ULTRA BLUE

The Columbia record company’s 30^th Street studio in New York was once an Armenian church. Lofty and spacious, it provided a meditative atmosphere for musicians, adding natural reverb and a sense of space. This suited Miles Davis perfectly as he assembled musicians for a recording project that would change jazz… the immortal Kind Of Blue. Analogue Productions has recently re-issued this legendary album in a limited Ultra High Quality Record (UHQR) edition that may well be the definitive pressing of the classic album. We’ll return to this special release soon, but first a little context for the music and its recording.

The modal approach moved jazz away from the restrictions of popular song forms towards a more implicitly improvisational style that followed scales rather than chords. It was new, sensual, and sent deep ripples through the jazz community. Two of the important players exploring the new approach were John Coltrane—already admired and imitated by tenor saxophone players across the USA—and a young, introverted, little known pianist named Bill Evans.

Miles and Bill worked closely during (and in between) the two sessions that produced Kind of Blue. The trumpeter was entranced by the spare yet intricate shadow-lightness of Evans’ piano playing. Together, their goal was to present sketches or ideas that the musicians would then develop spontaneously in the studio. One can imagine this music flowing into the airy vastness of the church/studio; the soaring sensuality of Coltrane’s saxophone, Cannonball Adderley’s robust alto tone, drummer Jimmy Cobb caressing his kit, sending delicate rhythms floating towards the heavens. And central to this musical ballet is the remarkable dance between Miles’ trumpet and Bill Evans’ piano.

In fact it is the interplay between the instruments that is so superbly brought to light on the Analogue Productions release. There have been myriad different pressings of Kind Of Blue, but perhaps never one with as much detail and subtle contrast. Every bass note plucked by Paul Chambers breathes into the room, Bill Evans’ solos unfurl so delicately you feel like you are floating on the music, while the saxes stand on the recording room’s wooden floor and pipe their earthy voices towards you ears. And of course the leader’s trumpet holds it all together with under-stated authority and gently insistent solos.

The clarity is superb, a tribute to original engineer Fred Plaut, to the quality of the 1995 re-mastering, and the exemplary quality control exercised by the Analogue Productions team. Pressed on Clarity Vinyl ®, there are 25,000 numbered copies of the boxed set in the entire world.

You may have another copy of Miles Davis most successful record; in fact you may have several. There are, after all, over 450 versions listed on Discogs. But as Kind Of Blue is an album to be enjoyed across a lifetime, if you have quality hi-fi gear you need to seriously consider this beautifully made and superbly packaged iteration. As drummer Jimmy Cobb said of the record, "It must have been made in heaven".

References

Essay from the Analogue Productions 2021 UHQR edition.

Book from the Sony/Columbia 2008 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition.

Original liner notes by Bill Evans, 1959.