Kind of Blue

Today, March 2, 2009 is the 50th anniversary of the recording of Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue", possibly the most influential LP recording ever made. Those who say that distinction belongs to The Beatles "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" have a point, but in my opinion, it's a hard one to make.

In the 1950's, jazz had evolved from its role as the popular music of the 30's and 40's. Big band swing was replaced by smaller combos playing bebop, hard bop and free form jazz as pioneered by Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. The saxophone had replaced the clarinet, coronet and trumpet as the primary lead instrument. The sax even became the icon of the avant-garde jazz movement, being shaped as it is like the letter "J".

By 1959, those at the leading edge of jazz had intentionaly distanced themselves from commercial popular music. Hard bop was frantic, complex, unstructured (or may have sounded so) and difficult for all but the illuminated to make an emotional connection to. Songs had become improvisations based on chord progressions. If there was a melody, it was left to the listener to find it.

Then on March 2, Miles Davis, never one to be comfortable in the current vernacular of jazz, picked up all of the rests, half-notes and whole notes that others left on the studio floor and began playing and improvising off of melodies. Modal Jazz. Birth of the Cool.

Within a couple years, Miles moved on again, leaving modal jazz to Brubeck and the "West Coast Sound", but "Kind of Blue" remains as the highest selling jazz record of all time. And for good reason. Miles helped millions reconnect to jazz. I'm glad to be one of them

God bless you Miles, and thank you.