Kind of Blue – Miles Davis
You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians
Peter Martin
4.9 • 770 Ratings
🗓️ 25 May 2026
⏱️ 86 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Miles Davis's Kind of Blue is one of the greatest albums of all time - possibly THE greatest. But it's not perfect.
In this special episode of You'll Hear It, jazz pianists Peter Martin and Adam Maness break down this classic record, track-by-track, to uncover why it has become so legendary. They dig into what's really going on in the music during this album's best moments: Miles's trumpet solo on "So What", Wynton Kelly's piano solo on "Freddie Freeloader", John Coltrane's entrance on "Blue in Green".
Plus - we learn more about what Miles was doing in his early years, his break from bebop, what he thought of Bill Evans's approach, and the production and engineering techniques that give Kind of Blue its unique sound.
Miles Davis was born just outside of St. Louis 100 years ago this week. To celebrate his centennial birthday, Adam and Peter filmed this episode in front of a live audience at The Sheldon Concert Hall in St. Louis, MO.
Chapters Legend:
🎧 Listening to a track 🎹 Music theory breakdown 🎵 Live studio jam
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Related YHI Videos
Steamin', Relaxin', Workin', Cookin': https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cookin-relaxin-workin-and-steamin-miles-davis-quintet/id1342674932?i=1000762361399
Someday My Prince Will Come: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/someday-my-prince-will-come-miles-davis/id1342674932?i=1000724354435
Birth Of the Cool: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/miles-first-masterpiece-birth-of-the-cool/id1342674932?i=1000710841989
My Funny Valentine: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/miles-greatest-album-youre-welcome/id1342674932?i=1000700565428
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About You'll Hear It:
In this popular music series, Adam and Peter break down the greatest albums of all time. Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Joni Mitchell, D'Angelo: Jazz is the foundation of the most GENIUS music in recent history. These seasoned jazz pianists bring their deep musical knowledge to every joyful episode to help you hear the hidden qualities that make music AMAZING. You'll never hear music the same way again.
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00:00 Kind of Blue - Miles Davis
5:45 🎧 Bebop and Miles Davis's Early Years
10:56 Bill Evans and Miles Davis
11:48 🎧 "So What"
20:49 KOB Is NOT A Perfect Album?
26:59 Miles On Bill Evans's Approach
32:13 🎧 "Freddie Freeloader"
41:31 🎧 "Blue In Green"
44:38 How They Made That KoB Sound
50:02 🎧 "All Blues"
58:20 🎧 "Flamenco Sketches"
1:02:44 Is It Perfect?
1:04:56 🎧 Outakes
1:06:38 Categories: Desert Island Tracks & Apex Moments
1:11:20 How Snobby Is This Album?
1:16:21 What To Listen To Next
1:19:13 🎵 "So What" - Open Studio
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Thank you. Thank you. I'm Adam Anus. |
| 0:32.9 | And you're listening to the You'll Hear at podcast. |
| 0:35.1 | Live exploring music. |
| 0:37.2 | Exploring music. |
| 0:42.0 | Brought to you today by Open Studio. |
| 0:44.1 | Go to Open Studio. |
| 0:45.0 | Go to Open Studio. |
| 0:45.2 | Jazz.com for, oh, your jazz lesson needs. |
| 0:49.2 | And brought to you live at the beautiful Sheldon Concert Hall |
| 0:51.5 | in lovely St. Louis, Missouri. |
| 0:53.9 | Give it up, everybody, for the Sheldon. |
| 0:56.3 | Yes. Well, Adam, it's a big day. This is a big life. It's a big night, actually. I was going to say, |
| 1:03.8 | it's not a big day. This is a big evening, Peter, because we rarely do a live show. We've never done a live show in our hometown of St. Louis, Missouri. We've |
| 1:11.7 | recorded all 1,200 of these episodes about a quarter mile down Washington, just east of here, a couple blocks away in our beautiful studios. But you and I play. Always by the light of day. We're like the anti-vampires. I know. Tonight, we're going in there. I really might fall asleep by the end of this. I mean, we're coming up on my bedtime already. But not only is it a big night |
| 1:30.5 | for us to be live, but tonight we're going in there i really might fall asleep by the end of this i mean we're coming up on |
| 1:27.6 | my bedtime already but not only is it a big night for us to be live but it's a big night because |
| 1:33.0 | this is i don't know if you know this but as this is being broadcast it's the night before |
| 1:38.1 | miles davis's 100th birthday yes the centennial that's amazing miles davis everybody |
| 1:44.0 | miles davis of course um from just a few miles was 100th birthday. Yes, the centennial. That's amazing. Miles Davis, everybody. |
| 1:50.0 | Miles Davis, of course, from just a few miles was born in Alton, Illinois, which is what, |
| 1:56.3 | four or five miles from where we sit and grew up in East St. Louis and his most closely associated at East St. Louis, went to Lincoln High School there, continuing on the tradition of the amazing St. Louis |
| 2:03.1 | trumpet players and really established it in a lot of ways. I mean, of course, we talk about Clark |
... |
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