A New Kind of Blue

[mgraham333]

A New Kind of Blue at CDBaby

LIMITED EDITION, SIGNED & NUMBERED. The 45th Anniversary updating of Miles Davis' jazz classic Kind of Blue featuring Randy Brecker, David Finck, Victor Lewis, Chuck Loeb, Mike Ricchiuti and Andy Snitzer.

This year marks the 45th anniversary of the release of "Kind of Blue" and Gary Guthrie has plied his "what if" curiosity by producing one of the more intriguing jazz records of 2004 - "A New Kind of Blue," a fresh version of Miles Davis' classic. Featuring recent Grammy winner Randy Brecker channeling the spirit of Davis, Guthrie's studio group - dubbed "g.org" (pronounced "g - dot - org") - stretches the "New Blue" well past the 45-minute limits of the vinyl LP heyday, brings its production values into the digital realm, plus captures several of the missing ingredients critics have been scratching their head about for years.

"A New Kind of Blue" was recorded at New York's Sony Studios on April 8, 2004 and features Randy Brecker on trumpet, David Finck on bass, Victor Lewis on drums, Chuck Loeb on guitar, Mike Ricchiuti on piano and Andy Snitzer on alto saxophone.

Guthrie's instructions to the band were simple: give the set an authentic, passionate reading with some intense color; solo within the scales; let things stretch out a bit; and give the listener a chance to experience the sonic differences of that 1959 moment if it were to happen today. "It became evident very early on that if I consciously made room for serendipity, there would be more of a chance to take advantage of it. Just like Miles' approach, the first ideas were usually the best ideas."

Part of Guthrie's approach was to go before Kind of Blue and see what Miles' inspiration was for creative material. One of the elements that showed up was the role of guitar in Fifties jazz and how Miles was picking up on Ahmad Jamal's experiments including the instrument in his combo. Davis even asked Philly Joe Jones to replicate guitar licks as drum hits to give passages some exclamation marks.

Guthrie thought, "Can you imagine what a guitarist would've brought to the original 'Blue'?" And, with that, he brought in one of contemporary jazz's format aces, Chuck Loeb. "With Chuck, I not only got a fellow Baby Boomer who cut his teeth on 'Blue' but one who learned his Wes-like licks as a student of Jim Hall and Pat Metheny."

Loeb, in turn, became the session leader and lined up the other players to form Guthrie's newest version of his g.org. The collective experiences of the lineup range from Stan Getz to Portishead to the Rolling Stones to winning three Jazz Grammys.

The CD features the original sequence of 'Blue' tracks, plus Evans' "Peace Piece" - the Evans' tune used as a basis for "Flamenco Sketches" - reverently included as the prelude to "Sketches" in a close-your-eyes moment from Mike Ricchiuti. Three other elements that make this project interesting are:

* Loeb quoting the original arrangement for Chet Baker's "Alone Together" that Evans used for the structure of "Blue in Green"

* An extended, jam-like version (22 minutes) of "All Blues"

* Mastering by Mark Wilder, the man who has worked with the original "Kind of Blue" more than any man on the planet through his remastering role at Sony

The initial release of the CD is a limited, signed and numbered edition (1,800 copies) that contains an alternate version of "All Blues" that will not be available on future releases.

[hockman]

Sorry but I'm cynical about efforts like these.

Why not take some chances and attempt to create something new and original?

[Jim Alfredson]

Sorry but I'm cynical about efforts like these.

Why not take some chances and attempt to create something new and original?

$$$

[7/4]

Sorry but I'm cynical about efforts like these.

Why not take some chances and attempt to create something new and original?

$$$

[Dmitry]

Despite all the cynicism and scepticism that I have for this project I wouldn't mind playing this if someone gave it to me.

How about -

Another Blue Train

More Sketches of Spain

Wynton Marsalis plays Louis Armstrong Plays W. C. Handy

A Love even more Supreme

?

Or this -

[JSngry]

That Herwig side is actually pretty darn good!

[Dmitry]

How about this one?

[JSngry]

Conrad Herwig's got a "gimmick" going in terms of album concepts, but the music on those albums is inevitable above average. After all those years w/Palmieri, he's got that Latin thing going on in a more than superficial way, and he's always had a good sense for "advanced" post-bop playing.

I'm not too much of a "concept" guy myself, but that might help explain why Conrad's making records and I'm making posts.

[wolff]

Mastering by Mark Wilder, the man who has worked with the original "Kind of Blue" more than any man on the planet through his remastering role at Sony

Great sonics

stretches the "New Blue" well past the 45-minute limits of the vinyl LP heyday, brings its production values into the digital realm, plus captures several of the missing ingredients critics have been scratching their head about for years.

