Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 14
 Its, a blue world and all the better for it . September 7, 2009
russell clarke (halifax, west yorks)
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
Confession time .I used to watch the "Jazz Club " sketch in The Fast Show : Ultimate Collection (7 Disc BBC Box Set) [DVD] and laugh not so much like a drain but like an entire sewer system. You see the sketch was confirming what I ,d felt all along about jazz -that this was a haven for pretentious , head nodding pseudo cool types. Jazz I thought was music for people who don't actually like music at all. The thing is though I used to think something similar about reggae and I love reggae now. The trick you see is to jettison your presumptions, predispositions assumptions what ever you want to call them and start listening .
Which brings me to Kind Of Blue by Miles Davis. Now I have long been aware that this is an album held in extremely high regard but it's a jazz album so I wasn't interested. Then I got thinking about my reggae conversion , and my previous conversion to rap ( mainly brought about by listening to Public Enemy ) and I also thought about how much I like swing & jive which has jazz elements to it ( jazz purists please cease frothing at the mouth ) I also thought about how much I liked Melody Gardots recent album and that has definite jazz elements and a mate whose opinion I trust told me how much he liked Kind Of Blue so i thought I ,d take the plunge.
Guess what ? ....Well it's a bit of a stupid question because you've seen the five yellow stars at the top of the review but I absolutely love Kind Of Blue. It has an ambience , atmosphere a tone and timbre I often look for in music .The sort of thing I often find in obscure pieces of ambient music , or experimental post rock or even filtering into more song based music like The Blue Nile or David Sylvian. There is a melancholy that has nothing to do with feeling maudlin or wallowing in misery .It is a kind of blue but it speaks of something else ,something alive and hopeful and yes ..something cool.
Anyone looking for a erudite critique of Miles Davis music or an empirical placing of his influence both within the confines of jazz or the more expansive umbrella of music will not find it in this review. I could have added a bit of potted history of the album which is something I would normally do but that really is not the purpose of this review either . I am here dear reader to state that even if, like me you would normally rather let ants nest in your ears rather than listen to jazz to put aside your prejudice and give this album a listen. It,s terrific , it really is. It may also lead you to question your long held ( in my case certainly ) jazz aversion .
And now on the back of this revelation i intend to investigate further . I have already bought Time Out by the Dave Brubeck Quartet and A Love Supreme [Deluxe Edition] and Mingus Ah Um are on my shopping list. Any other recommendations would also be welcome .Those ants will have to move out.... there is more jazz on the way . Still think "Jazz Club" is bloody funny though.
THE best jazz album ever August 7, 2009
Richard Lewis (Manchester)
11 out of 12 found this review helpful
Can't believe there's no review yet! This is THE best ever jazz album, so just buy it and listen to it five times. If you don't love it by then, then you don't like jazz! If you don't, then sell it on ebay so someone else can enjoy it!
DO BELIEVE THE HYPE! December 7, 2009
Mr. M. T. Davies (WALES)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
The individulistic, counter-culture (admittedly snobbish) side of me has a small but nevertheless undeniable resistance to this album, it being the most famous and popular jazz album of all time. However on each listen it is apparrent that on this occasion the music buying masses are correct, and that Kind of Blue is maybe the best peice of music of the twentieth century. Each note on every song is so well chosen and played with with such control and lyricism that the overall effect comes exremely close to musical perfection.
Kind of Blue September 21, 2009
Michael Field (Somewhere in England)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Rightly described as a seminal album. just leave it playing constantly in the car - what else can you say?
forgotten how great this is September 29, 2009
Malcolm Keeling
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I purchased this C D to replace a cassette I had back in the 80s, so you could argue that I'm hearing it for the first. I am not disappointed, a great and historical piece of music in any genre. An must for everyones music collection.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 14
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