Reflections on Kind of Blue

[Darryl G. Thomas]

For some reason I'm still a member of the BMG Music Club. I joined way back when I bought my first CD player (I did dump Columbia House). Anyway, they had their usual special "buy one disc, get 4 free" sale or something like that. So on a lark, I made KOB one of my free selections to have an extra copy for the office. In a moment of madness I'd bought one of those Bose CD/Clock radios and set it up on my desk here at work (now my co-workers think I'm rich), because my job is sedentary and I need good tunes now-and-then.

Hey, life is short, then you die.

Have you ever listened to a recording so much that you can literally hum every solo, accurately? This recording has become engrained in my DNA I believe. Some people play air-guitar, listening to KOB I've played air-trumpet, air-piano, air-sax air drums... it's sick!

What amazes me is that a piece of music has become such a major part of my life. We're talking about hundreds of hours. listening to same recording in all it's variations, LP, cassette, CD, and not becoming bored. I didn't think that was possible, but here I've had KOB on continuous play for most of the day and everytime Paul Chambers opens "So What" I'm transported to some special place.

When I'm on my death bed I want KOB playing. That's my living will.

[jazzy mary]

KOB really is the all time classic. At my work, we have all these super smart, bright eyed and bushy tailed recent law school and college grads. They know I'm a jazz "expert". They always ask me "I really want to get into jazz (they don't *really* but I appreciate it) " What jazz should I buy?" I always say "KOB" is the album to start with. Once in a while someone has heard of Miles, but I ususally get "Now who's Miles Davis, is he still alive?". I don't know how to begin to explain Miles, so I don't. So, a couple of weeks ago, this one young lady who works on one of my cases asked me that--so, Darryl, I had the same kind of deal as you w/ BMG. So I went ahead and got that for her. She was thrilled. She loves it, of course, and all her office mates were like "Oh, we love it too!".

[Ron Thorne]

I understand exactly what you mean, Darryl. I've also owned KOB in every format, including 2-track reel-to-reel tape. I've spent hundreds of hours with those songs, too, and never tire of them. There's something magical about what happened in that studio back in 1959, even though it's been reported that to the players, "it was just another session."



There must be something "special" about an album which was recorded over 45 years ago and still sells a reported 5000 copies per week.



Here's a link to some interesting insights into the KOB session, including interviews with Bill Evans and Dan Morgenstern.

Today, I received an Apple iPod, and I plan to upload the first two jazz albums I ever heard on it first... Kind of Blue and Blues And The Abstract Truth. It just seems right.

[Gentle Giant]

There may be no musical work that can be considered "perfect," but I'll be damned if I can name one that comes much closer than KOB. I've often imagined that music comes as a kind of shape, and our brains are hard-wired to accept certain shapes over others. That's why my wife is fine when I play Tom Harrell but not when I throw on Black Sabbath.

Something like the Beatles seems to be accepted by a vast majority of brains, and the same is true with KOB. I wonder for how many people is it their only jazz album? And for how many more was it their first?

The most remarkable thing is that after hundreds or thousands of listenings, it retains its magic, its visceral appeal. To those who've owned it for many years, it may yield few surprises, but surely an endless series of reassuring nods, as if to say, "Yes, that's exactly how it should be."

My hat's off to you, Mr. Davis (and Mr. Evans?) for the sketches, and to all the musicians for the colors.

[Coda]

I'm not going to put KOB down, it really is a classic.

I don't listen to it anymore - it's been at least five years if you don't count restaurants, elevators, on hold on the phone, etc since I've put this CD on for a listen.

For me, part of the attraction to jazz is that the same tune is never played the same way twice. I love the standards, but not done in the standard way. When I purchase music, I don't repeatedly play it. I selectively play it a few times a year so that it sounds fresh and new each time. When I put on something that starts to sound real familiar I often take if off.

