How Many Times Have You Listened To Miles Davis's "Kind Of Blue"?

more than 50

more than 50 no surprise, but i usu break this out around xmas, so maybe i should again

This doesn't count sitting in coffee shops, right?

Hahaha. I've played a lot of his stuff so much more than I have this one -- In a Silent Way, Miles in the Sky, Miles Smiles . . .

Not that it's not great. But I'd say I've played Something Else equally as much or more.

>10, <50

>100

in the past year, maybe twice. in college, probably 5000 times

three digits for sure. maybe not four

more than 10, less than 50

Yeah, if this is one of those, "Yeah, it's popular, but how many times have you actually LISTENED to it?" threads, you're going to be sorely disappointed. Kind of Blue is one of the most listenable classics in history.

Yeah, if this is one of those, "Yeah, it's popular, but how many times have you actually LISTENED to it?" threads, you're going to be sorely disappointed.

Reading his original post, I'm guessing it's not??

I own only two Miles Davis albums, In A Silent Way and Decoy. Not that I don't think Kind of Blues is a good LP, but for some reason I've never bought it.

Reading his original post, I'm guessing it's not??

Good point.

not too many. less than ten. i have never liked the album. too generic, too boring, too much like jazz for people who don't care for jazz. not more than background music. miles trumpet tone is not yet there, in the beginning of the last piece flamenco sketches he comes closest to that forlorn sound he had later on and even before.

i prefer ascenseur pour l'échafaud from 1958 a thousand times. the tracks are much shorter, they are impressionist aural paintings. and if you know the film they evoke jeanne moreau in the streets of paris by night. miles trumpet is more in the foreground. and it is incredibly sad.

whoa.

A lot. Oddly enough I no longer much care for the other small-group albums with Coltrane but KOB is one of my favourite albums in any genre excepting classical, both in terms of how often I've listened to it and how much I love it. I'm a bit surprised that anyone would prefer ascenseur, which I would have thought much better fits the description of background music - pretty enough in a mournful sort of way but terribly slight and padded out. But de gustibus and all that.

i have never liked the album. too generic, too boring, too much like jazz for people who don't care for jazz. not more than background music. miles trumpet tone is not yet there, in the beginning of the last piece flamenco sketches he comes closest to that forlorn sound he had later on and even before.

imo this is exactly what a person who likes 'jazz for people who don't care for jazz' would say.

i.e. if you're listening for miles trumpet tone from 'flamenco sketches,' which isn't exactly jazz in the first place, you're not getting it.

okay, okay, simmer down kids

Bought it used, listened to it once and sold it back.

this album defined me at age 19

still listen occasionally

0

although "jazz for people who don't care for jazz" does makes it seem like I should at least check it out.

i.e. if you're listening for miles trumpet tone from 'flamenco sketches,' which isn't exactly jazz in the first place, you're not getting it.

maybe you are right. but i wonder. how would miles davis have sounded without his special trumpet tone? that's an interesting, funny koan but i doubt he would have become famous if he had played like everyone else.

I'm a bit surprised that anyone would prefer ascenseur, which I would have thought much better fits the description of background music - pretty enough in a mournful sort of way but terribly slight and padded out

i have got a different concept of background music. my model for background music is ambient. music which is not really going anywhere, music which is neutral, which is pointless in a way. and in that definition kind of blue and maybe even jazz in general fits better. it's not that i hate kind of blue. it's fine but i prefer ascenseur. that sentence about "jazz for people who don't care for jazz" was a little ambiguous. it was supposed to refer to the fact that kind of blue is one of the most sold jazz albums and therefore often the only jazz album people possess. and somehow this is reflected in the music, i find. the music seems to be full of jazz clichés. but it could well be that i have this impüression as i listened to a lot of other jazz before first listening to kob. and i found many patterns in that other jazz - which was probably often younger than kob - which are "repeated" in kob.

the music seems to be full of jazz clichés.

See What is with that constant cymbal tapping in jazz drumming?

