60 years of Kind of Blue

Started by aukhawk, March 12, 2019, 09:03:43 AM

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Dry Brett Kavanaugh

#40
Quote from: Alek Hidell on June 27, 2021, 01:18:01 PM
I'm more on San Antone's side here. I think Kind of Blue is the greatest record ever made, period, but you are all of course entitled to your (incorrect and blasphemous) opinions. :D

When I first heard the alternate take of "Flamenco Sketches" many years ago, I was astounded: it was just as good as the "official" take, the two saxophonists' solos in particular. I love the way Coltrane creates tension by rising repeatedly up to one particular note before finally resolving it with one single note above the repeated one. (Sorry, I don't have the knowledge to describe it in more technical/musical terms.) Sometimes I even prefer this alternate take to the "official" one.

I know many of you will have seen this before, but here's the band (sans Adderley, with Wynton Kelly on piano) on a TV production in 1959. Among other things it's notable for being one of the very few performances of "So What" (in fact I can't think of another one) in something close to the original album tempo - it wasn't long at all before Miles began performing it at a much faster tempo, for what reason I don't know. Anyway, the magic was clearly still present here: just listen to Miles' solo, for example.The first time I heard it, I almost wept.

https://www.youtube.com/v/nGvfBNywa3g

I won't repeat my opinion. We don't need to agree on everything (or anything.) Great you like it, and great I like others. Even if we agree, we may not be really agreeing. As I said before, the TV version of So What is excellent. Miles' solo evinces his genius. I prefer the performance to So What in the album. Thank you for your insightful and thoughtful comment.

As for "greatest jazz record," possibly/arguably I may say Charlie Parker's Koko or Basie' s Atomic Basie, but I am not sure.

SimonNZ

#41
Something I hadn't been aware of until recently was that if you were buying Miles albums at the time of release the Prestige era wasn't distinct from the Columbia era the way it is to us now. I had somehow assumed that Prestige had more or less flooded the market with the four albums recorded at the Workin/Steamin"Cookin/Relaxing sessions, but in the early 60s you would have experienced Cookin as a new release after Round About Midnight, Relaxin (and Bags Groove) after Miles Ahead, Workin after Milestones, Porgy and Bess and Kind of Blue (!!), and Steamin after Sketches of Spain

Artem

I used to find it confusing as well until I began paying attention to recording dates as opposed to release dates.

Mirror Image

I think Kind of Blue is put up on a pedestal to the point where, for many listeners or so it seems, it has somehow clouded their judgement of his other output. Don't get me wrong I love Kind of Blue, but I don't listen to it as much as say Miles Smiles or Sorcerer or any of the Miles-Gil Evans collaborations. Of the electric period, In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew are my favorites or, at least, the ones I return to the most.

Artem

Kind of Blue was the first jazz CD I bought and it led me to discover Miles Davis music. Being a more regular listener of rock music at the time, I immediately fell in love with In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson, On the Corner. However, the more I listened to jazz music, especially John Coltrane, the more I felt like returning to Kind of Blue.

Mirror Image

Quote from: Artem on September 06, 2021, 07:38:32 AM
Kind of Blue was the first jazz CD I bought and it led me to discover Miles Davis music. Being a more regular listener of rock music at the time, I immediately fell in love with In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson, On the Corner. However, the more I listened to jazz music, especially John Coltrane, the more I felt like returning to Kind of Blue.

There's no question that Kind of Blue is a stellar album, but I tend to like the slower, more moody pieces on it like Blue in Green and Flamenco Sketches for example. So What and Freddie Freeloader are my favorites of the more uptempo pieces.