Track Listing

1. So What
2. Freddie Freeloader
3. Blue In Green
4. All Blues
5. Flamenco Sketches
6. Flamenco Sketches (Alternate Take)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #189 in Music
• Released on: 1997-03-25
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered

Amazon.com essential recording
This is the one jazz record owned by people who don't listen to jazz, and with good reason. The band itself is extraordinary (proof of Miles Davis's masterful casting skills, if not of God's existence), listing John Coltrane and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley on saxophones, Bill Evans (or, on "Freddie Freeloader," Wynton Kelly) on piano, and the crack rhythm unit of Paul Chambers on bass and Jimmy Cobb on drums. Coltrane's astringency on tenor is counterpoised to Adderley's funky self on alto, with Davis moderating between them as Bill Evans conjures up a still lake of sound on which they walk. Meanwhile, the rhythm partnership of Cobb and Chambers is prepared to click off time until eternity. It was the key recording of what became modal jazz, a music free of the fixed harmonies and forms of pop songs. In Davis's men's hands it was a weightless music, but one that refused to fade into the background. In retrospect every note seems perfect, and each piece moves inexorably towards its destiny. --John Szwed

From Jazziz
"As the painter needs his framework of parchment, the improvising musical group needs its framework in time," says Bill Evans in the liner notes to Kind of Blue. "Miles Davis presents here frameworks which are exquisite in their simplicity and yet contain all that is necessary to stimulate performance with a sure reference to the primary conception." Amen. During the past 40 years, the performances Davis' stimulated from Evans, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Paul Chambers, Jimmy Cobb, and Wynton Kelly have become some of the most storied in jazz, and all of them - classics such as "Freddie the Freeloader," "All Blues," "Blue in Green," and, of course, "So What" (featured) - are featured on this Columbia/Legacy reissue.

--- JAZZIZ Magazine Copyright © 2000, Milor Entertainment, Inc.

From Grove Press Guide to Blues on CD
This first-take, unrehearsed Miles Davis session from 1959, no less than a jazz/blues succes d' estime, offers stimulation for the mind and satisfaction for the soul. The late trumpeter and his fellow improvisers (notably John Coltrane and Bill Evans) create shifting prismatic colors, textures given over to lyricism, and intriguingly vague tonality within five compositions. A quiet, wondrous state of equilibrium between tension and repose. -- © Frank John Hadley 1993

Customer Reviews

My raving review is almost non-essential!
I'm not the master of jazz, nor the expert in jazz listening. But this is one of the most recordings in any music library. The all-star lineup on this recording is unbeatable, and the beautiful sound quality makes it a pleasure to listen to.

For the bridging of avant-gard jazz, free jazz, and traditional blues, this masterpiece provides a wealth of historical and stylistic information and musical inspiration.

What else can I say? Get it!

Classic Jazz Album
I may not listen too jazz that much(just look at my amazon name) but i know for sure that this CD is one great album. Its completly instrumental jazz masterpiece right here. Miles Davis was a jazz genius this album is just a true classic album and is by far one of the 20 best albums ever realesed. I love this album so buy this cd today if you like any kind of music...

You will be satisfied

Music on a whole.....'nother.....level......
I dabbled in jazz for about 10 years, then bought this disk on its reputation as a seminal album and good for "newbies"- After many many listens, its probably my number one favorite of all time, any genre. The mood is mellow, the structures are simple, but the whole thing is more than the sum of its parts- sublime in the old sense of the word- intelligent, interesting, masterful improvisation by all players. Miles is the man and this IMHO is the album.