Full Albums features covers of every track off a classic album. Got an idea for a future pick? Leave a note in the comments!
Columbia Records invented the long playing record in the late ’40s. By the late ’50s, they had turned the LP into the dominant musical artifact of the period. That meant that their Pop department had a busy 1959 planned. Johnny Mathis would release an album that year, and they were preparing for a new Tony Bennett release, along with a compilation LP featuring Mathis, Bennett, Doris Day and Frankie Laine.
The same team was also preparing for some jazz releases. In 1959, jazz was Popular music. Rock and roll had provided some energy, but had not yet evolved in musical sophistication to become the dominant form, and was still shunned as 45-RPM music for teenagers by many who bought LPs. Tamla Motown was evolving its brand of R&B, but it was not the full package of music and presentation that would lead to chart dominance later on. Being part of the Pop department meant that jazz records were plugged for radio play, were merchandised in record stores, and appeared in as many jukeboxes across big cities as the marketers could achieve. Dave Brubeck released an album featuring Take Five that year, and that would be a record of the year in many places.
Miles Davis never gave up on the idea of being a popular artist. He cut his teeth in dance bands that filled halls and floors. In 1948 his Birth of the Cool helped spawn a whole new realm of popular jazz. He would go on to cut fusion albums in the late ’60s, and rock-infused records in the ’70s. His version of “Human Nature” from late in his career is even more wistful than usual, as he considers what Michael Jackson’s talent had given him, compared with what felt he had. He enjoyed the accoutrements of fame, driving his sports car around New York City whilst attired in immaculately tailored suits, Broadway star at his side. He enjoyed playing in front of large, adoring audiences in Europe on Festival tours. If Sly Stone could be musically sophisticated and adventurous, and sell millions of records, what was stopping the marketing department at Columbia from getting him a number one record on the pop charts? If The Temptations could be at the cutting edge, or if James Brown could bring the house down with the JBs at his side, or if Jimi Hendrix could revolutionize rock — well, what was to keep Davis from being thought of in the same way?
But Columbia Records and Davis had a relatively good relationship at this end of the ’50s. At their insistence, Davis had developed a consistent lineup for his band (you would hesitate to say “stable” for a lineup that contained several people who struggled, along with their leader, with substance abuse, and most of whom died young), which became his First Great Quintet/Sextet. The band was popular and had worked together in various forms for several years. His early releases on the label had got him the sports car and fancy apartment.
Whilst Davis wanted to be popular, he also had a vital musical sensibility, which he would not compromise on. The music had to be new, and fit with Davis’s current ideas of freshness and relevance. In 1959 he, along with pianist Bill Evans, were fascinated with Modal ideas. The standard Western Classical pattern of tones and semitones to choose which seven notes from the possible twelve semitone steps is one way to slice the pie, but there are others. Folk traditions have other scales, and 20th-century composers such as Erik Satie and Belá Bartók were translating those folk traditions into vital new music. Debussy was incorporating other scales into his music. Davis and Evans would have been aware of all of that music. Within jazz it was felt that, with fewer chords but also fewer restrictions on the form, so the improvised solo, the most important part of jazz, could be freed from the number of bars generally acknowledged in a blues tune. There was more musical space, including for space between the notes, which some classical and jazz artists view as a vital part of the art.
The band that assembled for two recording dates in the spring of 1959 was ready, and knew each other. Bill Evans had largely left the band, but was brought back for this session due to his modal sensibilities. This might have irked Wynton Kelly, but they both appeared on the record, with Kelly playing the blues-infused “Freddie Freeloader.” Tenor saxophone genius John Coltrane was there, and alto Julian “Cannonball” Adderley was the augmentation from Quintet to Sextet. The peerless rhythm section of Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb rounded out the lineup. Although the band was very familiar with each other, Davis’s habit for band dates (in contrast to his work with larger orchestras and Gil Evans) was to use relatively new tunes, or even sketches of tunes, to get the activities rolling. Although Davis took all the writing credits (and royalties), some of these sketches and ideas, particularly the modal ones, came from Bill Evans. In most cases, the first complete take was used. What we ultimately hear is brand new, fresh, vital.
In the end, they produced the most popular jazz album of all time, with over five million sales. During the current vinyl revival it seems that most turntable purchases are quickly followed by a visit to the store to get a copy of Kind of Blue. It denotes a certain level of sophistication to a certain group of people. In movies, you can indicate a thoughtful person by having the sounds on in the background. Many babies have likely been born after their parents got in the mood with this sound (as long as one of them did not make the classic error of concentrating too hard on the music). For some fans, it was all downhill from there for jazz. They believe that jazz was not defeated by R&B, rock and roll or hip-hop; it defeated itself. Free jazz might be seen as actively alienating some listeners (whilst delighting others), but it denotes a different world from the sophistication and elegance of Davis’s classic, and would denote a different type of amorous activities to modal jazz.
Kind of Blue is, of course, popular within jazz circles, but perhaps its greatest legacy is in other forms of music. Musicians of all sorts, growing up in the ’60s, would know the album. They would go on to form bands, as diverse as Steely Dan, The Allman Brothers and Talk Talk, and could incorporate the musical ideas from the record (and sometimes Davis’s ways of leading a band) into their music. There are hundreds of covers of each of the tracks, so we have chosen some that mark jazz, pop and other musical traditions!
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