Guardian’s Richard Williams on Kind of Blue:
It is the most singular of sounds, yet among the most ubiquitous. It is the sound of isolation that has sold itself to millions. Lovers give each other Kind of Blue, even though its mood offers no consolation, let alone ecstasy. But those who give it want to share its richness of spirit, its awareness of the infinite, and its extraordinary quality of constantly revealing more to those who know it best.
The lasting influence:
The effect of the album spread far beyond its immediate environment. John Coltrane and Bill Evans, two key members of Davis’s sextet at the sessions, went on to form groups that took its discoveries in radically different directions. The young American composers who became known as the minimalists – La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich and Philip Glass – were inspired by its exploitation of pared-down resources, offering an alternative to the sterility of the post-Webern world, and in turn their influence would shape the work of the Welsh viola player and composer John Cale, founder member of the Velvet Underground – the most widely emulated group since the beatles – and Brian Eno. Eno’s artschool explorations led to his groundbreaking work with Roxy Music, David Bowie and Talking Heads, and to his invention of ambient and generative music. Pee Wee Ellis, James Brown’s musical director, had the structure of “So What”, Kind of Blue’s most famous track, in his head when he helped his employer create “Cold Sweat”, the vastly influential hit single that transformed soul music into funk.
Read Richard Williams’ article here.