Andrew Stimson
Jazz Styles
Dr. Pfenninger
May 5th, 2014
Miles Davis: Kind of Blue
Kind of Blue is a phenomenal album recorded by the Jazz artist Miles Davis in 1959. This album was instrumental in introduced the modal style of Jazz that Miles helped to pioneer. The songs and sounds that come from this album are some of his best works, and they can be compared to some of the greatest recordings by other Jazz greats. The lineup of musicians features some of the best Jazz musicians on their respective instruments. One of the reasons for this is the mixture of Davis and Coltrane. Together they are an unstoppable force for musical perfection. Kind of Blue is a though provoking, entertaining and generally awe inspiring as a body of musical work.
Coltrane and Davis fit so well together. Miles Davis deviates from his normal soloist routine and focuses on using longer, heavier tones. Davis employs his knowledge of modes are he dominates the scales. On this album, Davis is more concerned with tonality than ever before. Speed is of no concern to him, as the carefully thought out tones stand out more than pure speed ever could. He seems to be searching for the perfect tone. In his search, all of the tones he finds seem to blend together in endless smooth and sweet sounds that allude to a rising tension. Miles can be heard using his well-known trumpet mute in the song, Blue in Green. This simple and beautiful ballad draws listeners in with the subtle tones used in his mute. In contrast to the smooth and seemingly relaxed tones of Davis, Coltrane seems to exist only to add that tension. His quick and carefully crafted solos was just enough of a deviation from Davis to provide depth in each track on this iconic album. Coltrane’s tenor demands th...
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...e first modal blues recorded. Not only was this track modal, but it was also considered to be written as a waltz. This can be heard in the way the song seems to persuade the listener to glide gracefully through the sounds.
The track So What was instrumental in the introduction of chords that were often referred to as the "So What Chords". Bill Evans’ chord voicing included intricate harmonies such as elevenths and sevenths of the minor seventh chord. Each song that came from this album would have a lasting effect on the world of Jazz. Kind of Blue has continuously been considered one of the best Jazz records ever. This is supported through all of the advancements seen on this record. We as listeners, have much to learn from this collaboration of greats. In conclusion, Kind of Blue is some kind of wonder, and I am thankful for this contribution to the world of Jazz.
In “Blame It On the Blues” the author Angela Davis, argues against critics, like Samuel Charters and Paul Oliver, who say that the Blues lacks social commentary or political protest, by saying that the Blues was a subtle protest against gender and racial inequality. Davis uses various songs from Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith to prove this.
As time progressed, music had to continue to evolve to keep up with the ever-changing styles. Blues slowly began to morph into Rock and Roll to engage people of a new era. While many changes occurred in creating Rock and Roll, it continued to carry undertones of the Blues. This can be heard while comparing Son House’s, “Walking Blues” and Elvis Presley’s, “Blue Moon of Kentucky.” These two songs show many similarities, while also having their own identities.
Crazy neon lights, crowded walkways, the sweet aroma of Memphis barbeque, and the sound of soft blues and rock n roll is a taste of what Memphis’s Beale Street is made of. Memphis Tennessee is a home for exciting things to do within the surrounding metropolitan area. But first, what specifically brings civilians to Memphis? Memphis is a prime destination for tourist and residents of Memphis because of the great time, inexpensive attractions to visit, but most importantly Beale Street. Beale is a famous street located in downtown Memphis that is connected by three co-joining streets. Memphis’s Beale Street is one popular destination spot in downtown Memphis. On these streets are many tasty places to eat, local shops to visit,
“West End Blues” begins with a 12-second trumpet solo that displayed Armstrong’s wonderful range and demonstrated the syncopated styling unique
Blues has played an extreme role in todays’ music. The music genre of blues, helps us express ourselves in which you can feel it from the ubiquitous in the jazz to the blues scale and the specific chord progressions. To start off, the blues is musically originated by African Americans in the deep South of the United States. Growing up in a southern household, I was used to listening to a variety music, but blues was always most listened to. Every time I listen to blues, the lyrics often deal with personal adversity, and it goes far beyond pity.
In both “Sonny’s Blues” and “The Weary Blues”, music serves as a form of catharsis; in “SB” Sonny is able to escape his troubled life, and in “WB” the Negro man expresses his sadness about his difficult life. The portrayal of music differs in that it’s more of a joyful presence in “SB” but a grim and depressing one in “WB”.
For Stanley, the blues tell the stories of the African-American community. Some of the stories talk about the harshness of their lives, but they also talk about the good times they had. [People] play the blues to get rid of the blues not to get them." (Lamb, 1). When people play or even listen to the blues, they are letting all of their worries go. They are not worrying about their job, the bills, or their kids. They are just trying to enjoy the moment when the blues are playing. The blues are some people's release from the stresses of their lives.
8. V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra, S. T. Erlewine. 2003. All Music Guide to the Blues: The Definitive
Musicologists have dated the ‘birth’ of blues to be around 1890 as a West African tradition involving blue indigo in which mourners at ceremonies would wear blue dyed attires to resemble their suffering . Although, blues derived from times of slavery, the Prohibition Era (1920’s), World War Two (1939-1945), and during the Vietnam War (predominantly 1960’s to 1970’s), it has been a continuously evolved form of music in America, in which the similarities have always remained; melancholy and protest.
The American Heritage Dictionary defines blues as (1) a state of depression or melancholy, and (2) a style of jazz evolved from southern American Negro secular songs. It is also inclusive of pensive reflection and contemplation which is descriptive of Baldwin's writing of Sonny's Blues.
Goldman, Suzy B. "James Baldwin's "Sonny's Blues": A Message in Music." Negro American Literature Forum 3rd ser. 8 (1974): 231-33. St. Louis University. Web. Apr.-May 2014.
The Roots of Blues Music Blues is a very important type of music. Most music that you hear today has some form of blues in it. If it wasn't for the blues there wouldn't be any rock and roll, country, rap, pop, or jazz . Blues is also important for African American culture. African Americans were also the people who started the blues.
Jazz is the best-known artistic creation of the Harlem Renaissance. “Jazz is the only pure American creation, which shortly after its birth, became America’s most important cultural export”(Ostendorf, 165). It evolved from the blues. In the formally standardized, instrumentally accompanied form of “city blues”(as opposed to the formally unstandardized and earlier “country blues”), the blues was to become one of the two major foundations of 1920s jazz (the other being rags). City blues tended to be strophic songs with a text typically based on two-line strophes (but with the first line of each strophe’s text repeated, AAB) and a standard succession of harmonies underlying each strophe’s melody.... ...
Nisenson, Eric. The making of Kind of blue: Miles Davis and his masterpiece. Macmillan, 2001.