Kind Of Blue (1959)

[Ayler]

Kind Of Blue (1959)



Face 1

1. So What - 9:05
2. Freddie Freeloader - 9:35
3. Blue in Green - 5:28

Face 2

1. All Blues - 11:33
2. Flamenco Sketches - 9:24


Personnel :
Miles Davis – trompette
John Coltrane – saxophone ténor
Julian "Cannonball" Adderley – saxophone alto (sauf sur "Blue in Green")
Bill Evans – piano (sauf sur "Freddie Freeloader"), notes de pochette
Wynton Kelly – piano, uniquement sur "Freddie Freeloader"
Paul Chambers – contrebasse
Jimmy Cobb – batterie


"Kind Of Blue" est un album majeur. D'une part parce qu'il est magnifique de bout en bout, mais aussi parce qu'il ouvre des perspectives à des générations entières de musiciens. Miles n'a bien sûr pas inventé la musique modale, ni même été le premier à introduire ses concepts dans le jazz. Le titre "Milestones" présent sur l'album du même nom (celui qui précède "Kind Of Blue") montrait la volonté de s'affranchir des grilles d'accords et de la verticalité de la musique occidentale.

Disons qu'avec "Kind Of Blue", on passe à la vitesse supérieure, avec un groupe fantastique : la plupart des sidemen de Miles sont eux-mêmes devenus des leaders exceptionnels. John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, et bien sûr Bill Evans, qui est sans nul doute l'un des grands architectes de cette musique.
Miles avait fait preuve d'une intelligence musicale incroyable en réunissant un tel groupe, car le contraste entre les différents solistes est idéal. Cannonball incarne le blues, Coltrane le feu et Miles la retenue, le Beau. L'inspiration était vraiment au rendez-vous.

Musicalement, le disque est riche en enseignements : les différents musiciens n'abordent pas le jazz modal de la même manière. Le rapport au mode varie considérablement selon les instrumentistes. Coltrane reprend certaines de ses recherches contemporaines ("Giant Steps" est enregistré quelques semaines plus tard), mais en les intégrant dans un contexte radicalement opposé : les Coltranes changes permettent au soliste de jouer out, dépassant le minimalisme que pourrait imposer la musique modale.
Pour Miles, c'est surtout l'occasion de se libérer de la grille d'accords, et des contraintes qu'elle implique pour le soliste. Désormais, c'est l'imagination qui prime : le musicien doit prendre son destin en main. Pour certains jazzmen, le défi sera difficile à relever.

Contrairement à ce que "Giant Steps" pouvait laisser supposer, c'est pourtant Coltrane qui rapidement deviendra le leader de ce mouvement naissant. Avec "My Favorite Things", Coltrane ouvre les portes de l'expressivité, laissant de coté les timbres polissés de "Kind Of Blue", et s'affranchit définitivement des grilles d'accords ("Flamenco Sketches" était un premier pas, alors que "So What" reste un 32 mesures).


Un complément intéressant :

The "Kind of Blue" Studio Sessions & Outtakes (including try-outs)



1. Freddie Freeloader Session (13'38 )
2. So What Session (12'53)
3. Blue In Green Session (11'13)
4. Flamenco Sketches Session (24'10)
5. All Blues Session (11'53)

Pistes 1, 2 et 3 : 2 mars 1959 (de 14:30 à 17:30 et de 19:00 à 22:00)
Pistes 4 et 5 : 22 avril 1959 (de 14:30 à 17:30)
Columbia 30th Street Studio, New-York, USA

[Electric Thing]

Réédité seulement il y a quelques années avec enfin la bonne vitesse.

C'est l'album qui m'a ouvert les portes...

[Ayler]

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

[Purple Jim]

Un classic que j'écoute de temps en temps. Je préfère le Miles électrique ou les explorations de Coltrane.

[Ayler]

MILES DAVIS - Kind of Blue: 50th Anniversary Collectors Edition 2-CD + DVD + LP + book + poster (Columbia/Legacy)
Originally released by Columbia Records on August 17, 1959, Kind of Blue heralded the arrival of a revolutionary new American music, a post-bebop modal jazz structured around simple scales and melodic improvisation. Trumpeter/band leader/composer Miles Davis assembled a sextet of legendary players -- Cannonball Adderley (alto sax), Paul Chambers (bass), Jimmy Cobb (drums), John Coltrane (tenor sax), Bill Evans (piano) (Wynton Kelly plays piano on “Freddie Freeloader") -- to create a sublime atmospheric masterpiece. Fifty years after its release, Kind of Blue continues to transport listeners to a realm all its own while inspiring musicians to create to new sounds -- from acoustic jazz to post-modern ambient -- in every genre imaginable.


