5. Kind of Blue – Miles Davis (Columbia – 1959)
Trumpeter Miles Davis walked into Columbia 30th Street Studio on March 2, 1959 with a sextet that featured John Coltrane on tenor saxophone, Julian “Cannonball” Adderley on alto saxophone, Wynton Kelly (for one song then Bill Evans on all the rest) on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Jimmy Cobb on drums…plus a few ideas sketched on paper. Though he knew he was shooting for something refreshing, reflective and relaxing, he had no idea how his modal approach to Jazz would seduce listeners around the world.
He got three songs down that day and another two on April 22, overall inspired by his disappointment in returning to an icy America after a rapturous reception in Europe…the exclamation point being assaulted by two policemen with blackjacks outside of a nightclub he was headlining (his name on the marquee) after walking a pretty white woman to her cab. Thus, the title: Kind of Blue.
At turns brooding, swingin’, sensual and evocative, all five compositions – “So What,” “Freddie Freeloader,” “Flamenco Sketches,” “All Blues” and “Blue in Green” – have become classics, and the LP the hands-down best-selling Jazz album of all-time. It is the proverbial if you own but one Jazz album at all, this is the one that says it all. Click NEXT for the next album.
