1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die - #21. Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (1959)

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (1959)

Track Lisiting (standout tracks in bold)

1. So What
2. Freddie Freeloader
3. Blue In Green
4. All Blues
5. Flamenco Sketches

This is a record generally considered as the definitive jazz album of all time. EVER. A universally acknowledged standard of jazz music excellence. And it truly is a ‘beautiful’ album to listen to. Each of the tracks (there are only 5) is simple, to the point. Each tune has a similar relaxed feel to it, and the music flows easily like a crisp stream on a cool winters day. The musicians read like a whose who of jazz greats: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, etc.., how could they go wrong. Reading the liner notes one finds that the band never played any of the selections through prior to recording them. Miles provided the basic layouts for the songs and then the band just improvised. When researching a bit about the album a line that stood out was “if you don’t like ‘Kind of Blue’ – you don’t like jazz.” That DOES pretty much sum it up!
Highly recommended