Disc 1 of Kind of Blue: 50th Anniversary Collectors Edition will feature the original album in its entirety with the “Flamenco Sketches" alternate take, the rare “Freddie Freeloader" false start, and a selection of in-the-studio dialog from the Kind of Blue sessions. Disc 2 is a CD of rare musical material circa the Kind of Blue recordings including the very first session by the classic Miles Davis sextet (May 26, 1958 -- Davis's 32nd birthday -- with Adderley, Coltrane, Evans, Chambers and Cobb), more than a half hour's worth of studio material -- “On Green Dolphin Street," “Fran-Dance," “Stella By Starlight," “Love For Sale" -- previously available only on the two-time Grammy award winning Miles Davis & John Coltrane boxed set ("The Complete Columbia Recordings 1955-1961); and the first authorized release of two extended live performances: “So What" from the April 9, 1960 Den Haag Concert featuring Miles, Coltrane, Kelly, Chambers and Cobb; and “All Blues" from the April 8, 1960 Zurich Concert (featuring the same band). The final disc, Disc 3, is a DVD including an in-depth documentary illuminating the story behind Kind of Blue; and the historic April 2, 1959 television program “Robert Herridge Theater: The Sound of Miles Davis" starring Miles Davis and John Coltrane.

This deluxe Collector's Edition will also include a vinyl LP copy of Kind of Blue, a poster, and an LP-sized 60-page hardbound book.

Source : http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=21627

[jipes]

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

Merci pour le lien Ayler ! Tout comme E.T c'est l'album qui m'a ouvert au Jazz, par la suite je me suis mis a acheter les productions de Coltrane puis de Cannonball Adderley et de Bill Evans. Freddie the Freeloader et So What sont mes favorites de l'album même si l'ensemble de l'album est d'une qualité incroyable !

[impressions]

arghhhhhhhhhh j'achèteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee merci regis de l'info.

[Ayler]

NEW YORK, Aug. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- Like a fine vintage wine -- an epicurean
delight near and dear to Miles Davis (1926-1991) -- the music contained on
Kind of Blue reveals added nuance and unexpected pleasures the older it gets.
And yet with each year that Kind of Blue ages, it goes through a rejuvenation
process that is exciting to behold. The essence of the 1959 album has never
been duplicated. That may account, in part, for its RIAA triple-platinum
status in the U.S. and worldwide recognition as a timeless masterpiece, #12 on
Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time."

Kind of Blue: 50th Anniversary Collector's Edition is an expansive and
lavishly-designed box set. The contents of the box include: two CDs (running
time over two hours); a newly-produced black-and-white documentary DVD (55
minutes); a full-size 60-page book of critical essays, annotations and
photography; and an envelope chockfull of memorabilia. The box also includes
the 12-inch LP package pressed on 180-gram blue vinyl and an enormous 22x33
fold-out poster of Miles. The box will be released on September 30th by
Columbia/Legacy, a division of SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT.

Of special importance to Miles Davis aficionados around the globe is the
DVD, Celebrating a Masterpiece: Kind of Blue. The new DVD incorporates
material from the 2004 mini-documentary, Made In Heaven, including
black-and-white still photography of the recording sessions and the voices of
Miles (at the sessions), as well as excerpts of radio interviews with the late
Bill Evans and Cannonball Adderley. There are interviews with musicians and
luminaries including composer/performer David Amram, the late Ed Bradley, Ron
Carter, Jimmy Cobb, Bill Cosby, Herbie Hancock (who demonstrates "So What" at
the piano), Eddie Henderson, Shirley Horn, Dave Liebman, the late Jackie
McLean, funk-rocker Me'Shell Ndege'Ocello, hip-hop's Q-Tip, Carlos Santana,
John Scofield, Horace Silver, and many others.

The DVD also unearths the group's entire 26-minute appearance on "Robert
Herridge Theatre: The Sound of Miles Davis," a CBS television program recorded
in 1959 and broadcast in 1960. Another bonus feature is the gallery of images
captured by Columbia staff photographer Don Hunstein, covering the original
recording sessions, as well as a key performance at New York's Plaza Hotel in
September 1958. In conjunction with the latter, an unprecedented four-week
exhibit of Miles Davis photography will be mounted at New York's downtown
Morrison Hotel Gallery in November-December 2008. The exhibit will then
travel to other Morrison Hotel locations and Starwood Hotels in 2009.