At least a hundred times, though probably not too much more than that. Not sure, to tell the truth. Sad thing is that it's been quite a while, at least 10 years...

Alex, it's not that I have a different concept of background music, it is that ascenseur seems to me to obviously meet your own definition of it better than KOB. It's a series of brief excerpts of pieces of "atmospheric" jazzy noodling on top of simple, repetitive chord sequences (with the "Summertime" chords particularly favoured, because, after all, what better will fit the average filmgoers preconception of what moody nocturnal jazz should be?). It is almost the epitome of music that going nowhere.

In any case, dismissal of music as "background " music surely depends not on whether it can work as background music, but on whether it can also work as music that repays close listening. Ravel's piano trios, for example, work beautifully as background music but not many people would claim that's all they are. People here are testifying to listening to KOB hundreds of times: I know that ascenseur has its admirers, but I can't imagine that too many people will have found enough of substance in it to listen that often.

I've a horrible feeling that this may be one I own but have never listened to.

If Kind of Blue sounds like jazz cliches, it's because jazz cliches are built upon Kind of Blue, not vice versa.

i was hesitant to get KOB as my first jazz record in case nothing else measured up afterwards! but i kind of felt like i should. and i did. and i'm glad cause it is wonderful. but of course there is so much more out there to hear.

some great challops on this thread

ive listened to it at least 5000 times, and none of those times have been in the last 4-5 years. except for hearing excerpts in mad men, most recently

There's an article in the current Word about Kind Of Blue, in which Chris Rea (of all people) dissects his love for the album in considerable detail. During a six-week spell in hospital, he listened to it "at least five times a day for six months", and he estimates his lifetime's total number of listens at over 900.

Page 38 if you're browsing in Smiths.

(For "six-week" read "sixteen-week". For "during", read "during and following". Bah.)

And a fat lot of good it did the Tory turncoat scumshite.

Right on cue there for the MC Rapid Response Squad!

I've probably heard KoB tracks being played in crap wine bars more than I've played the album through.

My most played Miles album is probably On The Corner but hey I'm funny that way.

I've just re-discovered Live-Evil. Bloody fantastic.

My most played Miles album is probably On The Corner but hey I'm funny that way. a rock critic

― Brother Belcher (Marcello Carlin), Tuesday, December 2, 2008 7:36 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Except I'm not a rock critic, Frank.

it was supposed to refer to the fact that kind of blue is one of the most sold jazz albums and therefore often the only jazz album people possess. and somehow this is reflected in the music, i find. the music seems to be full of jazz clichés. but it could well be that i have this impüression as i listened to a lot of other jazz before first listening to kob. and i found many patterns in that other jazz - which was probably often younger than kob - which are "repeated" in kob.

Then don't listen to it as "jazz." There's a world of difference between Kind of Blue and what a casual listener perceives Kind of Blue to be.

For the first few listens I couldn't get past what I heard as cliches; as soon as I stopped listening to it as "jazz," it was like some really deep, frightening secret was revealed. Whenever it comes on a coffee shop PA I have the Seinfeld/Desperado moment; it's impossible to stay in the background.

i was hesitant to get KOB as my first jazz record in case nothing else measured up afterwards!

When I bought it, I was oblivious to its reputation. I barely knew who Miles was, apart from through general pop culture osmosis. I just knew that I liked the John Coltrane tape my friend played in his car (I'd heard the name John Coltrane, but thought he was Depression era music. wtf.) and so I wanted to pick up some jazz. Loved KOB immediately. "Hey you know what? I like jazz! Who woulda known?!" Have found many jazz records I like since then, but it's safe to say my love affair with the genre peaked with KOB and its been diminishing returns ever since.

