Golden Blue

A half century ago this afternoon, Miles Davis and his sextet of Paul Chambers, Cannonball Adderley, Jimmy Cobb, Bill Evans and John Coltrane recorded the first three tracks of what would be known as Kind of Blue. The quintessential and greatest jazz record in the history of recorded music, KOB's impact and legacy are so widespread and great that to discuss it would be an exercise in futility. All that can be said is that the gods of time and history were in the recording studio that afternoon when the sextet(with Wynton Kelly swapping a song with Evans) cut "So What", "Freddie Freeloader" and "Blue In Green", three songs that redefined the essence of what modern jazz should sound like. Miles' first quintet from the mid 1950s had already paved the way for modern small groups by stamping a sound only to be emulated by others. Only four years later, in 1959, would this second lineup push jazz improvisation even further. Playing with structure and modality, the sextet set jazz in a direction it would forge for another decade, only to be altered by the musings of fusion and rock and roll. The first three cuts, to be joined by "All Blues" (the song that apparently was the blueprint for the Allman Brothers Band's "Dreams") and "Flamenco Sketches" are five masterpieces of cool, post-bop perfection. To hear the record in the morning, night, rain or cold can only bring out different textures and blends of instrumentation. I hear something new every time I listen to the album, whether in Mr. PC's walking bass or Evans' piano chordings. I've nearly memorized the saxophone players' cutting at each other. As for Davis's playing, I don't hear individual notes, I absorb whole feelings. Ultimately, it is this record that opened up a new universe of sound, that of the nearly-lost sound of American jazz. A half century later, musicians are still giving their lives up in the attempts of achieving the immortality this record obtained; I doubt any will find it. Happy birthday, Blue.