Kind of Blue

Product Information

Offiziellecharts.de – Miles Davis – Kind Of Blue" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved March 29, 2022. British album certifications – Miles Davis – Kind of Blue". British Phonographic Industry . Retrieved January 5, 2014. Kind of Blue also benefited from Miles’ being signed to the leading major record company of the day — Columbia Records, a part of the CBS media conglomerate. Columbia had the means and wisdom to invest in cutting edge recording technology, and their own professional recording studio.

time. "Flamenco Sketches" consists of five scales, which are each played "as long as the soloist wishes until he has completed the series". [8] Influenced in part by Evans, who had joined the ensemble in 1958, Davis departed further from his early hard bop style in favor of greater experimentation with musical modes, as on his previous album Milestones (1958). Basing Kind of Blue entirely on modality, he gave each performer a set of scales that encompassed the parameters of their improvisation and style, and consequently more creative freedom with melodies; Coltrane later expanded on this modal approach in his own solo career. Kind of Blue was produced by Columbia staff producer Irving Townsend. [11] : 195 However, over the years there has been confusion, with Davis's subsequent producer Teo Macero getting partial or full credit. "In the case of Kind of Blue there were two producers: Teo Macero and Irving Townsend", said jazz historian Eric Nisenson. "Macero's role, however, was clearly that of an apprentice and observer." The recording session was also cited by Nisenson as Macero's first experience with "the highs and lows of working with Miles." From Macero's own recollection, his involvement in the recording included "box[ing] everyone in so that there would be a physical closeness among the musicians, not like today when the musicians are spread all over the place." [12] According to High Fidelity, "though his role in Kind of Blue has been disputed", the recording was "made under the auspices" of Macero. [13] However, it is Townsend's voice heard on the session tapes, who became Davis's producer after the departures of George Avakian and Cal Lampley. Macero did not produce Davis until after Townsend took over West Coast production duties for Columbia Records, when Macero took his place. [11] : 90 Macero's first Davis production was his next record, Sketches of Spain. [11] : 166 a b "American album certifications – Miles Davis – Kind of Blue". Recording Industry Association of America. When Shirley Horn insisted, in 1990, that Davis reconsider playing the gentle ballads and modal tunes of his Kind of Blue period, he demurred: "Nah, it hurts my lip." [76] Release history [ edit ] 1986 Columbia Jazz Masterpieces compact disc reissue cover

If there was ever an album awaiting a high-fidelity, custom-pressed vinyl treatment of the level you now hold in your hands, it is Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue. Nisenson, Eric (2013). The Making of Kind of Blue: Miles Davis and His Masterpiece. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-1466852259. Porter, Lewis (1999). John Coltrane: His Life and Music. University of Michigan Press. pp.281–283. ISBN 0-472-08643-X.

How did Miles himself feel about Kind of Blue? Ironically, he described it as a “failed experiment” in his autobiography, explaining that the album did not fully realize the sounds he had been hearing in his head before the session. Nonetheless, in an 1986 interview, when pianist/journalist Ben Sidran remarked that Kind of Blue is probably the number one jazz record on virtually all the jazz critics’ lists, his sincere answer was short but held a palpable sense of pride: “Isn’t that something.” Light, Alan (November 13, 2006). "The All-TIME 100 Albums: Kind of Blue: Miles Davis". Time Inc. Archived from the original on February 18, 2007 . Retrieved September 10, 2023. Modal jazz was not unique to this album. Davis himself had previously used the same method on his 1958 Milestones album, the '58 Sessions, and Porgy and Bess (1958), on which he used modal influences for collaborator Gil Evans's third stream compositions. [3] Modal composition, with its reliance on scales and modes, represented, as Davis called it, [3] "a return to melody". [22] In a 1958 interview with Nat Hentoff of The Jazz Review, Davis elaborated on this form of composition in contrast to the chord progression predominant in bebop, stating

Kind of Blue is based entirely on modality, diverging from Davis's earlier hard bop style of jazz with its complex chord progression and improvisation. [6] The entire album was a series of modal sketches, with each performer given a set of scales that encompassed the parameters of their improvisation and style. [22] This recording style contrasted with the typical preparation of providing musicians with the complete score or, for improvisational jazz, providing the musicians with a chord progression or series of harmonies. [3] Jazz news: Miles Davis – Kind of Blue: 50th Anniversary Collectors Edition Coming in September". All About Jazz. August 9, 2008. Archived from the original on January 10, 2009 . Retrieved September 10, 2023. Teo Macero: Forever Blue". High Fidelity News and Record Review. Vol.53, no.7–12. 2008. These two amazing productions, the biggest and the second-biggest selling jazz albums ever, were both recorded in 1959 and both - though his role in Kind of Blue has been disputed - were made under the auspices of the great producer Teo Macero.