Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue (1959)

Bloggerhythms doesn't post jazz articles very often because conversations about the genre often turn into deep, scholarly treatises that I'm not qualified to discuss. 

Writing knowledgeably about how well a musician navigates unusual time signatures, chords and harmonics may be meaningful to the genre's more educated and devoted aficionados but those details are often bewildering to others.

As an example, here is what Wikipedia writes about "All Blues," one of the better known tracks from Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, the album regarded by many as the greatest jazz record of all time. "The chord sequence is that of a basic blues and made up entirely of seventh chords, with a ♭VI in the turnaround instead of just the usual V chord. In the composition's original key of G this chord is an E♭7. "All Blues" is an example of modal blues in G mixolydian."

The online encyclopedia continues. "A particularly distinctive feature of the piece is the bass line that repeats through the whole piece, except when a V or ♭VI chord is reached (the 9th and 10th bars of a chorus). Further, there is a harmonically similar vamp that is played by the horns (the two saxophones in the case of Kind of Blue) at the beginning and then (usually) continued by the piano under any solos that take place. Each chorus is usually separated by a four-bar vamp which acts as an introduction to the next solo/chorus."

HUH?!?!? 

Because I have access to a highly popular blogging platform that permits me to easily express my opinions on any topic I wish I'm able to provide readers with reasons why I recommend a specific musical work - or not.  But, I don't believe extremely highbrow discussions necessarily improve the listening experience or convince someone that a piece of music is something they should be listening to. Despite all of the intellectualizing that often accompanies certain works, in the end, all that matters is whether a listener finds the piece enjoyable.

That said, I'm about to make a statement that will probably send me to an afterlife in Hell once the musical part of my soul leaves my body. I don't like Kind of Blue.

On "All Blues" John Coltrane's tenor sax, Cannonball Adderley's alto sax and the leader's trumpet are just meandering around, searching for melodies they never find. Bill Evans' piano and the rhythm section play the same riff over and over underneath the horns." When I hear "So What" that is exactly what I'm thinking. It's just more of the same. "Flamenco Sketches" is so slow it feels like it's going to break apart and disintegrate.

If you're looking for more impressive jazz from the same era listen to Chet Baker and Dave Brubeck instead - especially the latter's Time Out album featuring the great "Take Five." The album is full of complicated recording sessions and is famous for its odd time signatures, but in the end it doesn't matter because Brubeck's quartet knew how to make the arrangements accessible. 

Kind of Blue has gone platinum five times and in 2003 it was listed as #12 on Rolling Stone Magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The publication's latest list, from earlier this year, ranked it #31 so I guess I'm the one who is wrong.