Blue Moods

Blue Moods
Studio album by
Miles Davis
Released1955 (1955)
RecordedJuly 9, 1955
StudioVan Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey
GenreJazz, cool jazz
Length26:50
LabelDebut
ProducerCharles Mingus
Miles Davis chronology
Musings of Miles
(1955) 		Blue Moods
(1955) 		Dig
(1956)

Blue Moods is the second studio album by Miles Davis, released on Charles Mingus' Debut Records label in late 1955. It brings Miles Davis on trumpet together with Charles Mingus on bass, trombonist Britt Woodman, vibraphonist Teddy Charles, and drummer Elvin Jones. The arrangement of "Alone Together" is by Charles Mingus, while the other tracks were arranged by Teddy Charles.

According to the original sleeve notes, the short playing time of the album was because "the recording was cut at 160 lines per inch (instead of the usual 210 to 260 lines per inch) making the grooves wider and deeper and allowing for more area between the grooves for bass frequencies ... and was deemed necessary to reproduce the extended bass range and give the listener more quality to that of high fidelity tape recording."[1] It was also included in the Charles Mingus Complete Debut Recordings 12CD box-set.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[2]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[3]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings [4]

The Allmusic review by Alex Henderson stated "Blue Moods is an excellent example of cool jazz. However, not all of the musicians who join Davis on this album were full-time members of jazz's cool school... But even so, Blue Moods offers considerable rewards to those who have a taste for '50s cool jazz".[2]

Track listing

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Nature Boy"eden ahbez6:14
2."Alone Together"Arthur Schwartz, Howard Dietz7:17
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."There's No You"Hal Hopper, Tom Adair8:06
2."Easy Living"Ralph Rainger, Leo Robin5:03
Total length:26:50

Personnel

References

  1. ^ "Miles Davis – Blue Moods (1960, Vinyl)". Discogs.
  2. ^ a b Henderson, Alex. Blue Moods – Review at AllMusic. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
  3. ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 57. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  4. ^ Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 342. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.