Kind Of Blue

Product Information

According to Kahn, engineer Fred Plaut “…favored the new Telefunken U-49 microphones, a workhorse of the recording industry. Their warm, rounded response especially in the mid to lower range of the dynamic spectrum made them a favorite for jazz and other acoustic music sessions.” (I think Kahn meant of the frequency not the dynamic spectrum). I’m sure others will analyze the sound quality of this version of “Kind Of Blue” many times, so I’ll skip that. But I will say that it sounds THERE. When Coltrane entered on “Freddie…” I nearly fell out of my listening seat! Spend thousands more, and parts quality goes up, and the 'unmeasurables' become more audible, as it should be." CD Player D/A Converter or Processor Disc Player / DSD-capable USB DAC Hi Res Audio Player iPod Audio Portable DAP (Digital Audio Player) Software• Furniture

None of the musicians had played any of the tunes before heading into the first of two recording sessions in early spring of 1959. In fact Miles had written out the settings for most of them only a few hours before the session. Now Analogue Productions, the audiophile in-house reissue label of Acoustic Sounds, Inc., together with Quality Record Pressings, is putting Kind of Blue where it belongs: the Ultra High Quality Record (UHQR) pressed on Clarity Vinyl on a manual Finebilt press with attention paid to every single detail of every single record. Davis played trumpet sublime with his ensemble sextet featuring pianist Bill Evans, drummer Jimmy Cobb, bassist Paul Chambers, and saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian “Cannonball” Adderley with Wyton Kelly playing piano on “Freddy the Freeloader.” I own many versions of this album. Simply breathtaking from the beginning to the end. The biggest “wow” factor is the dead silent noise floor of the vinyl. You will never see a better sounding version of KOB out there….not even close to this one. Can’t wait for Chad and the folks at AP to put out the 45rpm version of this album in the future. This 33rpm version is already a top 5 in my collection! Well done AP! Keep the UHQR releases coming! Would become an issue eventually. Wear on the mothers or stampers will depend on how many copies are made from them. I don't know how many copies Classic pressed of the 33 KoB across 15 years and all of their vinyl formulations, but I'd believe it if you said the AP 25,000 exceeds it.From the lead-in groove to the run-out groove, there is no pitch to the profile, allowing the customer’s stylus to play truly perpendicular to the grooves from edge to center.

Kind of Blue is more than Miles Davis’s most enduring recording, it’s a testament to Miles’ experimental approach, drastically simplifying modern jazz by returning to melody unlike the chord complexity more often heard at the time. In its three-decade-plus history, Mobile Fidelity has never been prouder to have the honor of handling efforts as important as Davis' key recordings. It's why the our engineers took every available measure to transport listeners to the March and April 1959 sessions that parlayed modal jazz into mainstream language. The blueprint for melodic improvisation and vamping, Kind of Blue simplifies tonal organization and chordal progression into an eminently beautiful, introspective tapestry stitched with swinging poetry, mellifluous soloing, compositional lyricism, transcendental harmonies, and group interplay of the highest caliber. Spend thousands more, and parts quality goes up, and the 'unmeasurables' become more audible, as it should be."" Listening to my UHQR Kind of Blue for the third time since I got it! Man I just have to thank you for this, deathly silent and perfect mastering. Keep doing what you’re doing Chad! Keeping the vinyl dream alive! SMT, Lened, Toolex Alpha, Finebilt hand presses and others have not too difficult to discern sonic characteristics. So I have to laugh when I read comments like “if you have a Classic Records pressing of Kind of Blue “you are all set”.

How did Miles himself feel about Kind of Blue? Ironically, he described it as a “failed experiment” in his autobiography, explaining that the album did not fully realize the sounds he had been hearing in his head before the session. Nonetheless, in an 1986 interview, when pianist/journalist Ben Sidran remarked that Kind of Blue is probably the number one jazz record on virtually all the jazz critics’ lists, his sincere answer was short but held a palpable sense of pride: “Isn’t that something.”

Second, there is another version ( Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue) with "Kind Of Blue" printed on one line on the side B label. I have the Classic Records version which I thought was a great pressing, this AP UHQR version blows it out of the water! The clarity is stunning! Wide soundstage and deep imaging! Most of the static sound at the beginning of the Classic version is absent. The only glaring omission by AP are pics of bassist, Paul Chambers, and drummer, the recently deceased Jimmy Cobb (May 2020), the last remaining member of the 1st great Miles Davis septet (though he sat in only for FF, Wynton Kelly is also missing). Not sure how you guys missed that one, but Paul, Jimmy, & Wynton, we appreciate your contributions to make this arguably the best jazz album!Really happy with this UHQR (number 7700) and surprised it is clearly better than both my Classic 33 and 45! Just sounds beautiful and alive! Well done Chad and Co.! History was on the side of Kind of Blue; it was born in 1959, at the peak of the golden age of high-fidelity, featuring innovations in studio equipment (magnetic tape, high-quality condenser microphones), matched by advancements in home audio reproduction (long-player records — LPs; high-end turntables, and other stereo components). Kind of Blue also benefited from Miles' being signed to the leading major record company of the day — Columbia Records, a part of the CBS media conglomerate. Columbia had the means and wisdom to invest in cutting edge recording technology, and their own professional recording studio.