Kind of Classic

Sixty-two years ago, Miles Davis called together his band to record a studio disc of tunes and ideas that he had worked on for months and even years. It was a heavyweight lineup that included saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, pianists Bill Evans and Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb. 

As was his custom, Davis gave band members few advance details about what they would play, as he often valued spontaneity and imagination over rehearsed precision. When they assembled in Columbia Records’ New York studios, Davis’ instructions were brief, and he and the producers began recording. The tracks were completed in two sessions, March 2 and April 22. 

The result, released on Aug. 17, 1959, is one of the monumental albums in the history of jazz and arguably in all American music. Kind of Blue changed jazz and influenced scores of musicians inside and outside the genre. I cannot explain Davis’ experimentation with and embrace of “modal” jazz, since I can’t read music and never studied music theory. 

I read that he believed that the new style provided soloists with more room to improvise if the background was kept simple and they played a melody of one or two “modes” or scales, rather than adhering to strict chord progressions, which was the foundation for jazz to that point. Davis told jazz critic and writer Nat Hentoff in an interview: “When you go this way, you can go on forever. You don't have to worry about (chord) changes, and you can do more with time. It becomes a challenge to see how melodically inventive you are...I think a movement in jazz is beginning, away from the conventional string of chords and a return to emphasis on melodic rather than harmonic variations. There will be fewer chords but infinite possibilities as to what to do with them.” 

Blue consists of five tunes that cover 45:44, slower- and medium-tempo numbers that permit Coltrane and Adderley, Evans and Kelly, and Davis himself wide room to solo within the framework Davis set for each tune. The opening track, So What, starts with a floating, dream-like exchange between Evans and Chambers, then a cool call-and-response sequence between Chambers and the horns before the tune kicks into gear. Freddie Freeloader is a funky, mid-tempo piece. Blue In Green is a wonderful slow blues ballad. 

The two lengthy pieces that make up side two of the album, All Blues and Flamenco Sketches, feature remarkable improvisational and interplay sequences. It may sound pretty standard today, but in 1959 it was rocket launch stuff. Davis was restlessly creative and had no desire to simply re-hash his groundbreaking work from the 1950s and early ‘60s, though he certainly could have enjoyed a comfortable living doing so. 

He assembled insanely talented bands and relished working with young musicians who had different ideas and approaches. He once poached Stevie Wonder’s bass player, a terrific young musician and vocalist named Michael Henderson, after seeing him at a show. He experimented with rock and funk and African rhythms and electronic music, often to the consternation of traditional jazz fans. He mentored the likes of Coltrane and Evans and Chambers. He helped launch the careers of saxophonist Wayne Shorter, drummer Tony Williams, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, guitarist John McLaughlin and keyboardist Joe Zawinul, who with Shorter later founded the great jazz fusion group Weather Report. Jazz isn’t everybody’s jam. 

There’s plenty within the genre that I find unappealing. But Kind of Blue holds up if you’re sitting down with a beverage for a listening session, or as a soundtrack while puttering around the house. Give it a listen. Or another listen.