Movie Ratings Mean? Coltrane was inching closer to the avant-garde, and would soon be regarded as an innovative genius for composing and recording Giant Steps. His playing on Kind of Blue represents a transition from one style to another. Cannonball Adderley, on the other hand, had a less experimental approach. A former music teacher, Adderley was rooted in the blues , and had a preternatural gift for constructing virtuosic melodies.

On Kind of Blue, his playing reaches new heights of sensitivity, and juxtaposed with Coltrane's, it takes on a surprising gleam. Pianists Wynton Kelly and Bill Evans also create a breathtaking synergy. Kelly appears on only one track, "Freddie Freeloader," and on it he plays in an understated, bluesy and yet refined style. Evans is present on the remainder of the album, creating muted and melancholy canvasses. Both pianists adapt their voices to fit the overall pensive mood of the album. Jimmy Cobb and Paul Chambers do the same. They strip down the conventions of a jazz rhythm section, reducing them to their simplest parts. The restrained and resonant pairing of Cobb's ride cymbal with Chambers' tone is inimitable and indelible. The synergic effect is at work throughout Kind of Blue, endowing it with a mysterious tension, made more striking by the foundation over which it is stretched. The heads , all composed by either Davis or Evans, are almost shocking in their simplicity. The opening track, "So What," is famous for containing a total of four notes, and only two chords.

In doing away with the intricate changes present in bebop, Davis destroyed preconceived notions of jazz, and helped create " modal jazz ." Each of the solos on Kind of Blue are nearly perfect. Davis' Harmon-muted tone is unforgettable, and his improvisations are vulnerable, concise, and filled with thoughtful space. Each of the other band members follows suit, and the result is a rich, consistent, and vibrant sound. There is almost a sense of physical space constructed with each listening, as though the music invites the audience into a room designated for contemplation and reflection.

Relase Date: August 17th, 1959 on Columbia Records Personnel: Bill Evans - Piano on all tracks except "Freddie Freeloader" Wynton Kelly - Piano on "Freddie Freeloader" John Coltrane - Tenor Saxophone Julian "Cannonball" Adderley - Alto Saxophone Paul Chambers - Bass Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue at Discogs Miles Davis STFL 513, 885 113 TY, 682 059 TL UK CP 293.525, BPL 62066, CL 1355 Netherlands 62 066, 62 066 (C.L.1355) France 62 066, S 62 066 France CBS 32109, 32109, CBS 62066 Europe CBS 460603 1, CJ 40579 Europe 460603 2, COL 460603 2, 01-460603-10

 Europe COL 460603 2, 460603 2 Europe 682.059 TL, 682 059 TL France 682.059 TL, 682 059 TL, 682 059 Scandinavia SBPG 62066, 62066, BPG 62066 UK PC 8163, KCS 8163, CS 8163 US CBS 32109, 32109, CBS 62066 Europe S BPG 62066, CL 1355 UK 62 066, S 62.066, S 62 066 France CBS 32109, 32109, CBS 62066 Europe The matrix of my lp Side 1 :XSM 47326-1CK referencing Kind Of Blue, 2xLP, Album, Ltd, Num, RE, RM + Box, MFSL 2-4

5011 Picked up #10290 here in Austin, TX.

I recently upgraded to a Budgie tube phono pre amp and listening on some ATH-M50s. The quality is quite impressive. Being my first MoFI purchase, I'll definitely be on the lookout for others. So glad I spent more on this version instead of picking up the standard reissue you find everywhere. referencing Kind Of Blue, Box, Album, Ltd, RE, RM, 180 + 2xCD, Album + DVD, 88697 33552 2 This issue would have been worth something if the vinyl pressing had been any good - it's horrible in the four samples I've heard and seen - terrible quality, and a shame for an otherwise excellent 50th anniversary issue of one of the finest pieces of music ever created. referencing Kind Of Blue, LP, Album, RE, RUM2011129 sounds great! I read that rumble is pressing low-quality reissues ("Further as a European citizen I warn you for two labels. First rumble records. Stay away from them. Their reissues are overpriced crap[...]."), but this is a fantastic sounding record!

referencing Kind Of Blue, LP, Album, Ltd, Num, RE, RM, Mono, 180, CL 1355, MOVLP961 Sounds gorgeous to me. This is the only release of this album I own on vinyl, so I can't compare it to any of the other hundreds of versions there are, but to me this is very good. I was looking for the mono mix of this album and I wasn't disapointed, I liked it more than the stereo.

Question: Who made the highly rated 1959 jazz album Kind of Blue?
Answer: Miles Davis