Classic Albums Number One: "A Kind Of Blues"- Miles Davis

April 21, 2025

Track Listing

So What
Freddie Freeloader
Blue In Green
All Blues
Flamenco Sketches

Personnel:

Miles Davis:Trumpet

Julian “Cannonball” Adderley: Alto Saxophone

John Coltrane:Tenor Saxophone

Wynton Kelly: Piano (Track 2 Only)

Bill Evans: Piano

Paul Chambers: Bass

Jimmy Cobb: Drums

A landmark album, not just for jazz, but for all music . Recorded in 1959, A Kind Of Blue is still the top selling jazz album of all time and for many, a perfect introduction to jazz.

Before two recording sessions of the album took place, always leading the way, Davis told his carefully selected musicians not what to do, but not what to play. Arriving with just sketches of his compositions, none of the musicians had any rehearsal. The first performance of each composition was taken in one take, with all the musicians involved, being in top form or shape. Infact, Davis loved pianist Bill Evans so much, he would ring Evans up and ask him to leave his telephone receiver on the piano lid, just so he could hear him play down the line! An introverted performer, aside from the track Freddie Freeloader, Evans thoughtful and reflective playing, defines a lot of the album. He pioneered modal techniques and in 1958 on his album Everybody Digs Bill Evans, the track Peace Piece was influenced by the works of Debussy, Chopin and Satie.

Miles Davis, always looking up to pianist Bill Evans.

Davis himself had used modal techniques on his tune Milestones and on A Kind Of Blue, he encouraged the musicians to improvise from selected scales or modes, as an alternative to improvising from complex jazz chords or harmonies. Indeed in 1958, when being interviewed for The Jazz Review, Davis complained that “the music had gotten thick”. Davis took jazz somewhere else on A Kind Of Blue, an almost more spiritual, thought provoking style of jazz playing.

Davis and Evans with bassist Paul Chambers

Davis in many ways simplified jazz on this recording, with its 50s cool vibe, it is all about space and atmosphere. With musicians improvising in pure melody, the solos on this album eventually become as familiar as each tunes main melody or refrain. Davis’s solo after Paul Chamber’s whispering bass intro of So What, is a masterpiece in constraint . “So What” was a phrase that Davis could repeatedly be heard saying in and out of the studio. Davis’s haunting trademark sound, playing his trumpet with a battered harmon mute stuffed in the bell, can be heard on Blue In Green, above the brushed, floating drums of Jimmy Cobb.

The albums other pianist Wynton Kelly plays on "Freddie Freeloader"

The breathtaking solos of tenor saxophonist John Coltrane can be heard across A Kind Of Blue- an effective sparring partner to alto saxophonist “Cannonball Adderley” whose highly melodic solos can be heard in particular on Flamenco Sketches. Pianist Wynton Kelly is showcased on Freddie Freeloader , a far happier tune than those on the rest of the album. It is itself a kind of blues, from which the album name is taken and the blues, which are the foundations of all jazz music.

Coltrane and Adderley

The whole album seems to possess a freshness and spontaneity that few albums have. You may like this album on first listens, but down the years, one cannot help but love this album and find something new on every listen.

A rare work of art that has achieved equal popularity amongst the public, musicians and critics alike. It is perhaps best summed up by drummer Jimmy Cobb who commented of A Kind Of Blue that it “must have been made in heaven” and surely, we all enjoy a taste of heaven every now and again.