50th Anniversary of the release of MILES DAVIS " Kind Of Blue " ( Vanity

[sushiman]

[sushiman]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10862796

54 minute program on this subject .

[Mr. Mojo]

Just finished watching Miles with the Gil Evans Orchestra play a half hour piece on PBS about 15 min. ago. Black and white footage, probably from the late ‘50s. Great music.

Thanks for the heads-up about KOB. Think I’ll spin it tonight.

[FoxInSocks]

Yeah, I have one or two copies. Pretty fantastic.

[Daffynition]

S-W-E-E-T!

Kind of Blue 50th Anniversary Video

[Daffynition]

I’ve worn two out ...on my third!

[spyone]

Never really like Jazz until I bought this album. So sublime.

[sushiman]

Timeless . It’ll sound just as sublime and magnificent 1000 years from now .

[jobim]

I defer to no one in my appreciation of Miles Davis.

Thus, as a self-pronounced authority, I proclaim that Miles Ahead with Gil Evans (1957), and Birth of the Cool (1949), are stronger recordings.

I could listen to all 3 albums all night, and write about them and discuss all night. But I have work to get back to.

Of course, ranking these 3 is akin to ranking one's three most marvelous dates.

[TChad]

Thanks for posting. It has been a couple of months since I listened to this, time to hear it again.

[ARepublicanForAllReasons]

I am listening to Freddy Freeloader right now, courtesy of a hip poster on U-Tube. Wynton Kelly's piano solo is a model of blues minimalist soloing, and now his incomparable 'comping behind Miles' trumpet. I definitely have my groove on!
Cannonball and JC take it, twist and turn it every which way but loose, then the rhythm section brings it right back to where it began, cool and sublime.

Thanks for posting the link and reminding us jazz fanatics of a defining moment in the evolution of jazz!

[sushiman]

You are welcome man .

I think FF never really got the same sort of popular or critical fascination as the rest of the tunes on KOB , probably because of its more conventional form which is basically a 12 bar blues . The mood is different , too and I like that . But let’s face it - Kind Of Blue couldn’t have been made without Bill Evans .

[MonicaG]

I grew up with this, and it’s one of my many Miles CDs. Love, love, LOVE the sounds of Miles Davis.

[sushiman]

I was 7 when the album came out . For one reason or another I didn’t discover this album ( and I’d had LPs of Miles in the 60’s ! ) until 10 or so years ago . Can’t believe that somewhere along the line some friend didn’t turn me on to it ...but there you have it . Since discovering KOB , I reckon I’ve played it on average 15 times a year . Making up for lost time ! ; )

[Daffynition]

Listen: So what

Don't want you to miss this thread BD.

[BluesDuke]

One of the twenty greatest albums in the history of jazz. No questions asked. My picks for the other nineteen . . . in no particular order of preference . . .

Louis Armstrong, Louis Armstrong Plays W.C. Handy
Count Basie and His Orchestra, April in Paris
The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Time Out
John Coltrane, Blue Train
Miles Davis, In a Silent Way
Duke Ellington and His Orchestra, The Complete Decca Recordings
Duke Ellington and His Orchestra, Ellington at Newport.
Bill Evans, The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961
Stan Getz, Focus
Dizzy Gillespie, Gillespiana
Herbie Hancock, Maiden Voyage
Stan Kenton, Standards in Silhouette
Charles Mingus, Mingus Ah, Um
The Modern Jazz Quartet, Django
Thelonious Monk Quartet, Live at the It Club (Complete)
Wes Montgomery with the Wynton Kelly Trio, Smokin' at the Half Note (Complete)
Horace Silver Quintet, Song For My Father
Art Tatum, The Complete Original American Decca Recordings
Lester Young, Lester Young with the Oscar Peterson Trio

[sushiman]

Not that I necessarily agree with your list : ) ...but I have 7 of your top 20 . And my taste in music is very eclectic .

[sushiman]

Two that come to mind immediately for my top 20 ( besides KOB ) would be Empyrean Isles by Herbie Hancock ( big Obama fan doncha know ) , and John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme .

[BluesDuke]

Not that I necessarily agree with your list : ) ...but I have 7 of your top 20 . And my taste in music is very eclectic .

Mine is, too. I have a music library chock full of blues, jazz, classic soul, classical and experimental music, vintage rock, reggae, and I'm liable to follow, say, a set of Muddy Waters with a set of Steve Reich or Satie; or, say, a set of the Beatles with a set of the Swingle Singers. (If you ever heard the album they cut with the Modern Jazz Quartet, by the way, you don't need me to tell you what a treat it is.)

P.S. I happen to love A Love Supreme, but I think Blue Train is better. I suppose part of it is a blues bias; my first music love will always be the blues, and I tend to favour the jazzmen who never forgot the blues, even if I appreciate as much non-bluesy jazz as I do. Aside from which, Blue Train is some of the best playing Coltrane ever did with a group larger than a basic quartet.