This is about as close as you can get to unfiltered jazz. The band went into the plugged nickel in December 1965 with the intention of playing outside their normal ‘styles’. Putting everything they are comfortable with to one side and improvising with improvisation itself. Of course had they know they were being recorded they may not have gone ahead with it, so thankfully that’s one secret that was kept.
I don’t actually know much about music theory so maybe a lot of the impact is lost on me but one thing that does come across is a certain tension, probably caused by nervous energy. You hear the sound of the club and really if someone asked me what jazz was all about this is probably the album I’d refer them to. Of course if they asked what the best start was, naturally that choice would be Kind of Blue but I’m sticking to my guns that this is the jazz textbook and like most textbooks they are aimed at a less general audience. This is music which is intriguing to hear and is great fun to pay attention to. While I don’t really ‘get it’ at this stage I’ve got years of solid listening ahead of me and not many albums provide that kind of value.
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