Miles Davis — Kind of Blue (1959): The Classic Album Story

Miles Davis recorded Kind of Blue at Columbia’s 30th Street Studio in New York on 2 March and 22 April 1959. Released in August that year, the five-track LP became one of the most widely heard jazz albums, and remains an unusually approachable introduction to modal improvisation.

Davis assembled an exceptional group: John Coltrane on tenor saxophone, Cannonball Adderley on alto, Paul Chambers on bass, Jimmy Cobb on drums and Bill Evans at the piano for most of the album. Wynton Kelly takes over on “Freddie Freeloader”. The change is entirely in keeping with the record: its music is carefully organised but never rigid.

What made the music different?

Instead of requiring the soloists to follow fast-moving chord sequences, Davis built several pieces around a small number of scales or modes. “So What” is based on a 32-bar design using just two modal areas. “Flamenco Sketches” moves through five scales without assigning a fixed length to each. This leaves room for phrasing, rhythm and melodic invention, which the players use in markedly different ways.

The album also contains the twelve-bar blues “Freddie Freeloader”, the ten-bar circular form of “Blue in Green” and the rolling 6/8 blues “All Blues”. It’s hardly one repeated idea stretched across five pieces.

Two sessions, one album

Irving Townsend produced the recordings and Fred Plaut engineered them. Bill Evans’s original liner notes explain how Davis arrived with outlines of the music rather than fully rehearsed arrangements. That approach suited the players and gave the performances their relaxed but attentive character. The familiar legend that everything was captured in a single unbroken take is too neat: multiple attempts and an alternate “Flamenco Sketches” are documented.

We’ve put together a separate account of the musicians and recording sessions, including the first-side tape-speed problem that shaped many early LPs.

Five performances

“So What” begins with a short piano-and-bass introduction before Chambers establishes the bass theme. The horns answer with two compact chords. Miles enters with a pared-down solo, leaving Coltrane and Adderley to develop their own ideas within the same form.

“Freddie Freeloader” is bluesier in both composition and touch, largely thanks to the playing and Wynton Kelly’s piano. “Blue in Green” is shorter, quieter and harmonically more elusive; its authorship has been disputed, with Bill Evans later describing a larger role than the original Davis credit acknowledged.

On side two, “All Blues” achieves a distinctive rolling momentum in 6/8. “Flamenco Sketches” is more open: the musicians move through a series of scales at their own pace. Our companion feature, Inside Kind of Blue, discusses the pieces and the thinking behind modal jazz without requiring specialist theory knowledge.

The record itself

Columbia released Kind of Blue in mono and stereo, with original US catalogue numbers CL 1355 and CS 8163. The album has appeared in numerous reissues and audiophile editions. A tape-machine speed problem on the March date also means certain modern remasters differ in pitch from the original first side. Our vinyl editions guide explains the important distinctions and what collectors should check.

Explore Kind of Blue

Sources: Miles Davis official Legacy Edition notes and album discography.