Synopsis
This official audio video presents Miles Davis' "All Blues" as a listening experience rather than a narrative music film. The recording is paired with a static visual presentation, keeping attention on the slow, spacious interplay between Davis' trumpet, John Coltrane's tenor saxophone, Cannonball Adderley's alto saxophone, Bill Evans' piano, Paul Chambers' bass, and Jimmy Cobb's drums. Its restrained format reflects the track's atmosphere: elegant, reflective, and deeply improvisational, with the music carrying the emotional movement instead of a conventional storyline.
Factoids & Trivia
- "All Blues" was recorded on April 22, 1959, at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City and released on August 17, 1959, on *Kind of Blue*.
- The composition is built around a 12-bar blues in 6/8 time and uses a modal approach, helping give the performance its open, unhurried character.
- The song was the longest track on *Kind of Blue*, running for approximately 11 and a half minutes.
- Miles Davis reportedly developed the piece as a live number over a period of about six months. Gil Evans also helped reshape the composition before the studio recording.
- Nothing was fully written out for the session. The musicians worked from Davis' musical framework, allowing the solos and accompaniment to develop spontaneously.
- The track was reportedly listed as "African" in the session notes before receiving its final title.
- "All Blues" was the last piece recorded for *Kind of Blue*, even though it opens the album's second side.
- The first 50,000 copies of the original LP mistakenly reversed "All Blues" and "Flamenco Sketches" in the printed track listing.
- The composition has become a major jazz standard and has been recorded by hundreds of other artists.
- Oscar Brown Jr. later added lyrics to the tune for his 1963 recording "All Blues," turning Davis' instrumental into a vocal performance.