WTF are they talking about?? I laughed as I read this promo release. Someone should have drug Wilder to Grundman's Mastering years ago!! What are these shortcomings? Figures someone from SONY would still praise digital.

[Rooster_Ties]

Wouldn't mind hearing it, probably, but I'd be skeptical while doing so.

And I probably wouldn't buy it without being able to give it a good spin first.

Might be interesting, perhaps, but the cards are stacked against it. Them's mighty big shoes to fill...

[couw]

It became evident very early on that if I consciously made room for serendipity, there would be more of a chance to take advantage of it.

uh-huh, sure, yup...

[White Lightning]

That Herwig side is actually pretty darn good!

In fact - it's excellent. Just a nose short of "The Latin Side of John Coltrane", which is great.

[mgraham333]

I enjoyed the Herwig as well.

It's fun take on some great material.

[Sundog]

This album is getting a fair amount of airplay in these parts. I like everything I've heard, which is 3 cuts. Interesting takes on some old war horses. Not sure if I would buy this album, but certainly wouldn't mind hearing the album in it's entirety.

[mgraham333]

I finally got my copy and have given it a few spins. I have to say the addition of the guitar is the most intriguing part. It really would have been interesting to hear the original with the likes of Wes Montgomery in the studio.

All in all, I'm pretty impressed with this one. I give the Conrad Herwig effort higher marks in the originality column, but this one is really well done. I think the album accomplished all that the project set out to accomplish.

Cheesy or not the back cover says it all:

What if there had been 70 minutes of recording space on an LP rather than 40 back in 1959... Did the arrangement on Blue In Green come from something Bill Evans did for Chet Baker... What if Miles had used a guitarist instead of one of the saxes... Is Flamenco Sketches really Peace Piece... What if the bass & drums had been given more breathing room... What if they had shifted gears halfway through All Blues...

[DrJ]

I think it's kind of amusing how some have "sacred cows" in terms of material they feel shouldn't be covered. It's just music, folks - the key is, do they say something worth hearing? If so, then I think these types of projects are perfectly valid and in fact highly valuable. Sure there's a marketing angle (can't begrudge them that given the sorry state of jazz sales - you gotta pay the band and eat, all that). But well-executed projects like this not only bring in some great new music, they enhance our viewpoint of the originals.

If they on the other hand turn out to have nothing new to say, well then clearly they should have left well enough alone.

The point is that it should be all about judging the execution, not immediately nay-saying the idea. If anything, such projects set an even higher bar for themselves because of the inevitable cries of "sacrilege" and close-minded approach to the music.

Remember, non-jazz fans of "standards" cringe when they hear jazz artists "ruining" the melody and integrity of the tunes - they'd rather hear them played straight. I think pretty much everyone here would think that's ridiculous. So why should jazz artists revisiting jazz classics be any different?

Edited July 30, 2004 by DrJ

[wolff]

I think it's kind of amusing how some have "sacred cows" in terms of material they feel shouldn't be covered. It's just music, folks - the key is, do they say something worth hearing? If so, then I think these types of projects are perfectly valid and in fact highly valuable. Sure there's a marketing angle (can't begrudge them that given the sorry state of jazz sales - you gotta pay the band and eat, all that). But well-executed projects like this not only bring in some great new music, they enhance our viewpoint of the originals.

If they on the other hand turn out to have nothing new to say, well then clearly they should have left well enough alone.

The point is that it should be all about judging the execution, not immediately nay-saying the idea. If anything, such projects set an even higher bar for themselves because of the inevitable cries of "sacrilege" and close-minded approach to the music.

Remember, non-jazz fans of "standards" cringe when they hear jazz artists "ruining" the melody and integrity of the tunes - they'd rather hear them played straight. I think pretty much everyone here would think that's ridiculous. So why should jazz artists revisiting jazz classics be any different?

You caught me.

You are right. The test is how well they executed it and it sounds like they did a fine job.

But, I gotta speak up when marketing puts something down to build their product up, no matter how bad sales are.

[Leeway]

Not discussed so far is the price of this CD: $27.94 list (an odd list price), discount price $22.99. That's a lot of money, isn't ist? Twice as much as for a CD of the original.

I suppose that's to be justified by the "limited, numbered" nature of the CD. KOB seems to invite this sort of thing. Didn't Classic Records raise a ruckus with its various "limited" blue vinyl editions? Anyway, this "numbered, limited" thing tends to emphasize the commercial, marketing-driven quality of this CD, over its artistic ambitions.

Having said that, listening to the rather generous clips on the CD Baby site, suggests a well-played version of KOB, if not the revelatory performance suggested by the promo material. I might want to give it a try, but that price is a sticking point.