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— The Analog Vault // Essential Listening —

180-gram double LP 33 1/3 edition (Side 4 will be 45 RPM).

Side 1 Speed Corrected for recording adjustment.

Pressed at Quality Record Pressings using Classic Records parts that were mastered by Bernie Grundman from the original master tape.

Includes 4-panel insert with corrected speed information and liner notes by Robert Palmer.

Stoughton Printing Old Style tip-on gatefold heavyweight jacket with scuff-resistant matte finish.

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Analogue Productions:  "A minor audio complication with Kind of Blue has been addressed with this 331/3 RPM double LP reissue. The motor on the studio's 3-track master recorder was running slowly the day of the album's first session. This speed issue affected the album's first three tracks, "So What," "Freddie Freeloader" and "Blue in Green," making them a barely perceptible quarter-tone sharp. Before now, it was only addressed in 1995 for the Classic Records edition and by Columbia Records — or their latter-day parent, Sony Music — on a CD reissue in the late '90s. This edition also contains on Side 4 "Flamenco Sketches (alternate take)" cut at 45 RPM."

Legends have a way of sticking around. If there was ever an album awaiting a high-fidelity, custom-pressed vinyl treatment of the level you now hold in your hands, it is Miles Davis' Kind of Blue. The top-selling jazz album of all time, it has been lauded, entered into "Best Of" lists and Halls of Fame, and universally acknowledged as a landmark recording - a five-track masterpiece of melancholy mood and melody.

It continues to be one of the most listened-to and studied recordings of all time, a required primer for many young musicians, and one of the most transcendent pieces of music ever recorded. Davis played trumpet sublime with his ensemble sextet featuring pianist Bill Evans, drummer Jimmy Cobb, bassist Paul Chambers, and saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley with Wynton Kelly playing piano on "Freddy the Freeloader."

Kind of Blue is more than Miles Davis's most enduring recording, it's a testament to Miles' experimental approach, drastically simplifying modern jazz by returning to melody unlike the chord complexity more often heard at the time. "The music has gotten thick," Davis complained in a 1958 interview for The Jazz Review. "... There will be fewer chords but infinite possibilities as to what to do with them."

Kind of Blue is, in a sense, all melody — and atmosphere.

None of the musicians had played any of the tunes before heading into the first of two recording sessions in early spring of 1959. In fact Miles had written out the settings for most of them only a few hours before the session. Miles also stuck to his old recording procedure of having virtually no rehearsal and only one take for each tune.

Miles remained proud of the album, performing at least two of its tracks — "So What" and "All Blues" — for years after, until his musical path took him in a different direction.

History was on the side of Kind of Blue; it was born in 1959, at the peak of the golden age of high-fidelity, featuring innovations in studio equipment (magnetic tape, high-quality condenser microphones), matched by advancements in home audio reproduction (long-player records — LPs; high-end turntables, and other stereo components). Kind of Blue also benefited from Miles' being signed to the leading major record company of the day — Columbia Records, a part of the CBS media conglomerate. Columbia had the means and wisdom to invest in cutting edge recording technology, and their own professional recording studio.

This LP bridges the time span since the album's original recording in the best way possible, struck from the master reel of Kind of Blue, free of speed issues and replete with all the instrumental detail, sonic environment and minimal noise. All-in-all this edition of Kind of Blue meets the highest audiophile standards and offers the truest sound for the most enjoyment. — (via Label)

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The American jazz cannon brims with brilliance, but if one had to pick the definitive jazz album, most would point to Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue. Beyond being a paragon of its own storied genre, Kind of Blue is undoubtedly one of the greatest works of art of the 20th century.

Captained by Davis alongside a dream team of Cannonball Adderley, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb - this album remains revolutionarily inventive. With only the barest sketch of a concept in mind, these seven masters took turns leading the music in directions that defied strict chord progressions - resulting in something immensely cool, romantic, melancholic and melodic. Kind of Blue is that rare, universally-beloved record in the entire jazz canon. — The Analog Vault

Vinyl tracklist:
A1 So What
A2 Freddie Freeloader
A3 Blue In Green
B1 All Blues
B2 Flamenco Sketches
C1 So What (Original Speed)
C2 Freddie Freeloader (Original Speed)
C3 Blue In Green (Original Speed)
D1 Flamenco Sketches (Alternate Take)

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Label: Columbia, Analogue Productions
Format: 2 x Vinyl, 12", 33 ⅓ RPM, 45 RPM, Limited Edition, Stereo, Corrected Speed Edition
Reissued: 2025 / Original release: 1959
Genre: Jazz
Style: Modal

File under: TAV Essential Listening
File under: Jazz - Trumpet
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