Explore More

■ Miles Davis
Miles Davis was an American trumpeter, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. In a career spanning nearly five decades, Davis was at the forefront of several major stylistic developments in jazz, including bebop, cool jazz, hard bop, third stream, modal jazz, avant-garde jazz, and jazz fusion.

Had he lived long enough like the eternally funny Mel Brooks Miles Davis would be celebrating his 100th birthday today (May 26, 1926). And even though he passed too early in 1991, his legacy as a pioneer in jazz has never been more secure. In fact, his music is as relevant today as it was when he first came on the scene as a skinny kid from East St. Louis who decided he could learn more about music in the clubs in Harlem than the halls of Julliard.

Davis’ life as a musician and historical figure should be known to all, but I would like to highlight one year when he broke through to become one of the greatest musicians of all time. The year, 1959.

Clean from heroin and fresh from the cool jazz movement, Davis was searching for something new. And what would become of this venture is arguably one of the greatest albums ever recorded, Kind of Blue. So how did he do it?

Talent

By 1959 Davis was the most successful jazz musician on the scene and everyone wanted to work with him. There was no if and or maybe. If you got a call from Davis you took that call and said yes. So Davis had his pick when it came to forming la Crème de la Crème:

John Coltrane on tenor sax
Julian “Cannonball” Adderley on alto sax
Bill Evans on piano
Wynton Kelly on piano
Paul Chambers on bass
Jimmy Cobb on drums

Currently, there is a perpetual argument on dream teams and Mount Rushmore in organized sports. The above lineup is both when it comes to jazz music. Or in Davis’ words:

“I had this idea in expanding the group from a quintet to a sextet, with Trane and Cannonball on saxophones. Man I could just hear that music in my head and if I got it together, it would be a m*therf*cker.”

Backing

When Miles Davis signed with Columbia Records, he signed on with a label who had deep pockets and a national reach. Already, their partnership had borne fruit with successful albums like Miles Ahead, Sketches of Spain and Porgy and Bess. Columbia trusted Davis and gave him free reign when he and his new band headed into the recording studio.

Production

When Davis and his band stepped into 30th Street Studio on March 2, 1959 for two recording sessions, they were entering an abandoned Greek Orthodox Church made of natural materials, vaulted ceilings, with world-class recording equipment and engineers to go along.

Jazz is most alive when it is live, improvised and in the moment. And these engineers with their equipment were prepared to capture the moment as it happened.

Direction

What made Miles Davis Miles Davis was unwillingness to sit still. Never one to rest, he was always looking towards new musical horizons. And what he was searching for in 1959 was to untether from any musical constraints. As John Coltrane explained:

He [Davis] used tunes with free-flowing lines and chordal direction. This allowed the soloist the choice of playing chordally (vertically) or melodically (horizontally)… Due to the direct and free-flowing lines in his music, I found it easy to apply the harmonic ideas that I had.

It would soon be called modal jazz, free from regular chord structures that gave the soloist freedom to explore which required fearless musicians for not all musicians are willing to walk that tightrope without a 12-bar chord structure for a net. But Davis had the soloists and you can hear their personalities shining through.

Coltrane – profound
Adderley – joyful
Evans – introspective

Then there is Davis: passionate and reserved, warm and cool. Brief. Nothing extra. Nothing to cut.

Lasting Appeal

With the above intersecting at the right time, Davis had been given an opportunity to create something that had never been done before. But in all honesty it was just another day at the office for this cadre of musicians who would soon go on to produce great music on their own. It was also another album for Columbia Records. Soon the label would produce the first jazz album to sell one million copies. But what Kind of Blue has more than any other album is an eternal everlastingness. It’s as fresh today as it was in 1959 for in his attempt to free himself of any musical constraints, Davis created an album that is accessible to all. There is a simplistic sophistication to Kind of Blue. Davis had a lot of help from Evans in turning this musical conundrum into original songs. Evans was even tasked to write the liner notes to explain this new musical style, and in his notes he equated the music to a Japanese form of painting called suibokuga where the brushstrokes on a thin parchment must be done in one stroke. No do-overs.

Davis wanted the same approach to his music. There is only one master take for each of the five songs on the album. Sure, they started over if someone made a mistake. But once they reached the other side. That was it. No second takes. No backups. A moment in time recorded for all time. Just listen to the first song on the album “So What” and see if you can hear it all coming together.