Kind of Blue [Remaster] (CD - 1959)

Personnel: Miles Davis (trumpet); Miles Davis; Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, Cannonball Adderley (alto saxophone); Paul Chambers (double bass); John Coltrane (tenor saxophone); Wynton Kelly, Bill Evans (piano); Jimmy Cobb (drums).

Audio Remixer: Mark Wilder.

Liner Note Authors: Bill Evans ; Robert Palmer; Nat Hentoff; Robert Palmer.

Recording information: Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York, NY (03/02/1959-04/22/1959); Columbia Street Studio, New York, NY (03/02/1959-04/22/1959).

Photographers: Don Hunstein; Jay Maisel.

Unknown Contributor Roles: John Coltrane; Bill Evans ; Wynton Kelly; Paul Chambers; Jimmy Cobb ; Cannonball Adderley.

With BIRTH OF THE COOL, Miles Davis distilled a new tonal palette for jazz. As early as 1954, Miles reacted to the escalating chordal complexity of hard bop by fashioning an evocative blues based on a simple scalar pattern ("Swing Spring"). KIND OF BLUE was the ultimate fulfillment of this approach, with Miles providing his collaborators little more than outlines for melodies and simple scales for improvisation. By emphasizing the blues and the improvisor's melodic gifts, KIND OF BLUE precipitated a major stylistic development--modal jazz.

Charles Mingus had experimented with pedal points throughout the 1950s, and the melodic freedom of Ornette Coleman's Atlantic sides was also predicated on freedom from chord changes. But KIND OF BLUE was to prove the most influential, enduring work of its kind. There was just such a vibe about these 1959 sessions--Miles' lyric genius and burgeoning stardom, the innovative voicings and rarefied touch of pianist Bill Evans, the electrifying presence of Coltrane and Cannonball--that some thirty-plus years after its initial release, KIND OF BLUE is still recognized as Davis' point of departure towards jazz's less-explored regions.

Bill Evans' translucent chords and Paul Chambers' famous bass line herald the revolution that is "So What": Davis and Evans' taut, coiled lyricism stands in sharp relief to the saxophonists' labyrinthine elation. The fat, shimmering beat of the classic Evans/Chambers/Cobb rhythm team is an oasis of calm throughout the childish blues "Freddie Freeloader." Often credited to Davis, "Blue In Green" is an Evans masterpiece, in which the rhythmic oasis becomes a smoky mirage for Davis' minor reveries on muted horn. The waltzing "All Blues" is one of the smoothest, most swinging grooves in the history of jazz, while "Flamenco Sketches" reflects Miles fascination with the earthy melodies and brooding metaphors of the Iberian peninsula...a harbinger of his next masterpiece, SKETCHES OF SPAIN. KIND OF BLUE remains Miles Davis' most evocative piece of musical haiku. minimize