Kind Of Blue - Miles Davis

Feb

22

Kind Of Blue - Miles Davis

≡ Category: 1950s, Cool Jazz, Essential, Reviews |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING

Rating:

You might be wondering what I could possibly add to the oceans of ink that have been spilled by writers analyzing and commenting on Kind of Blue, possibly the most universally loved Miles Davis date, if not the most loved jazz date of all time. Am I going to offer a contrarian view, saying that Kind of Blue isn’t the classic it’s cracked up to be?

Nah. Not in this case.

But there are classics that don’t really deserve to be considered as such, like Miles Davis’ On The Corner, for example. Miles Davis is undeniably one of the greats, so I’ll be writing about every release of his I come across.

Like pretty much everyone says, Kind of Blue is a one of a kind masterpiece. Why? A lot of that has to do with Bill Evans’ spectral sound on piano. This group has a delicacy that is unrivaled. At a time when jazz was all about virtuosity and harmonic complexity, it must have taken a lot of guts and confidence to play with such restraint, so cleanly.

The rhythm section of bassist Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb on drums seems to barely be there. All they’re doing is supporting the soloists, but they do it so elegantly! Paul Chambers walks with consummate taste. Jimmy Cobb gives us a textbook lesson on feeding a soloist rhythmic kicks on the snare, but otherwise there is zero unnecessary ornamentation.

Of course, most of the music on Kind of Blue is modal, so the focus is on lyricism, whether we’re talking about the contributions of Miles, Cannonball Adderly, or Coltrane.

John Coltrane is in a similar bag to his Coltrane Plays the Blues date. The setting of Kind of Blue quiets him down. Remember, Coltrane played on Kind of Blue just before he recorded Giant Steps and after Coltrane’s work with Thelonious Monk at the Five Spot, so he was already working on his hyper-aggressive sheets of sound approach. You won’t see any of that on Kind of Blue.

Cannonball Adderly’s solos on alto sax are remarkably melodic and lucid, almost hummable.

Miles himself was at his most introspective on Kind of Blue. He makes liberal use of the Harmon mute, which is perfect for this music.

But for me, it’s pianist Bill Evans that’s most important to this date. Miles was clearly aware of Bill Evans’ importance to the album’s concept. He had already hired Wynton Kelly to replace him in his group, but brought Evans back for this one date, and had him play on all but one tune, Freddie Freeloader. Evans uses the sustain pedals on the piano much more than most jazz pianists, creating a dreamy feel that fits perfectly with the “cool” modal style of Kind of Blue.

Kind of Blue really is gorgeous, and belongs in any jazz fan’s library.