Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (2LP, Box set, UHQR, 45 RPM, 200g, Clear vinyl)
ORDER LIMITED TO ONE ITEM PER CUSTOMER
Miles Davis, trumpet, band leader [click here to see more vinyl featuring Miles Davis]
Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, alto sax (except on "Blue in Green") [click here to see more vinyl featuring Cannonball Adderley]
John Coltrane, tenor sax [click here to see more vinyl featuring John Coltrane]
Paul Chambers, double bass [click here to see more vinyl featuring Paul Chambers]
Bill Evans, piano (except "Freddie Freeloader") [click here to see more vinyl featuring Bill Evans]
Wynton Kelly, piano ("Freddie Freeloader")
Jimmy Cobb, drums [click here to see other vinyl featuring Jimmy Cobb]
Written by Miles Davis
2 LPs, box set
Limited to 25,000 numbered copies
Original analog Master tape : YES
UHQR
Heavy Press : 200g
Record color : Clear vinyl
Speed : 45RPM
Size : 12”
Stereo
Studio
Record Press : Quality Record Pressings
Label : Analogue Productions
Original Label : Columbia
Recorded at Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York City on March 2, 1959 (A1 to B2) and April 22, 1959 (C1 & D1)
Engineered by Fred Plaut
Produced by Irving Townsend
Remastered by Bernie Grundman
Originally released in 1959
Reissued in September 2022
Tracks:
Side A
- So What
Side B
- Freddie Freeloader
- Blue In Green
Side C
- All Blues
Side D
- Flamenco Sketches
Awards:
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time - Rated 31/500!
Reviews :
"It's the best selling jazz album ever, one of the most influential too, arguably the one that produced a shift from riffing on chord based tunes to modal excursions that gave musicians newfound improvisational freedom. Cynics and the selfish will react to yet another Kind of Blue reissue by claiming that "everyone" already owns a copy but of course that's not true. And no one owns a 200 gram UHQR Clarity vinyl copy pressed one at a time on a manual Finebuilt press. (...) The UHQR offers the blackest, quietest backgrounds and unparalleled transparency, but more critically, the modified Finebuilt hand press produces unprecedented transient precision and instrumental focus and resolves low level details that will deliver surprises to even the most blasé KOB veteran, one of whom visited and exclaimed 'I've never heard that before.' This pressing allows you to see further into the mix and transports you back in time and into the 30th Street studios. I don't care what version you now have you've never heard Kind of Blue quite like this." Michael Fremer, AnalogPlanet.com, May 17, 2021
"The result (drum rolls) is the best-sounding Kind of Blue ever, superior in every way to all previous pressings, including the original. The pressing is superquiet, allowing the slightest of details to pop out from the black backdrop. Cobb's drumkit is spooky real. I've heard this album, in one version or another, hundreds of times, and there are fine touches in Cobb's snare swooshes and cymbal taps — accents on accents, rhythms within rhythms — that I've never heard before. Chamber's bass lines are stunningly clear: the notes he's playing, the pluck of the strings, the glow of the wood. There are also new layers of detail in Miles' mouthpiece manipulations, Evans's pedal work, and the sheer beauty of Coltrane's and Adderley's saxophones. ... the chase is eternal. This reissue holds the brass ring, for now." Fred Kaplan, Stereophile, August 2021
"Kind of Blue isn't merely an artistic highlight for Miles Davis, it's an album that towers above its peers, a record generally considered as the definitive jazz album. To be reductive, it's the Citizen Kane of jazz -- an accepted work of greatness that's innovative and entertaining. That may not mean it's the greatest jazz album ever made, but it certainly is a universally acknowledged standard of excellence. Why does Kind of Blue posses such a mystique? Perhaps it's that this music never flaunts its genius. It lures listeners in with the slow, luxurious bassline and gentle piano chords of "So What." From that moment on, the record never really changes pace -- each tune has a similar relaxed feel, as the music flows easily. Yet Kind of Blue is more than easy listening. It's the pinnacle of modal jazz -- tonality and solos build from chords, not the overall key, giving the music a subtly shifting quality. All of this doesn't quite explain why seasoned jazz fans return to this record even after they've memorized every nuance. They return because this is an exceptional band - Miles, Coltrane, Bill Evans, Cannonball Adderly, Paul Chambers, Jimmy Cobb, and Wynton Kelly -- one of the greatest in history, playing at the peak of its power. As Evans said in the original liner notes for the record, the band did not play through any of these pieces prior to recording. Davis laid out the themes and chords before the tape rolled, and then the band improvised. The end results were wondrous, filled with performances that still crackle with vitality. Few albums of any genre manage to work on so many different levels, but Kind of Blue does. It can be played as background music, yet it amply rewards close listening. It is advanced music that is extraordinarily enjoyable. It may be a stretch to say that if you don't like Kind of Blue, you don't like jazz -- but it's hard to imagine it as anything other than a cornerstone of any jazz collection." AllMusic Review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
UHQR :
UHQR pressing is inspired from JVC Japan, which 30 years ago was the pinnacle of high-quality vinyl. Each UHQR vinyl is pressed, using hand-selected vinyl, on a manual Finebilt press with attention paid to every single detail of every single record. The 200-gram records feature the same flat profile that helped to make the original UHQR so desirable. From the lead-in groove to the run-out groove, there is no pitch to the profile, allowing your stylus to play truly perpendicular to the grooves from edge to center. Every UHQR is hand-inspected upon pressing completion, and only the truly flawless are allowed to go to market.
Ratings :
AllMusic : 5 / 5 , Discogs : 4,75 / 5