Essay Sample on Miles Davis's Kind of Blue: An Icon of Jazz Music

Introduction

The Kind of Blue is acknowledging as being one of the greatest jazz albums ever made. Without a doubt, Miles Davis's Kind of Blue Recording is a classic that wonderfully stands for pure art in music-making, which has continued to influence the entire jazz community. Despite many jazz records being released in the year 1959, none of them came close to those published by Miles Davis on 17 August 1959(Nisenson). The popularity of the album was evident by the enormous magnitude of fans waiting with anticipation in stores to purchase it on the day it was released. Very many copies were sold from its first day of release and the many days that followed. It became the most sold jazz album in the Columbia Records catalog. However, neither commercial breakthrough nor popularity should be confused with musical worth since Davis's collection was a true reflection of artistic excellence.

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Best of Mile Davis

The album by Miles Davis not only changed him but also then the music world itself. Kind of Blue was that one album that became known to even non-jazz listeners since its sophistication promotes excitement and a soothing, relaxing atmosphere. Tracks like So What, Freddie Freeloader, Blue in Green, All Blues, and Flamenco Sketches sound like modern jazz 50 years after their release. In the album, Miles worked with talented band crew he had assembled, John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley(saxophonists), Jimmy Cobb(drummer), Paul Chambers(bassist), Bill Evans (Pianist) to create this masterpiece(Nisenson).

Best Track

However, the track "So what" is according to me the best music in Miles legendary album. The track is undoubtedly an example of modern jazz as it has a compelling style that acts as a catalyst by setting the collection in motion will at the same time, elevates the interests of stage harmonically. The riff is evident through the interplay coordination between the principal bass and the other band members. In addition, the antecedent phrase is solely performed by the bass that incredibly does this in an ascending manner, which starts with a fourth leap from the root note progressing forward in depth. This precedes the coordinated response from the pianist and the other band members, which is done via two chords that appear in parallel motion on the downwards direction, which directly answers to the bass. In my own view, unlike other jazz music, Miles Davis music was glued together by all the elements of good jazz music. His tracks are unique by the feeling they create, the soothing and atmosphere of freedom, and coolness it creates. An aspect like swing and syncopation are wonderfully used by Miles to create a revolutionary sound.

Motivation

Reich, as being the most significant music composers of all time, in his interview, he states that one "One rhythmic measurement in the piece is the human breath. At the same time, there are regular pulses being hammered out in the mallet instruments"(Steve Reich). He was motivated by a dream in which he was drumming with his companions on the shores of a beach in which waves were regularly washed around them each time; therefore, the repetitive changing pulse was the inspiration behind his style of work. In music for 18 musicians, Reich describes that it mainly occurred through via the process of listening, since the human breath is an artistic measure of singers while the pulse, in this case, is the lie the measure of mallet instruments. In Reich experiments using sampling and looping tapes, he realized that two tapes produced an artistic effect when they were playing in the same phase. This realization pushed Reich to try the phasing technique with instruments likes; for instance, he used two pianos accompanied by clapping of hands.

What makes Reich's line of style unique is the smashing of musical boundaries. Steve mastered the technique of mixing different his classical training with African drumming, pop, and jazz, which gave birth to a whole new form of a music style. His earlier work is the main inspiration behind most of the type of music we listen to today. In his music for 18 musicians, he employs the planned use of different instruments and rhythms standing alone as a musical expert. Therefore, listening to his work creates a burst of intense and adrenaline experience.

Conclusion

Steve Reich music can thus be described as modern classical music since he utilizes both the traditional and modern instruments to produce an entirely new sound. "In tandem with its critical acclaim and recognition as a significant minimalist work"(Budel). Reich's work is, therefore, similar to those made by Miles since they both have jazz elements in them, but Reich diverges from Miles's work in the delivery and mixing of components.

Works Cited

Nisenson, Eric. The making of Kind of blue: Miles Davis and his masterpiece. Macmillan, 2001

Reich, Steve. Writings on music, 1965-2000. Oxford University Press, 2002.

Budel, Jesse. "Steve Reich's ‘Music For 18 Musicians’ as a Soundscape Composition." Directions of New Music 1.2 (2018): 1.