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'Kind of Blue' Reviewer Tom Moon gives a listen to the classic 1959 jazz recording Kind of Blue.

The NPR 100

'Kind of Blue'

Heard on All Things Considered

'Kind of Blue'

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NPR 100 Fact Sheet

Title: King of Blue

Artist: Miles Davis

Reporter: Tom Moon

Producer:

Editor:

Length: 9:00

Interviewees: None

Recordings Used: Kind of Blue, So What

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American jazz trumpeter and composer Miles Davis sits with his horn during a studio recording session, October 1959. Hulton Archive/Getty Images hide caption

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Hulton Archive/Getty Images

American jazz trumpeter and composer Miles Davis sits with his horn during a studio recording session, October 1959.

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Critics and jazz fans alike consider Miles Davis' Kind of Blue an improvisational tour de force.

Davis cultivated an atmosphere of creative instability by rolling tape on his ensemble's first takes and refusing to rehearse. They turned out a collection of tunes that changed jazz history with an uncompromising sense of grace and invention.

Critic Tom Moon offers his appreciation.