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Kind of Blue

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Work

Kind of Blue · In 1959 Miles Davis recorded this album in two sessions at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York. His sextet included John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley and Bill Evans, whom he called back for this project. Wynton Kelly played piano on Freddie Freeloader. There was almost no rehearsal: the musicians were given only sketches of scales and melody lines. The persistent legend that everything was recorded in one take is, incidentally, not true.

The music rests entirely on modality. After the title piece of Milestones from 1958, the trumpeter went further away from hard bop here. Each soloist was given a series of scales as a framework and thus more freedom for the melody. Many critics see the album as his best work and as one of the most influential records ever made. Several of the pieces grew into jazz standards, and in 2002 the Library of Congress added the album to the National Recording Registry.

Listening

Listening tip. In So What, listen to the structure: sixteen bars in the first mode, eight in the second and then eight again in the first. Notice how calm and open the piece remains, without hurried chord changes.

Track list

  1. 1So What9:08Apple Music ↗
  2. 2Freddie Freeloader9:48Apple Music ↗
  3. 3Blue In Green5:36Apple Music ↗
  4. 4All Blues11:33Apple Music ↗
  5. 5Flamenco Sketches9:21Apple Music ↗

30-second previews via Apple Music. Listen to the whole album on Apple Music ↗

Categories: Albums and songs