Like a fine vintage wine - an epicurean delight near and dear to Miles Davis (1926-1991) - the music contained on Kind of Blue reveals added nuance and unexpected pleasures the older it gets. And yet with each year that Kind of Blue ages, it goes through a rejuvenation process that is exciting to behold. The essence of the 1959 album has never been duplicated.
Kind Of Blue Sales Figures
That may account, in part, for its RIAA triple-platinum status in the U.S. And worldwide recognition as a timeless masterpiece, #12 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the '500 Greatest Albums Of All Time.' (Logo: )Kind of Blue: 50th Anniversary Collector's Edition is an expansive and lavishly-designed box set. The contents of the box include: two CDs (running time over two hours); a newly-produced black-and-white documentary DVD (55 minutes); a full-size 60-page book of critical essays, annotations and photography; and an envelope chockfull of memorabilia.
The box also includes the 12-inch LP package pressed on 180-gram blue vinyl and an enormous 22x33 fold-out poster of Miles. The box will be released on September 30th by Columbia/Legacy, a division of SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT.Of special importance to Miles Davis aficionados around the globe is the DVD, Celebrating a Masterpiece: Kind of Blue. The new DVD incorporates material from the 2004 mini-documentary, Made In Heaven, including black-and-white still photography of the recording sessions and the voices of Miles (at the sessions), as well as excerpts of radio interviews with the late Bill Evans and Cannonball Adderley. There are interviews with musicians and luminaries including composer/performer David Amram, the late Ed Bradley, Ron Carter, Jimmy Cobb, Bill Cosby, Herbie Hancock (who demonstrates 'So What' at the piano), Eddie Henderson, Shirley Horn, Dave Liebman, the late Jackie McLean, funk-rocker Me'Shell Ndege'Ocello, hip-hop's Q-Tip, Carlos Santana, John Scofield, Horace Silver, and many others.The DVD also unearths the group's entire 26-minute appearance on 'Robert Herridge Theatre: The Sound of Miles Davis,' a CBS television program recorded in 1959 and broadcast in 1960.
Kind Of Blue 60th Anniversary
Another bonus feature is the gallery of images captured by Columbia staff photographer Don Hunstein, covering the original recording sessions, as well as a key performance at New York's Plaza Hotel in September 1958. In conjunction with the latter, an unprecedented four-week exhibit of Miles Davis photography will be mounted at New York's downtown Morrison Hotel Gallery in November-December 2008. The exhibit will then travel to other Morrison Hotel locations and Starwood Hotels in 2009.At the absolute core of the box set is the original 45-minute album program, whose five titles - 'So What,' 'Freddie Freeloader,' 'Blue in Green,' 'All Blues,' and 'Flamenco Sketches' - are indelibly etched in our contemporary musical DNA, be it jazz, rock, third through fifth stream classical, or beyond.