KoB is amazing because of how not-cliche it is

A skajillion, however many that is, although I have to say I haven't actually pulled it out and listened to it all the way through in maybe five years. At this point, I kinda have it memorized.

over 50, but not in years (except at a girl's apartment, she was really "jazzed" about jazz).

it is kinda weird how it makes up so many people's basic idea of jazz, but isn't a very typical album itself. i think its big trick (besides everyone playing great obv.) is the sustained album-length mood, instead of the normal jazz album (or live set) method of switching things up (here's the blues, here's the ballad, here's the uptempo burner, etc.).

i think its big trick (besides everyone playing great obv.) is the sustained album-length mood, instead of the normal jazz album (or live set) method of switching things up (here's the blues, here's the ballad, here's the uptempo burner, etc.).

otm

I have only heard two jazz records in my life. Kind of Blue and In a Silent Way. Silent Way I really like, Kind of Blue I don't quite understand.

That plays Boggle with my mind.

I can't remember whether it was My Favorite Things or Kind of Blue that first got me interested in jazz -- but for me, both of those records are endlessly enjoyable. Definitely somewhere in the triple digits for both of them. And as I've gotten more well-versed in jazz, it's fun to come back to them and fall in love all over again. Start really appreciating Paul Chambers or Bill Evans on KOB ...

my first miles album (maybe my first jazz album) was sorcerer, which of course i didn't understand a single thing about and it went under my bed for a few years at least.

i mean that is still one crazy-ass abstract record

Haven't listened to it in years except in the obligatory coffee shops. Was spooked in America last year by how many times I heard it - or bits of it - casually; it's like the stand-in record for all other tasteful records.

actually, i think i went in the wrong direction after hearing KOB -- I started checking out all the freakier free jazz stuff (I think because Lou Reed would talk about Ornette and Don Cherry and Ayler and Cecil Taylor) -- I wasn't really prepared for that, to be honest. Probably should've dug more hard bop art blakey/lee morgan kinda things before digging into the freer music. i like it all now, but it would've been a smoother transition.

You guys drink too much coffee.

ha, i was trying to think of a time i've heard this in a coffee shop ... i don't think i have! I heard "Blue Train" in a restaurant a little while ago ...

>>>100. KOB is sooooo not background music; I think every player on here is doing absolutely beautiful, "painterly" things.

I thought there was a thread once where y'all recommended albums that were similar to KOB in mood and consistency, but I can't find one. Coltrane's "Ballads" works a bit this way for me, and I need to be more well versed on Bill Evans.

actually, i think i went in the wrong direction after hearing KOB -- I started checking out all the freakier free jazz stuff (I think because Lou Reed would talk about Ornette and Don Cherry and Ayler and Cecil Taylor) -- I wasn't really prepared for that, to be honest. Probably should've dug more hard bop art blakey/lee morgan kinda things before digging into the freer music. i like it all now, but it would've been a smoother transition.

Kinda same here, 'cept my first Miles was Birth of the Cool and my next Jazz buy was A Love Supreme -- after that I dived headlong into Ornette and Ayler, as a sort of parallel track to the TG. Chrome, Residents, Post- Punk stuff i was listening to on the 'rock' side; I kept it up and got some of it, but until i relaxed a bit and started filling in the back-story it didn't really connect. And the back story needs to go back as far as Armstrong and King Oliver,(and Duke) not just Bop.

I love this album, but could do without Freddie the Freeloader.

"So What" as performed on "Live in Tokyo" feat. hancock/carter/williams/rivers is amazing...much closer (obviously) to things like "Sorcerer" but still in that beautiful frame.

could do without Freddie the Freeloader.

who tf says this

"I like the mona lisa but she should have been a blonde"

No seriously, I could do without the song. I don't like the change in mood it has from the rest of the album. Red Garland's playing doesn't work for me w/ the rest of the material, and somehow I've ended up hearing that particular track more than the rest, ergo I am tired of it.