At the absolute core of the box set is the original 45-minute album
program, whose five titles -- "So What," "Freddie Freeloader," "Blue in
Green," "All Blues," and "Flamenco Sketches" -- are indelibly etched in our
contemporary musical DNA, be it jazz, rock, third through fifth stream
classical, or beyond. They are familiar old acquaintances on the LP as it
existed in the marketplace for nearly three decades: the first three numbers
occupying side one (which happened to have been cut on the first day of
recording, two three-hour sessions on Monday, March 2, 1959); and the last two
numbers on side two (recorded at the final three-hour session of Wednesday,
April 22, 1959).

On CD One of the box set, after the original five tunes are presented,
there is the alternate take of "Flamenco Sketches," the only complete
alternate take from the original recording sessions (a track first unveiled on
the 5-LP/4-CD box set of 1988, Miles Davis: The Columbia Years 1955-1985, the
first Miles Davis box set ever issued by Columbia). Following the alternate
take, there are "studio sequences" (ranging from 11 seconds to nearly two
minutes) for every one of the five titles, and one "false start." As
transcribed and fleshed out by Ashley Kahn, these short tracks are eye-opening
revelations into the studio relationship between Miles, the musicians,
Columbia staff producer Irving Townsend, and recording engineer Fred Plaut, at
this still-early stage in Miles' career as a leader (though he had been making
records since 1945).

The 1959 sessions occupy CD One -- and then CD Two turns back the calendar
to May 26, 1958. The five completed tracks from that session with producer
Cal Lampley -- "On Green Dolphin Street," "Fran-Dance" (with an alternate
take), "Stella by Starlight," and "Love for Sale" -- are the only other studio
recordings of the sextet with Adderley, Coltrane, Evans, Chambers, and Cobb
(though live recordings exist from the Newport Jazz Festival in July, and the
Plaza in September).

The five 1958 studio tracks, scattered on various LP through the years,
were united in one place for the first time on the double Grammy Award-winning
6-CD box set issued in 2000, Miles Davis & John Coltrane: The Complete
Columbia Recordings 1955-1961. Now, for the first time, the five 1958 studio
tracks are rightfully coupled -- at last -- with the five sextet tracks of
Kind of Blue. The final track on CD Two is a mesmerizing 17-minute live
concert version of "So What" (without Adderley, with Kelly), recorded in
Holland, April 1960.

In late 1958, after some eight months, Bill Evans left the lineup and was
replaced by Wynton Kelly. As Miles began to formulate his next studio
recording, Evans was invited back for the sessions and became an integral
spark on the album's concept. Cobb bears witness to the fact that "the concept
behind Kind of Blue grew out of the way the two (Miles and Evans) played
together," as Francis Davis writes. "Evans and Davis were certainly on the
same wavelength, and the pianist certainly contributes more than a sideman's
share of Kind of Blue's air of pensive melancholy. In addition to which, his
eloquent liner notes -- titled 'Improvisation in Jazz' -- cued listeners to
hear the album as the very essence of jazz, an unmediated exercise in
spontaneity."

The session-by-session transcripts compiled and expounded by Ashley Kahn
are an indication of the quantum advance in scholarly exegesis that has grown
up around Miles Davis in general and Kind of Blue in particular. This
intellectual pursuit is given full exposure in the course of the box set's
60-page book. Kahn's 3,000-word section, titled "Between The Takes," reflects
the full scope of research that went into his book Kind of Blue: The Making of
the Miles Davis Masterpiece (DaCapo Press, 2000; updated edition, Perseus,
2007, foreword by Jimmy Cobb).

Kahn's section is preceded by two major in-depth studies from writers who
have also studied their subject for their entire careers. The book's opening
essay is a 4,000-word overview written by Francis Davis, contributing editor
of The Atlantic Monthly, jazz columnist for The Village Voice, and winner of
five ASCAP-Deems Taylor Awards for Excellence in Music Journalism. In
addition to writing many books (among them The History of the Blues, Hyperion,
1995; and Jazz and Its Discontents: A Francis Davis Reader, Perseus, 2004), he
has also written liner notes for over 60 jazz and pop albums, including titles
by Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Bill Evans.

"The two recording sessions for Kind of Blue," Francis Davis writes, "took
place in the nick of time: it's impossible to imagine Davis, Evans, Coltrane,
and Adderley coming together so harmoniously a year or two later, by which
point each had become not just leader of his band but practically founder of
his own school."

