April 1999

The Rob Lo fidelity experience...

birthday blues

The best-known most-liked jazz album of all-time is 40 years old. The sessions which created it were recorded in March and April of 1959. The music was played by Julian Adderly (alto sax), John Coltrane (tenor - you need telling?), Wynton Kelly (piano), Bill Evans (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), James Cobb (drums) and a 32 yr-old trumpet-player...

This most famous album opens with that most famous of bass lines, the one which leads towards one of the greatest opening statements by any musician in any genre. The track is 'So What', and it's a track which all jazz fans learn to hum along to, eventually, although such familiarity does not necessarily mean that the listener is a totally enthusiastic jazz fan because this album is one which even those who wouldn't call themselves 'jazz fans' may own, love and cherish. It is an album that's owned by anyone who wants a taste, just a taste, of the ultimate in Cool, and every other cliché associated with jazz (sophistication, style, credibility, intelligence etc)...

The popularity of this album, for a multitude of reasons, from aspiration to technical appreciation, means that it appears in those charts which claim to recognise The Greatest Albums Ever Made. The funny thing is that it usually reaches a position that put it's some way 'behind' albums made by The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays or Radiohead, but this probably reflects the age groups involved and the nature of modern music. It also reflects most people's attitude towards jazz, that 'difficult' music which, despite the some tunefulness, generally baffles listeners with it's musicianship - all that improvisation, all that playing, all that sound, all that self-expression through the playing of music which is not like Pop.

So what. So that's how it goes. So most people hear music but can't listen. So this album will never win a popularity contest when it's in competition with The Stone Roses, or The Beatles, or The Beach Boys. So what's new...

The trumpet-player is Miles Davis. The album is, of course, 'Kind Of Blue'. And all I can say is...

Listen...

Hear...

© Rob Lo March '99