Thursday, January 04, 2007
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Profile on Miles Davis written by Tim Kirker.
1926 - 1991
"The musical legacy of Miles Davis seems too huge for one man. Especially since he was a vital part of nearly every important development of innovation and style in jazz after the Second World War. His protean approach put him at the forefront of bebop, cool, modal, hard bop, and fusion. From there his sound went on to influence many other forms of music including pop, soul, R&B, funk, and rap. Davis was the last of the great trumpet players, employing a lyrical, melodic style that was known for its minimalism as much as its introspection. Another talent was his ability to assemble great up-and-coming musicians and nurture their creativity within his many bands. Both the man and his music have come to symbolize everything that jazz represents - innovative, cool, complex, and unpredictable."
What's the "all time best" jazz album, what's your favorite? I try to stay away from those kinds of debates when it comes to music. Music is so personal, and each style so unique. I could never just name one, but we all, at sometime or another, get dragged into those "Desert Island" picks just to see where it will go. I keep changing the list. It seems that I can never stop at just ten. Ten becomes twenty, twenty becomes twenty five, and so on.
And so, if you're curious, you can see my "Desert Island" picks if you view my profile. One thing never changes. There are always some that make my list and coincidently, there are always some that seem to make everyone's list.
Kind of Blue isn't merely an artistic highlight for Miles Davis, it's an album that towers above its peers, a record generally considered as the definitive jazz album, a universally acknowledged standard of excellence." Read the full review by by Stephen Thomas Erlewine Here.
"It was a relative rarity among modern jazz albums, three - quarters of an hour of extraordinary music loved equally by listeners who wouldn't know a mode from a modem, and by musicians for whom it seemed to point the way toward a fresh way of playing. "Kind of Blue" remains among the most enduring of all jazz records - more than forty years after its release, it continues to sell several thousand copies a month."
"It must have been made in heaven." Jimmy Cobb said.
(Exerpts from Jazz, A History of America's Music by Geoffrey Ward & Ken Burns).
1926 - 1991
"The musical legacy of Miles Davis seems too huge for one man. Especially since he was a vital part of nearly every important development of innovation and style in jazz after the Second World War. His protean approach put him at the forefront of bebop, cool, modal, hard bop, and fusion. From there his sound went on to influence many other forms of music including pop, soul, R&B, funk, and rap. Davis was the last of the great trumpet players, employing a lyrical, melodic style that was known for its minimalism as much as its introspection. Another talent was his ability to assemble great up-and-coming musicians and nurture their creativity within his many bands. Both the man and his music have come to symbolize everything that jazz represents - innovative, cool, complex, and unpredictable."
What's the "all time best" jazz album, what's your favorite? I try to stay away from those kinds of debates when it comes to music. Music is so personal, and each style so unique. I could never just name one, but we all, at sometime or another, get dragged into those "Desert Island" picks just to see where it will go. I keep changing the list. It seems that I can never stop at just ten. Ten becomes twenty, twenty becomes twenty five, and so on.
And so, if you're curious, you can see my "Desert Island" picks if you view my profile. One thing never changes. There are always some that make my list and coincidently, there are always some that seem to make everyone's list.
Kind of Blue isn't merely an artistic highlight for Miles Davis, it's an album that towers above its peers, a record generally considered as the definitive jazz album, a universally acknowledged standard of excellence." Read the full review by by Stephen Thomas Erlewine Here.
"It was a relative rarity among modern jazz albums, three - quarters of an hour of extraordinary music loved equally by listeners who wouldn't know a mode from a modem, and by musicians for whom it seemed to point the way toward a fresh way of playing. "Kind of Blue" remains among the most enduring of all jazz records - more than forty years after its release, it continues to sell several thousand copies a month."
"It must have been made in heaven." Jimmy Cobb said.
(Exerpts from Jazz, A History of America's Music by Geoffrey Ward & Ken Burns).
Labels: Bay Area Jazz, Cool Jazz, Desert Island Jazz, Jazz, Ken Burns, Kind of Blue, Miles Davis, San Francisco Jazz
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