Bonus features: 60-page hardbound book of essays and annotations, six 8 x 10 session photos, 22 x 33 inch poster, copy of original Bill Evans’ handwritten draft of liner notes
(Miles Davis, trumpet; Julian “Cannonball” Adderley, alto sax; John Coltrane, tenor sax; Bill Evans, piano on all tracks except Freddie Freeloader; Paul Chambers, bass; Jimmy Cobb, drums; Wynton Kelly, piano on Freddie Freeloader)
There is general agreement that Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue album from 1959 is the Holy Grail of modern jazz sessions. It is where many jazz collectors began their collections. It is the top selling jazz LP/ CD of all time. Record store employees find that those who want to explore jazz start off with the recommendation to purchase this masterpiece. It has more than stood the time of judgment as the ultimate desert island jazz album. It is instantly recognizable in restaurants, nightclubs, and on radio and TV.
Miles’ muted horn, Trane and Cannonball trading choruses, and the ultimate rhythm section of Evans, Chambers, and Cobb bring bliss to headphones, parties, and just the joy of living in this mixed-up crazy world. For those of us that have experienced So What, Freddie Freeloader, Blue In Green, All Blues, and Flamenco Sketches, we find them to be members of our families, and harken the good times of years gone by. You can argue over which track is your favorite but you can’t set any of them aside. They define the joy that jazz brings to our lives.
Kind of Blue has been reissued numerous times – in LP, cassette, SACD, gold audiophile disc formats. Can a 50th anniversary issue at $130 list price be worth adding to your KOB collection? I arguably say an emphatic, “YES.” However, it is as a collector that I give my verdict. The nine studio sequences and false starts on CD 1 total around ten minutes. Their value is only to the hard-core completist. CD 2 offers more true value as they include the five completed tracks from this group in 1958: On Green Dolphin Street, Fran-Dance (two takes), Stella by Starlight, and Love for Sale. These are the only other studio recordings by the core line-up minus Wynton Kelly, who played only on KOB’s Freddie Freeloader. A special treat closes CD 2 – a live 17-minute 1960 concert setting in Holland of So What (without Adderley, but with Kelly.)
The inclusion of Celebrating a Masterpiece: Kind of Blue DVD adds considerable value as it includes black and white still photography from the KOB session as well as radio interviews with Evans and Adderley as well as present day interviews with Jimmy Cobb, Ron Carter, Bill Cosby, Herbie Hancock, Horace Silver, Carlos Santana, and others describing the phenomenon that this treasure has had on their lives as musicians and jazz fans. A CBS TV broadcast from 1960 of the group is a unique addition as well.
Closing out the Kind of Blue love fest package is a gorgeous 60 page hardbound illustrated book with fascinating essays by Francis Davis, Gerald Early, and Ashley Kahn.
To sweeten the pot, Columbia has included the enticement of an audiophile quality 180 gram royal blue LP. The sonics of the remastered CDs are nearly SACD quality, and the LP is a must-have and ever so cool to show off. One might be tempted to only play the LP a single time to preserve its pristine value. Just make sure those special to you are there when its virgin journey on your turntable is made. [In A/B comparison I found the previous stereo SACD version almost identical to the new LP, though it has the advantage of the surround sound option…Ed.]
Let’s face it – you may not need this Collector’s Edition – but if Kind of Blue has brought the aural pleasures to your life that it has to us jazz junkies – then you must have this dream box set. Sell or give away to new acolytes your earlier copies. You’ll be doing them a service and getting a down payment on the golden anniversary edition of the greatest jazz album ever made.
– Jeff Krow
