The other tracks also quickly became standards, and the individual solos throughout the record continue to inspire musicians to this day. "So What" became the tune, the one that every musician - not just the practitioners of jazz - simply had to know. Jazz musicians were startled by the truly different sound on an album that laid out a clear roadmap for further modal explorations. But the disc was quickly recognized by the jazz community as a classic. To the musicians who recorded it, Kind of Blue was just another session when it was released in August 1959. The setting allowed alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley to return to his big-band roots. Evans said that was part of Davis' genius - creating a simple figure that becomes much more. He took a standard 4/4 time blues and gave it a waltz feel in 6/8. When the band finally gathered again, this time minus pianist Kelly, the first tune recorded was essentially a series of Flamenco- and North African-derived scales.Īshley Kahn, author of Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece, says that the resulting recording possesses an almost spiritual quality as the musicians - particularly Coltrane - seemed to take a reverent approach to the composition.įor the tune "All Blues," Davis again played with the simplest of elements. The second day of recording did not take place for seven weeks. Evans went on to create a cycle of chords as a meditative framework for solos on "Blue in Green." "See what you can do with this," Davis said. A year before the recording, Davis slipped Evans a piece of paper on which he'd written with the musical symbols for "G minor" and "A augmented." "So What" took an unusual tack: bassist Paul Chambers stated the opening melody, and with Evans playing rather unorthodox chords underneath, the song serves as somewhat of a fanfare or overture, hinting at what was in store for the listener.ĭavis was at a musical peak in the 1950s and had been preparing the ideas that would become Kind of Blue for years. The second tune recorded that day ended up as the lead and probably best-known album track. The first tune recorded, "Freddie Freeloader," is representative of the "first take" magic on the record, and it features the happy, swinging playing of pianist Wynton Kelly, who had recently joined Davis' sextet. Davis wanted to capture the musicians' spontaneity - and he wanted to capture it on the first take. With Evans, Davis worked up a few basic compositional sketches, and when the musicians arrived at the studio on March 2, 1959, they were given the outlines. Davis also drew on his knowledge of the modal qualities in the blues. In addition, Evans introduced Davis to classical composers, such as Béla Bartók and Maurice Ravel, who used modalities in their compositions.
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