Every now and then, an album will come along to completely re-define a genre; influence upcoming generations of musicians and be forever regarded in the highest echelons of music. Pet Sounds (The Beach Boys) did it, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band (The Beatles) did it, What Going On (Marvin Gaye) did it, Highway 61 Revisited (Bob Dylan) did it, One Nation Under a Groove (Funkadelic) did it, Songs in the Key of Life (Stevie Wonder) did it, Thriller (Michael Jackson) did it, Paid in Full (Eric B & Rakim) did it, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (Public Enemy) did it, The Chronic (Dr. Dre) did it, Enter the Wu-Tang 36 Chambers (Wu-Tang Clan) did it, and in 1959, Miles Davis’ magnum opus; Kind of Blue also did it. Though – as an avid hip hop fan – I’ve previously stuck primarily to reviewing hip hop albums, I decided to take a break and branch out to review records from other genres that I particularly love, in this case; the jazz essential Kind of Blue. Having been widely used by revered producers like Prince Paul and DJ Premier as well as setting the template for rap acts like A Tribe Called Quest and The Roots, jazz has always been a favoured genre for sampling by hip hop artists. And it’s not hard to see why. The unpredictable nature of jazz is a distinct characteristic of the genre and sampling it usually adds a unique vibrant touch to a track; as listeners to DJ Premier would particularly acknowledge.

This unpredictability has always been a fundamental ingredient of jazz, but it was within Kind of Blue where the boundaries of jazz’s unpredictable nature were really pushed. I’m not a musician of any kind; I don’t play an instrument, can’t sing, never even studied music theory in school and have no clue of any musical terms. So to all you multi-instrumentalist, jazz enthusiast, musical fanatics, forgive me when I don’t explain Kind of Blue in terms of chord progressions, modal sketches, series of harmonies, ten measure cycles or four measure introductions. Instead, I’ll lay it out in layman’s terms. Essentially, what Miles Davis did – and this is the real genius behind the success of the album – was simply hand out basic outlines of the boundaries of which the musicians could play within, as opposed to the traditional method of handing out entire scores to stick to. Gone were the days where there were complete written arrangements laying out what each instrument should be playing at each point in time; instead there was an overall structure provided over which the instrumentalist could improvise.

The result of this approach was ground-breaking. Deciding on a less-is-more approach, Davis had been exploring this type of jazz – called modal jazz – for a while; evident on his earlier albums like Birth of the Cool but hitting a peak on this album. It was a form based of looser frameworks, focused more on improvisation and required a great deal of chemistry between the band; an alternative form to the more prominent, more rigid style of bebop jazz. This key element of improvisation not only revolutionised the way jazz was being crafted but has gone on to have a profound impact on subsequent musicians; some not even jazz-orientated. Take the Red Hot Chili Peppers for example. The chemistry and energy displayed by the band on Kind of Blue; which is actually required for this free-flowing approach can also be seen in the Pepper’s music, whose band members have an intense connection with one another and whose style is also deeply rooted in improvisation, particularly their bassist Flea; a jazz enthusiast who plays the trumpet.

The improvisation technique pioneered by Davis is best exemplified by the album’s second track Freddie Freeloader. Apparently recorded in the first take, the upbeat swinging track sounds extremely natural and is dominated by a flashy piano piece in the beginning and a flamboyant trumpet at the end. In contrast to this, Blue in Green is a much more subdued track; relying on drawn-out, soulful trumpets, melancholic piano keys and light drums shimmering in the background. Though cool and smooth at most of the times, Kind of Blue does have its moody moments and in terms of feeling, Blue in Green may represent the bleaker parts of the album; perfect as the background piece in a sullen 1940s period film-noir. Kind of Blue is the type of album that never hits you over the head with blistering solos; instead the band works together to delicately entice the listener with subtle piano keys, restrained drum work and compelling trumpet pieces. But that’s not to say the album doesn’t have any standout moments, quite the contrary actually. Virtuoso solos sprinkle themselves throughout the album, in particular; the heart-rendering trumpet performance on Blue in Green, a quirky saxophone solo on Freddie Freeloader, and another feverish saxophone solo on the wide-known So What.

Despite having distinctly different tracks, a similar relaxing feeling permeates itself throughout the album. From the soul-tinged jazzy feel of So What to the more blues-laden, melancholic Blue in Green to the dynamic Flamenco Sketches at the end, Kind of Blue characterised the more carefree nature of ‘cool jazz’. Because of this multilayered nature, Kind of Blue can be used on different levels; its easy-going relaxing style allows the album to be used as simple background music but listening to it closely will also reveal the more nuanced, more intricate moments of the album. The piano keys may sound a little offbeat at times, the trumpets may sometimes draw out a little longer than needed, the saxophones may not always exactly mirror the rhythm but it’s all of these traits that contribute to the spontaneity, immediate feel and what makes Kind of Blue such a highly regarded album.

Using words to describe something as abstract as music and in particular, as free-flowing as jazz can get pretty tricky at times; especially when you don’t know any musical terms to help yourself. It gets impossible to pinpoint particular moments in Kind of Blue because as an album, it’s incredibly cohesive, each track blends into the other as if the musicians recorded an hour long session and chopped it up into 6 parts. Clichéd as it sounds, you have to listen to it to fully experience the magic of Kind of Blue. If ever running out of ideas on gifts for someone, this album will never fail; whether it’s for a music aficionado (who should have it anyway) or someone who’s just starting to get into jazz. Kind of Blue epitomises the very essence of music – the spontaneity, the organic feel, the unpredictability, soulful solos, intricate moments, dynamism – it contains the very characteristics that sets music apart from any other art form.

By the time I finished listening to this album for the very first time a year ago, I came to realise one thing; Kind of Blue is an extraordinarily paradoxical type of album; so simple yet so nuanced, so elegantly crafted yet based on approximate principles like improvisation, able to be played as background music yet also as an intimate listening experience, and this made me realise one other thing, an album like Kind of Blue never comes around too often and this left me feeling, well, kind of blue.

Band Members: Miles Davis – trumpet, lead, Julian Adderley – alto saxophone (not on Blue in Green), John Coltrane – tenor saxophone, Wynton Kelly – piano (only on Freddie Freeloader), Bill Evans – piano (except on Freddie Freeloader), Paul Chambers – bass, Jimmy Cobb - drums.



Recommended:
Yes

Great Music to Play While: Listening