The second essay, "The Last King Of America: How Miles Davis Invented
Modernity," is a 3,000-word study by Professor Gerald Early of Washington
University in St. Louis. Early, who has served as consultant on numerous Ken
Burns documentary projects (Baseball, Jazz, Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise
and Fall of Jack Johnson, The War), is a widely published author who has
written about subjects diverse as Negro baseball, Motown, Sammy Davis Jr.,
Muhammad Ali -- and Miles Davis. Early was the editor of Miles Davis and
American Culture (2001), a compendium of essays.

"Kind of Blue would not have been possible if the LP did not exist," Early
says. "It was jazz conceived for the record album, not only because of the
playing times of the tunes but also because of how the album creates an
overall mood. Kind of Blue is not simply a series of tracks as the standard
small group jazz album of the day was. Kind of Blue was one of the few jazz
records of its time that had a sense of narrative, a cohesive inter-relation
between the tunes. It was a work, not a bunch of disparate tunes used to pace
a small group jazz album: one fast-tempo piece, one ballad, one blues, one or
two standards, a bop-oriented original. The sense of the album as an organic
whole added to its appeal."

Even so, the Kind of Blue LP was possessed by another kind of voodoo for
decades. Musicians who tried to "play along" with the first three tracks
(side one) were perplexed because the music always sounded slightly sharper
than pitch. In 1995, the problem was traced back to the old Columbia 30th
Street Studio, and a 3-track tape machine that was running slightly slow
during the March recording sessions. As a result, after the mastering
process, those first three tunes always sounded sharp. In 1995, this pitch
problem was finally corrected. At the same time, it was decided to remix the
original 3-track tapes on a Presto all-tube recorder, similar to the one used
in 1959. The mixes were brought back to "real life." The rich, full
instrumental sound was restored, rendering every previous configuration
obsolete.

Listening to Kind of Blue today, the ground rules come quickly: This was
an exercise in solo and group improvisation, a break from the conventions of
chordal complexity, "improvising on the sparest and starkest of scales as an
alternative to bebop's dense thickets of chord changes," as Francis Davis
writes. It was a "return to emphasis on melodic rather than harmonic
variation," as Miles told The Jazz Review the year before. The works were
composed (as it were) just hours before the sessions, so there could be no
rehearsals as such. Once the group got past the "studio sequences" described
earlier, the results were all first takes; only "Flamenco Sketches" was given
an alternate take.

Moreover, as Davis and Early and many other writers and musicians have
openly discussed -- and Miles would frequently accede -- the five works all
had their roots in other sources. Kind of Blue was the first Miles Davis
album comprised entirely of songs credited to his name, even though at least
two of its themes were provided by Evans: "Flamenco Sketches" (whose piano
intro derived from Evans' "Peace Piece," itself based on Leonard Bernstein's
"Some Other Time" from On The Town); and "Blue in Green," which (writes Davis)
"sprang verbatim from [Evans'] introduction to 'Alone Together' on an earlier
recording of that standard by Chet Baker." This may have been
business-as-usual in the jazz scene, but the financial impact of Miles not
crediting anyone else certainly hastened the departure of Evans from the
group.

How and why has Kind of Blue held on to its status as an album that
crosses genres, speaks to generations, and is one of the first (if not the
first) album that any new jazz acolyte purchases? It "was one of those
records," Early concludes, "along with Dave Brubeck's Time Out, another
Columbia jazz record released in 1959, that made jazz a middlebrow music, a
respectable music for middle-class, educated people who felt they had refined
taste. This was enormously important for Davis both commercially and
artistically for the rest of his career. As jazz ceased to be dance music, it
needed middlebrow status in order to survive as art music. Davis was
essential in making this transformation possible."

Source : Legacy Recordings

[Ayler]

Un peu de lecture :

http://www.nysun.com/arts/50-years-and-miles-left-to-go/84958/

http://www.idahostatesman.com/life/story/518669.html

Un entretien avec Jimmy Cobb, le seul survivant de la session :

http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-10-08/music/chatting-with-jimmy-cobb-kind-of-blue-s-last-surviving-player/

[Ayler]

Jazz - Le disque du siècle, par Sacha Reims

[Ayler]

Ashley Kahn
Kind of blue le making of du chef-d’œuvre de Miles Davis
préface de Jimmy Cobb
traduction de Philippe Paringaux

1959 : Miles Davis forme le célèbre sextet – John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers et Jimmy Cobb – pour donner, en deux prises seulement, son œuvre majeure. Kind of Blue reste l’album de jazz le plus vendu au monde.
Le journaliste américain, Ashley Kahn, nous invite à être témoin de l’enregistrement de l’album qui a tant influencé les musiciens de jazz mais aussi de rock. S’appuyant sur une recherche méticuleuse et un récit enlevé, l’auteur retrace le parcours de Miles Davis du bebop au jazz modal et suit les évolutions de l’album depuis ses débuts jusqu’à son aboutissement d’objet culte. Très largement documenté – transcription de hors-prises, découvertes extraites de la forteresse Columbia, nouvelles interviews de musiciens, photos inédites – l’ouvrage s’adresse à tous les amateurs de Miles Davis.

