Miles to go before Davis fanatics sleep

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Jimmy Cobb is the only remaining musician from the band that recorded Kind of Blue with Davis in 1959. (MONTREAL GAZETTE ARCHIVES)

There has been a lot written about Miles Davis and Kind of Blue, his 1959 seminal recording that has sold many millions of copies and never been out of print.

And Columbia/Legacy has just released the latest in the Miles boxed set juggernaut, Miles Davis: The Complete Columbia Album Collection that, among its 70 CDs and one DVD, includes Kind of Blue.

Drummer Jimmy Cobb, the only remaining musician from that session, toured last summer with a band to mark the 50th anniversary of Kind of Blue. His show was one of the highlights of the Jazz Winnipeg Festival.

Just when you think there's nothing more to mine from what is arguably one of the greatest albums ever, British writer Richard Williams tackles the thesis that the recording caused a remaking of modern music.

Williams recounts first hearing Kind of Blue "coming through the speakers of a valve radio in the family kitchen." His book, The Blue Moment, Miles Davis's Kind of Blue and the Remaking of Modern Music (Faber and Faber, $29) is, naturally, a love letter. But as often happens in a love affair, we can lose sight of reality.

The album, he writes, "speaks to some profound ideal of the human condition," and many other similar encomiums.

As a fan of Kind of Blue since I was a teenager, I can't argue with Williams' amorous accolades. Or with his perceptive description of the music and its making.

It's in the later chapters, where he tries to expound the idea that Kind of Blue remade modern music, that his arguments become unconvincing.

The great tenor saxophonist John Coltrane, a big part of Kind of Blue, went on to influence many musicians, but he rode a train (pun intended) that travelled a different direction. Bill Evans, the marvellous pianist, did in fact refine Miles's Kind of Blue vision, but that was only part of his huge body of work.

Williams contends that The Velvet Underground and Steve Reich owed something to Miles. Not so.

At one point, Williams describes seeing buskers in Barcelona playing didgeridoo, steel drum and bodhrán and states: "This music could never have happened without Kind of Blue." Huh!

Williams makes a strong case for Kind of Blue's impact on listeners, especially in 1959, the year that saw the release of Coltrane's Giant Steps, Dave Brubeck's Time Out and Charles Mingus's Mingus Ah Um.

The book is of interest to the Miles completist, but if you're new to the game you should first read Ashley Kahn's Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece.

What is ironic about all of this, of course, is that Miles himself didn't spend any time looking back at Kind of Blue (or any other recording for that matter); it's just jazz fanatics like us who obsess over the album.

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It's December, and that means The Christmas Song, especially the version sung by Nat (King) Cole, will be filling the airwaves.

And the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra will pay tribute to Cole in two concerts Dec. 13, A Nat King Cole Christmas featuring Denzal Sinclaire, the Canadian singer whose sultry delivery does justice to the musical legend.

Sinclaire has performed with the WJO before, and the combination of the singer/pianist with the big band can be a treat.

The tribute started out as a one-show deal, but the WJO added a second show expecting it would be popular. It was and there are only a few tickets left. Sinclaire performs with the orchestra Sunday, Dec. 13 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Tickets, $28 / $15 from www.winnipegjazzorchestra.com, the WJO ticket line at 632-5299, or McNally Robinson Booksellers.

Sinclaire also will hold a master class at the WAG on Saturday, Dec. 12, 4 p.m.

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The Bob Watts Trio, which recently released its debut CD of jazz standards, is back quickly with Jazz for Christmas, an album, being released tomorrow, Dec. 8, at 8 p.m. at Holy Trinity Anglican Church at Donald Street and Graham Avenue.

Drummer Watts has chosen Christmas carols, such as O Christmas Tree and Good King Wenceslas, which have to have some connection to the birth of Jesus, as opposed to Christmas songs, such as The Christmas Song and White Christmas, which don't.

Admission to the CD launch is $5, CDs are $15 and proceeds go to the Holy Trinity Downtown Mission Ministry.

chris.smith@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 7, 2009 d3