Miles Davis - Forever Blue
Friday, November 28, 2008
2009 marks the 50th anniversary of the recording of an album frequently cited as the greatest jazz album of all time, Kind of Blue. To mark the anniversary a special anniversary box set has been released and in keeping with the importance of the album in this special feature Stuart Nicholson tells the story of the album, detailing a tale of surprising confusion along the way which affected the titling of two of the songs on the album ‘All Blues’ and ‘Flamenco Sketches’ and curiously involving the doctoring of pianist Bill Evans’ liner notes and the issuing of a version of the recording at a faulty higher pitch which was later corrected. Kind of Blue was an album that no one forgets listening to for the first time and Charlie Watts, Guy Barker, Miles’ nephew Vince Wilburn and Courtney Pine, along with many others, describe their reactions to hearing the great album for the first time and the impact it had on them
If Davis often gave the impression of running away from his distinguished past during his lifetime, then since his death in 1991 the rest of us can’t seem to get enough of it. Although his prolific creativity ceased when he took a furlough from jazz between 1975 and 1981, his career on records continued unabated as Columbia delved into their vaults to release previously unreleased material. When he made his comeback in 1981, in terms of record releases at least, it was if he had never been away.
This is an extract from Jazzwise Issue #126 – read the full article click here to subscribe and receive a FREE CD