It’s not my favourite Miles album, but it is the one I’d recommend to most people as a way into jazz. So good.
Yeah well up for this! Quite happy it being a proper old-school list of classics too tbh, literally have no idea where to start with the old stuff as most of the jazz I listen to is stuff like Gogo Penguin, Kamasi Washington etc so some older stuff is welcome
I’m up for this! Only listened to 16 of that 50, so looking forward to giving some more a listen. And starting with a classic too 
the opening 20 seconds of his trumpet solo in this live version is one of those little details I’ve had stuck in my head ever since I heard it
it’s just so fucking cool man, the smoky reverb on it is beautiful
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I once put this on in my local pub’s (small Scottish borders village) jukebox. At one point a woman sitting at the bar turned around and shouted at the top of her voice: ‘What THE FUCK is this??’ But not in a ‘I really like this’ way.
It’s still a work of genius though. Fight me.
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Ashley Kahn’s book about the making of the album and its cultural significance is really worth a look. He explains the context of the lead up to the recording sessions and the nuances within them.
Other vendors are available…
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Cracking album, hard to say good stuff about it without sounding … well…what do you say about Kind of Blue that hasn’t been said already?
I actually don’t like Miles much as a trumpeter. He’s decent, but much more about capturing a vibe than being a really good instrumentalist (though he’s an amazing musician, if that distinction makes sense).
I think his real talent is putting an amazing band together at the right time, and making that band do amazing things.
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In the same boat as most comments here - this was my first proper introduction to jazz.
Was at this party with a bunch of friends I used to work with at McDonalds. I liked them a lot as people but we didn’t really have a lot in common. At this party I ended up talking to one of their dads and we had a good chat about music. He asked if I liked Jazz, I told him I was obviously aware of it but couldn’t tell him the first thing about it. So he recommended Kind of Blue as a sort of ‘start here and if you like it you can go from there’. Picked it up cheap from Fopp soon after and dived in.
Really fond memory of walking to college one day with this on headphones and it was heavy, heavy snow. Big fat flakes falling straight down, not many people around. Snow a few inches deep, feet making that really satisfying crunch as you step in it. Was the perfect soundtrack and that’s been etched in my mind ever since.
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That’s one hot take daddy-o.
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It’s absolutely a hill I’ll die on. Especially given that he came up during bebop there are tens of other trumpeters who wild absolutely roast him technically. But obvs the reason I say that he’s an amazing musician is that it’s not all about technique.
I’d way rather listen to Dizzy or Clifford Brown tho.
this is the shit I come to DiS for
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I broadly agree with you that his trumpet playing is relatively unimportant to his genius and success
but I’d argue that his strong skills in band leading etc. actually make him incredibly good at playing trumpet
kinda like how Meg White is a brilliant drummer, really
I mean I think we basically agree but for the semantics - I don’t think it makes him a good trumpeter, it makes him a good musician.
Aye, fair enough. I guess it’s down to what you take ‘trumpeter’ to mean.
interesting thing innit
if someone’s not as good technically as the very best, but they make the most interesting music, does that mean they’re better at the instrument?
edit: clearly poll time
- yes
- maybe
- no
0 voters
my answer to this poll is based on what I would hear if someone said x is the best at an instrument, not based on what I actually think is true myself (more interesting playing is good, being technically good is usually to the detriment of making interesting music)
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Hm I don’t agree with this.
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I’m not including any extended technique in ‘technically good’, if that makes any difference!
(if I were trying to be reasonable, I might have said ‘focusing too much on being technically good is usually to the detriment of making interesting music’, and I also would have said that there does happen to be plenty of interesting music that took a lot of technical ability to make, but very little where the technical ability displayed is in itself of much interest)
Up for this. Need to listen to more jazz. Try to get into it from time to time, but just doesn’t click, except for, maybe embarrassingly, Chet Baker.