Daily Recco, October 8: Kind of Blue is a testament to timeless music
Music, they say, is food for the soul. It transverses beyond the barriers of language, geography and every other barrier that humankind could create. Some forms of music also break the barrier of time.
One such album that transverses the boundaries of time and sounds as fresh today as it did when it was released 61 years ago in August 1959, is Miles Davis's masterpiece — Kind of Blue. Touted to be one of the greatest jazz albums ever produced, Kind of Blue was not only a landmark recording for Davis, but it stands as one of the great pieces of music that captured jazz a genre in its purest form.
The album of five songs — So What, Freddie Freeloader, Blue in Green, All Blues and Flamenco Sketches — was released as a 12-inch vinyl record. One of the key reasons for the album’s legendary success is considered to be the band that Davies had brought together. Be it saxophonists John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley, Jimmy Cobb on the drums, bassist Paul Chambers or pianist Bill Evans (who co-wrote the songs with Davies), or the original pianist Wynton Kelly who played for only one song — Freddy Freeloader, each one of the player brought their class and personal touch to the music. The music was recorded over two days at Columbia’s 30th Street Studio. It is said that Davis called for almost no rehearsal. The sextet had no idea what they were to record and Davis had only given the band sketches of scales and melody lines on which to improvise.
The result was spectacular music that stood the test of time to become one of the greatest albums of all times. No surprises there that each of those six musicians went on to have legendary careers in their own right.
This is the kind of music you listen to beat the midweek blues.