If I were were ever banished to a desert island and given a choice of one album to take, that album would have to be Kind of Blue by Miles Davis.
If you consider yourself a jazz lover and you don't have this album in your collection then you're faking it.
For the uninitiated, Kind of Blue is considered by jazz critics to be the single best jazz album ever recorded. Period.
It was recorded in the spring of 1959 and released on August 17, 1959.
CBS newsman Ed Bradley called Davis, "the essence of hipness."
But Davis described himself best when he told Harry Reasoner of 60 Minutes, “My daddy was rich and my mother was good lookin’ and I can play the blues. I’ve never suffered and I don’t intend to suffer.”
So if you've spent the last 50 years without ever listening to a cut from Kind of Blue, there's still time to redeem yourself.
You can start now by listening to "So What."
Oh, man, "Blue in Green" is life-changing! One of my all-time favorite pieces.
ReplyDeleteSo what is such a stepping out on the town song. Cheers.
ReplyDeleteGreat Disc. 50 years already?
ReplyDeleteOne of my favs as is Birth of Cool.
Interestingly enough, just got the remastered Sketches of Spain and Bitches Brew recently. Big leap from Miles cool bop.
He did have quite a lineup in his live show back then though ... with Cannonball Adderley on Alto and John Coltrane on tenor.
They don't make them like that anymore.