I go by the dust theory. If there is a nice layer of dust on the jewel case, it's time to give it a spin.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Darryl, the link that Ron provided above mentions a book that may interest you, that is, if you haven't already read it,"Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece by Ashley Kahn". My daughter gave it to me for my birthday when it first came out. Interesting read. BTW, this year for Christmas, even though I told him not to get me anything, my son gave me another book by Kahn about the making of John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme". I just started to read it recently and I'm anticipating another story filled with insights about a very important recording date in Jazz history...............

Originally Posted by Father Thorne

Today, I received an Apple iPod, and I plan to upload the first two jazz albums I ever heard on it first... Kind of Blue and Blues And The Abstract Truth. It just seems right.

Ouch!!!

Would there be a need to ever load anything else?

Kind Of Blue was my first "real" Jazz album. One that I had to listen to several times before it hit me like a ton of bricks. My hardcore love of Jazz exists specifically because of this album.

Kind Of Blue is the height of recorded sound.

Period.

[Ron Thorne]

Thankfully, I never got addicted to heroin as my Dad was sure would happen when I announced that I was going to go to Berklee School of Music. However, I literally got "hooked" on jazz within the first :45sec. of So What. When Jimmy Cobb came in at 1:32 and struck his sizzle cymbal to announce the arrival of Miles, I lost it. The rest, as they say, is history.

"It's so well balanced. There is not an unnecessary note in any of those pieces. And you keep coming back to it. It doesn't wear out its welcome."

-- Dan Morgenstern on Kind of Blue

And, every track on this recording is a first take. Extraordinary.

[burning dog]

Originally Posted by Gentle Giant

Something like the Beatles seems to be accepted by a vast majority of brains, and the same is true with KOB. I wonder for how many people is it their only jazz album? And for how many more was it their first?

.

The album I don't get is Sgt. Pepper. It's easy to listen to ok, but all that British music hall type stuff (and I'm British), the title track, When I'm sixty four and Mr Kite, I can't understand how it's so popular outside the Uk or England specifically. Revolver is much better. I know KOB is "American" with it's call and respose etc. but instrumental music travels better.

[Clay Fink]

You mean the recording that spawned thousands of hours of mindless modal cluster fucking?

[groover]

The first jazz album I ever purchased was probably "Jazz Messengers '70", long OOP. I bought it because I heard something by Art Blakey I liked on WRTI (Temple University's student radio station that used to have an all-jazz format), and because it was in the cutout bin (at age 14, my album budget was rather limited).

The first Miles I ever heard was probably "Bitches Brew", back in the mid-70's heyday of fusion, as I was already a fan of John McLaughlin and Chick Corea. Though I did have a few acoustic Miles albums in my collection for many years, I unfortunately didn't get around to listening to KOB until about 25 years later.
Quite a revelation it was!

[JamesH]

I can't think of a more perfect jazz album. It may have taken Miles' maverick personality and leadership to get such a talented group of artists to mesh so well.

[GoodSpeak]

Originally Posted by Darryl G. Thomas

For some reason I'm still a member of the BMG Music Club. I joined way back when I bought my first CD player (I did dump Columbia House). Anyway, they had their usual special "buy one disc, get 4 free" sale or something like that. So on a lark, I made KOB one of my free selections to have an extra copy

Me too.

Originally Posted by Darryl G. Thomas

Have you ever listened to a recording so much that you can literally hum every solo, accurately? This recording has become engrained in my DNA I believe. Some people play air-guitar, listening to KOB I've played air-trumpet, air-piano, air-sax air drums... it's sick!

Me too.

Originally Posted by Darryl G. Thomas

When I'm on my death bed I want KOB playing. That's my living will.

Damn, Darryl....we could be Brothers

[jesus marion joseph]

My first jazz cd was "Time Out". I haven't listened to it in a long time, but I still think it's great. Same with KOB. Classic stuff.

Originally Posted by jesus marion joseph

My first jazz cd was "Time Out".

I don't think I would have made it past that!!!

That album is beyond belief. Everything else would have been childs play!

[John L]

I have just the opposite take as Coda on KOB. What amazes me most about that record is that it always sounds so fresh. No matter how many times I listen to it, it always sounds great. Always. Any mood. Any time. Anywhere.

[Ron Thorne]

I'm with you, John L!