Also it's ok to admire and connect with a piece of artwork and not accept every single move the artist made.

probably around 25

it's wynton kelly, not red garland

i agree that it's the odd one out, but it's nice to have something a little harder swinging on the record.

the lack of bill evans is a bit distracting

speaking of this album, has anyone here bought the latest reissue? the $100 one with the vinyl and the CD and the book and the bonus trax? i think i have everything that was "previously unreleased" on it via bootleg ...

ugh vocalese

haha yuck

but are there good cover versions of the KOB songs? Evans' "Blue In Green" obviously ... I guess "Impressions" by Coltrane could be considered a cover ... Kenny Burrell has a nice trio version of "All Blues" ... what are some others?

This thread has kinda convinced I should buy KOB... After 10 years of listening to jazz.

xpost I've got a Pat Martino (post-amnesia) live album with version of both "All Blues" AND "Blue In Green"... but I can't remember what they sound like, which is probably not a great sign.

John McLaughlin has a rather nice Blue in Green on the album "My Goals Beyond" if memory can be trusted.

but are there good cover versions of the KOB songs?

James Brown, "Cold Sweat"

When did KOBN become canonical? my memory is that when i was starting to buy Jazz records (late 70s) it was accepted as a great Miles record, but not the great Miles record; i reckon Sketches or Silent Way were at least as likely to among the one or two Jazz LPs in a hip rock collection (or Bitches Brew, if the collection belonged to someone a little older)

it's wynton kelly, not red garland

Oops, correct indeed, thanks
many xposts

By 1980 or so, Miles' career had been long and varied enough for there to be pre-electric and post-electric canonical albums, and KOB was definitely it for the former.

Yeah, the McLaughlin "Blue in Green" is beautiful. That whole album is great.

I've listened to it less than 10 times and can basically sing everybody's solos from memory. I put on pretty much anything else more often though. Sketches of Spain when I really want that melancholy vibe, Live in Tokyo when I want burners, Miles in the Sky when I want oblique stuff.

Yeah, there's at least four other Miles albums I'm more likely to put on.

Pentangle did a great version of "All Blues."

!!

Which album?

ah nice

more than 10 less than 50

I don't know. I've owned it for about ten years. I'm sure I've listened to So What more than 50 times. Unsure about the whole thing.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Hey, the 50th anniversary of KoB's release was yesterday.

And to celebrate its 50th anniversary, the 8-bit tribute album Kind of Bloop is out:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8n128y4LSsk

i like that idea. did they sequence all the solos or improvise new ones to use the hardware's capabilities or what, d'you think?

Good question! Just found out about it so I don't know! More at http://kindofbloop.com/ though.

This sounds kind of good.

downloading it now - was only five dollars - will probably listen to it all through train journey tomorrow

Was Kind of Blue a hugely popular dead end? I'd describe the characteristics of Kind of Blue are:

* modal jazz - multiple scales in one song, simplicity, no busy chord structures
* mood - generally restrained - doesn't rise above mid tempo, blues elements, but not 'bluesy'

Considering how successful it was, you'd expect umpteen sequels and derivatives, but Davis went off in a different direction soon after and the band went their separate ways. Adderley went full on soul jazz/hard bop. Coltrane experimented with modal but in a much busier, more frantic way. The main trends in jazz in the years after Kind of Blue were free jazz, hard bop, and the introduction of Latin elements. None of these were indebted in any significant way to Kind Of Blue.

Am I talking rubbish? Is there stuff in the vein of Kind of Blue that I don't know about? I guess candidates could include Bill Evans solo stuff, some early Herbie Hancock, The Blues and the Abstract Truth etc.

Just watched my dvr of the Miles doc on American Masters on PBS.

More than 50 for sure.

Less than ten, me.

I've only been properly listening to jazz since around 2012-ish. didn't grab me as hard as some other LPs to start with but it's become my go-to jazz album. it's one I can enjoy alone and in the company of others (who might be less tolerant of the style). so possibly around the 50 mark?

more than a hundred for sure

This and Sketches of Spain. I haven’t read much about their creation so I enjoyed a lot the coverage in the recent Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool documentary directed by Stanley Nelson

I'm interested in the question unanswered from five years ago -- what are Kind of Blue's successors?