JDIZZY's 365 # 239: So What

So What - Miles Davis (1959)

How many artists, in any field, can say they released the defining statements of their craft in four different decades? No one but Miles Davis comes to mind. In the 40's, he exploded on the scene with the hard bop of Birth Of Cool. He invented fusion in the 60's with Bitches Brew. He made jazz funky with On The Corner in the 70's. But it was his masterpiece of the 1950's that changed the music forever. His modal scales and improvisational workshops known as Kind Of Blue gave us the greatest gathering of players ever to be recorded, with John Coltrane, Bill Evans and Cannonball Adderley all working towards a common goal of beauty. It is revered today in the same breath as Salinger's Catcher In The Rye, Warhol's soup cans, Kubrick's 2001 and Chases' The Sopranos.
And that opening statement!
Just listen and here why Ken Burns spent 12 hours on a documentary telling us that Jazz is the greatest American art form.