Kind of Blue Commemorates its 50th Anniversary

December 2009 the United States House of Representatives presented honors to Miles Davis and his jazz album, “Kind of Blue”. The album recorded August 1959 is 50 years old and still one of the biggest jazz classics. The 37 minutes recording featured Davis’s ensemble sextet, which consisted of pianists Bill Evans and Wynton Kelly, drummer Jimmy Cobb, bassist Paul Chambers, and saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley. Rep. John Conyers, a Michigan Democrat who sponsored the measure, said the group "made musical history and changed the artistic landscape of this country and in some ways the world."

Long before recording Kind of Blue, Miles Davis researched with modal jazz, meaning he kept the background of a tune simple while soloists played a melody over one or two scales, instead of busy chord progressions, which is the usual harmonic foundation of jazz. Miles Davis was at a musical climax in the 1950s and prepared the dreams that would become Kind of Blue for years. The first tune Flamenco Sketches was essentially a series of Flamenco- and North African-derived scales. The song has no written melody, but is rather defined by a set of chord changes that are improvised over using various modes of the major scale of each tonality.

“So What” became the tune that every musician just had to know, not just the artist players of jazz. For the song All Blues Miles Davis once more played with the simplest of elements. He took a standard 4/4 time blues and gave it a waltz feel in 6/8. The setting allowed alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley to return to his big band roots. The other recorded tracks also rapidly became doctrine and the individual solos throughout the record continue to arouse musicians to this day.

Ashley Kahn, author of Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece stated that the album possesses an almost religious merit as the musicians, predominantly Coltrane, seemed to take a reverent approach to the work of art.

Kind of Blue still sells dozens of copies an hour, steadily expanding its audience more than 40 years after its release. Musicians from all genres perform record and study the album's songs, and the influence of the songs on culture beyond music continues to grow.

On January 16, 2002, the album Kind of Blue received its third platinum certification from the RIAA, signifying sales of 3 million copies. Miles Davis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006 commemorate as "one of the key figures in the history of jazz".

"Miles Davis". The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Inc.. http://www.rockhall.com/inductee/miles-davis. Retrieved 2009-12-17.