Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue (1959)

Note: the CD I listened to was the 1997 reissue that includes an alternate take of Flamenco Sketches.

Simply the greatest jazz album of all time.

Ratings/reviews:

• Downbeat (★★★★★): "This is the soul of Miles Davis, and it's a beautiful soul."
• CashBox: "Another great Davis session."
• Billboard: "wonderfully bluesy and yet imaginative jazz"
• The Penguin Guide to Jazz, 9th ed., 2008 (♕★★★★): "If you have anything approximating to a jazz collection, you will already have this record"
• The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★★★
• The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide (1985): ★★★★★

Update: In its 2020 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Rolling Stone ranked Kind Of Blue at #31.

Tracks:  It borders on sacrilege to pick a favorite, but I've always been partial to Freddie Freeloader and All Blues.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD:  I use this album as an aural gateway drug. Every now and then, a person approaching middle age will come to me and say something like, "I want to start listening to jazz." I tell them to buy this album (heck, you can legally download the whole thing from Amazon for $2.99), listen to it at least once a week for six months, then come back and talk to me. I also recommend the book Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece by Ashley Kahn ("No, you can't borrow my copy."). Admittedly, my method of jazz music indoctrination has met with varying results, but what method wouldn't?

Previously revisited for the blog:
Panthalassa: The Remixes (1999)
The Complete Birth of the Cool (1998)
This Is Jazz, Vol. 8: Miles Davis Acoustic (1996)
Live Around The World (1996)
The Hot Spot: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1990)
Music from Siesta (1987)
In A Silent Way (1969)
Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall (1961)
Sketches of Spain (1960)
Milestones (1958)