[kyrre_laastad]

Originally Posted by Ron Thorne

When Jimmy Cobb came in at 1:32 and struck his sizzle cymbal to announce the arrival of Miles, I lost it. The rest, as they say, is history.

the most beautiful cymbal hit of all time?

[Ron Thorne]

Ron Thorne: When Jimmy Cobb came in at 1:32 and struck his sizzle cymbal to announce the arrival of Miles, I lost it. The rest, as they say, is history.

Originally Posted by kyrre_laastad

the most beautiful cymbal hit of all time?

Thanks, Kyrre. I couldn't agree more.

[burning dog]

I don't listen to it THAT often, I tend to leave long gaps between listening to any record, but the music is SO memorable. For example I've probably heard Soul Station as often as KOB but it's Wyn Kellys solo on Freddie Freeloader that I know off by heart.

[Tom Storer]

"Kind of Blue" is the most overrated record in jazz history. Not only did it spawn thousands of hours of mindless modal cluster fucking, as Clay so succinctly put it, but in itself it's a dreadful bore. Cliché after cliché, a snore-inducing rhythm section, and solos that all sound like they're on autopilot. Completely generic and forgettable as far as I'm concerned. It's beyond me how anyone can rate this among Miles' best work.












































APRIL FOOL!

[Enforcer]

Darryl, you know how I feel about this record. I've probably played it as much as you have. About being able to hum the solos: I've said this before somewhere, but I heard a big band playing an arrangement of So What about 10 years ago. I heard it on Kim Heron's radio show in Detroit one Sunday night. Anyway, the horn section played Miles' solo note for note! I mean, f**k, that's saying something. It's rare that an improvised solo stands up to that kind of scrutiny. What you said about the opening bass notes on So What... it's funny, but that's exactly how I feel. I'm transported to not only my first experience with the music, but to my imaginary vision of what it would have been like to hear it when it came out on record for the first time, back in 1959.

Nostalgic,
Larry

[Captain Hate]

Don't listen to it any more. Have moved on.

[Jimmy Cantiello]

Originally Posted by Captain Hate

Don't listen to it any more. Have moved on.

That's how I feel about my ex-wife...........

[Dr Dave]

Funny, I don't listen to it anymore unless somebody is coming over to the house who doesn't know (or want to know) anything about jazz. And I played it for my wife's "Little Sister." (As in Big Brother/Big Sister). But once upon a time I listened to it to the exclusion of almost anything else, and as Darryl and Ron speak of the experience, I can hear it in my head, no problem. I long ago memorized the lyric that Eddie Jefferson sang to "So What," and sometimes I find Eddie interspersed with Miles somwhere back in my tangled mess of cerebrum. Everybody on that date sounds so good, so...ummm...present...I think maybe that's why so many of us never get tired of hearing it. Damn, I think I'll go put it on now...

[Gentle Giant]

Originally Posted by kyrre_laastad

the most beautiful cymbal hit of all time?

The best timed, for sure.

[Sergio Zamora]

Originally Posted by Clay Fink

You mean the recording that spawned thousands of hours of mindless modal cluster fucking?

Hate the game, not the player

[Darryl G. Thomas]

Jimmy,

I have Kahn's Coltrane book, but not the Miles. I just ordered it.

Over the years I've made car tapes for non-jazz folks and they've always loved "So What" and "Freddie Freeloader". And we're talking about a lot of folks. And when the latest remaster came out I gave an old cop of the CD to one of my co-workers and she and her husband loved it. She says they play it all the time. Somethings just transcend genre, tastes, time, etc.

The only person I know who didn't like it was a friend of mine who was a big-time Buddy Rich fan. He didn't care for Rollins' "Saxophone Colossus" either.

I didn't try any Monk on him.

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by groover

The first jazz album I ever purchased was probably "Jazz Messengers '70", long OOP.

I used to have that. Great band--IIRC, Joanne Brackeen & Carlos Garnett were on it. Who else?

[Pete C]

Originally Posted by Captain Hate

Don't listen to it any more. Have moved on.

Care to explain what you mean by "moved on"?