Journaliste américain, Ashley Kahn vit à Fort Lee dans le New Jersey. Il enseigne à l’université de New York.

Je n'ai pas lu ce livre d'Ashley Kahn mais le livre qu'il a écrit dans une optique similaire sur le Love Supreme de John Coltrane était intéressant tout en restant accessible aux non-musiciens. Si ce volume est aussi réussi, il est vivement conseillé.

[impressions]

MILES DAVIS - Kind of Blue: 50th Anniversary Collectors Edition 2-CD + DVD + LP + book + poster (Columbia/Legacy)
Originally released by Columbia Records on August 17, 1959, Kind of Blue heralded the arrival of a revolutionary new American music, a post-bebop modal jazz structured around simple scales and melodic improvisation. Trumpeter/band leader/composer Miles Davis assembled a sextet of legendary players -- Cannonball Adderley (alto sax), Paul Chambers (bass), Jimmy Cobb (drums), John Coltrane (tenor sax), Bill Evans (piano) (Wynton Kelly plays piano on “Freddie Freeloader") -- to create a sublime atmospheric masterpiece. Fifty years after its release, Kind of Blue continues to transport listeners to a realm all its own while inspiring musicians to create to new sounds -- from acoustic jazz to post-modern ambient -- in every genre imaginable.


Disc 1 of Kind of Blue: 50th Anniversary Collectors Edition will feature the original album in its entirety with the “Flamenco Sketches" alternate take, the rare “Freddie Freeloader" false start, and a selection of in-the-studio dialog from the Kind of Blue sessions. Disc 2 is a CD of rare musical material circa the Kind of Blue recordings including the very first session by the classic Miles Davis sextet (May 26, 1958 -- Davis's 32nd birthday -- with Adderley, Coltrane, Evans, Chambers and Cobb), more than a half hour's worth of studio material -- “On Green Dolphin Street," “Fran-Dance," “Stella By Starlight," “Love For Sale" -- previously available only on the two-time Grammy award winning Miles Davis & John Coltrane boxed set ("The Complete Columbia Recordings 1955-1961); and the first authorized release of two extended live performances: “So What" from the April 9, 1960 Den Haag Concert featuring Miles, Coltrane, Kelly, Chambers and Cobb; and “All Blues" from the April 8, 1960 Zurich Concert (featuring the same band). The final disc, Disc 3, is a DVD including an in-depth documentary illuminating the story behind Kind of Blue; and the historic April 2, 1959 television program “Robert Herridge Theater: The Sound of Miles Davis" starring Miles Davis and John Coltrane.

This deluxe Collector's Edition will also include a vinyl LP copy of Kind of Blue, a poster, and an LP-sized 60-page hardbound book.

Source : http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=21627

j'ai lu sur amazon france un commentaire qui disait que le cd du coffret n'était pas celui remasterisé avec la bonne vitesse,quelqu'un peut confirmer ? C'est dommage car n'aurions pas ainsi le bon cd avec la vitesse corrigée.........

[WillieBrown]

Un album qui n'a pas volé sa légende. So What est sympa mais loin d'être magnifique et Freddie Freeloader n'est vraiment pas émouvant. Mais les trois suivantes sont déchirantes. Impossible de ne pas se sentir le coeur brisé après un des solos de Miles ou d'Adderley (Coltrane lui est inférieur sur ce disque en émotion je trouve), comme si l'on marchait dans une rue de New-York pluvieuse, au milieu de la nuit, après s'être fait jeté dehors par celle que l'on aimait.

[leptilou]

C'est vrai que Cannonball déchire fort sur cet album d'anthologie ! un géant !

[Chino]

Quel album... La perfection. J'ai l'édition digipack avec l'alternate take de Flamenco Sketches, qui tout aussi belle que la version paru en 1959, et je l'aime tellemetn que je l'ai acheté en double.

Si tout le monde jour de façon extraordinaire, mention spéciale à Bill Evans, dont chaque note est parfaite, tant au niveau du timing que du son.

[pikoo]

C'est vrai qu'il sonne comme un classique, j'ai commencé à écouter du Jazz en commençant par cette album. De plus c'est le genre de disque idéal pour se détendre.

[Contenu sponsorisé]