Oh for Christ’s sake, you are not about to write a post on “Kind of Blue” are you?
Um, well … I was thinking about it.
No shit. Really? That’s all you’ve got? “Kind of f’ing Blue”? Then you’ll write a post on “Time Out” I guess.
“Time Out” was pretty ground breaking.
Spare me.
And besides, I just got this new copy of “Kind of Blue.” Downloaded it actually, right there in the office when I was goofing off and not writing a press release. Amazon had yet another of those infernal “100 Albums for $5” emails and there was “Birth of the Cool” which is fine — Rudy Van Gelder and all — but I’ve been jonesing for “Kind of Blue” since we listened to that Miles Davis Quartet CD on Sunday.
That Quartet stuff is great. What an outrageous band. The thing about those recordings is that you can really see a group of artists working it out, getting to know themselves and each other as musicians and as people. Listening to them is like watching “The Usual Suspects” for the second time. You marvel at their skill but since you know where all this is headed, you kind of want to get to the end.
And “Kind of Blue” is the end. Miles and Trane, Cannonball and Bill, Jimmy Cobb and Paul Chambers in the rhythm section. Wynton Kelly freeloading on “Freddy Freeloader” of course. This is what those quartet guys were working out. What it is is simple but profound. Someone described it as like Japanese calligraphy which can only be written one way, once. To change direction, much less try to erase the characters, would rip the paper and ruin the calligraphy.
None of these tracks were done on the first take, but they are all presented in one take. No editing of the take. No clipping out one little section and putting a better one in. No multi-track recording. There is a place for editing and multi-track and, God help us, Auto-tune but that place is not this recording. What you hear is what they played.
And what they played was simple, pure like water. Paul Chamber’s bass line or Miles Davis’ trumpet or Jimmy Cobbs’ brush on a drum head is right there, right where it is supposed to be, right on time. Pretty soon it will take work to listen to John Coltrane (not unrewarding work, mind you, but work nonetheless.) On “Kind of Blue” you can walk with Trane right up to heaven. Cannonball Adderley is right there to swing you back down to Earth. The trip through “Kind of Blue” is a pilgrimage I can make again and again.
Ok, pilgrim, why is it that you needed to buy another copy then?
Um, I lost mine. Or it was stolen. Maybe I just gave it away. It disappeared out of the alumni office ten years ago or so. I’d like to think that some student got turned on to it and could not let it go.
And you just let her take it like that?
Yeah, kind of. It seemed nice to sort of pass it on. Play it forward, if you know what I mean. I heard it for the first time when I was a student, drinking bitter coffee with Big Phil and learning about the real God for the first time. As fresh as this record sounds, it also reminds me of when this trip was fresh. “Kind of Blue” is not just the end, it’s the start too.