Kind Of Blue [Remastered] - Miles Davis

Advantages: Good
Disadvantages: Bad

Kind of Blue isn't merely an artistic highlight for Miles Davis, a musician with more than his fair share of artistic highlights. It's an album that towers above its peers, a record generally considered as the definitive jazz album. Or, to be reductive, it's the Citizen Kane of jazz — a commonly accepted work of greatness that was not only innovative but also entertaining, somehow remaining fresh and filled with surprises decades after its original ...
...more than that, it's the kind of record that remains enchanting to those that have heard it hundreds of times, just as it will turn jazz neophytes into converts. Why — or how — does Kind of Blue posses such a mystique? Probably because this music never flaunts its genius or skill. It comes on easy, luring a listener in with the slow, luxurious bass line and gentle piano chords of "So What." From that moment on, the record never really changes pace ... Read review

Advantages: It's Miles Davis at his best
Disadvantages: Not long enough?

The blurb on the back of this CD claims that K.O.B. is a “defining moment of 20th century music”… and they’re damn right it is. The Sony Music 1997 version has 5 tracks on it ( 6 actually, but the extra is an alternative version of the Flamenco Sketches – Trk. 5) – and they are 5 of the most amazing jazz pieces in history. The way Miles Davis’ trumpet, John Coltrane’s tenor sax, and Julian Adderley, smooth together is an amazing feat of improvisation ...
...why every one should have this album. If you only have one jazz album – have this masterpiece. It is hard to explain how well it works – but the musicians pick up a general riff , and improvise around it. The result is classic stuff. It begins with possibly the most famous jazz pieces – “So What” , and goes on to a more harsh “Freddie Freeloader” – the sax. taking most of the improv. in these two tracks. There is then the shorter “Blue in Green” ... Read review

Advantages: Outstanding music from outstanding musicians
Disadvantages: None

In Kind of Blue, Miles Davis created a timeless album which epitomised the period of 'cool jazz' between bebop and fusion. The personnel list is impressive - Cannonball Adderly on alto and Coltrane on tenor were also in extremely productive periods at the time, and their solos on Kind of Blue, especially the two alternate Flamenco Sketches takes, are great examples of their styles, which both contrast and complement the other's. Although "So What" ...
...stand to listen to Kind of Blue (just as he couldn't listen to any of his old works), complaining that it was "too slow" and that he sounded like he was playing underwater. For the rest of us, Kind of Blue remains one of the most listenable jazz albums ever. ... Read review

Advantages: Virtuoso trumpet at its best
Disadvantages: Only the re-released version has the sound quality it deserves

...record shop. I spotted "A Kind Blue" and instantly withdrew my wallet and the CD was mine. As readers you will probably like to know about the music is like! Well simply it is divine, some find Miles Davis's music too intense and muddled, but it takes either an uninterested listener to ignore this or a fascinated listener to understand and appreciate it, I hope that the buyer will lean towards the latter of these two opposites. ... Read review