I don't understand Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue"

Another approach in trying to understand KOB, is to check out what the rest of the crew is all about..........

John Coltrane.....Blue Train, Blue Note
Bill Evans........Waltz for Debby, Riverside
C. Adderley.......Presenting C.Adderley, Savoy
Wynton Kelly
Paul Chambers.....Kelly Blue, JVC XRCD, Riverside

Well it's 35 posts later. Do you think you'll understand "Kind of Blue" now? Probably not, but you certainly have a lot of music to listen to. I'm familiar with all of these, for the most part, and they will, eventually, bring you back to Miles and all his earlier stuff. He is the man. Listen to what you like, relax and you might just get it. Happy listening.
P.S. Try this. Listen to some Wynton Marsalis. Amazing technician. Then listen to some early Miles. You tell me who moves you more. No contest...

I also get sleepy listening to KOB. I bought it because of the recommendation. It doesn't seem simple to me, the solos are so complex!!! What the hell are they doing??? I began putting it on at bedtime, when I couldn't sleep. I'd listen to these crazy soloists. It's like they are trying to talk but they don't have voices. What are they trying to say??? Zzzzz...

Now I've got the entire thing memorized, as does my poor wife. I absolutely love it. Every note is anticipated and arrives so beautifully. I usually play it on the bedroom "boom-box" and still it's great. I can't explain except that many, many repeated listenings were required to begin to comprehend the solos. What ARE they trying to say?

I also sure hope that Sdcampbell checks into this thread.

For me, Kind of Blue hit me like a thunderbolt.

I bought it because it is de riguer, the essential jazz piece, and at the time I had been diving deeper into jazz. At first, I played it, then maybe played it again, and maybe even once more. Nothing.

Then, all of a sudden...

Like the liner notes which quote Duane Allman in an interview raving about it. I am paraphrasing, but it was something like, "It's all I listen to, and it's been that way for a few years now." The influence on music has been mentioned, but I would like to say that THE American rock and roll band, The Allman Brothers Band, was formed pretty much trying to recapture what had been achieved in Kind of Blue. Just listen to the interplay between the two guitars or two drum kits in the first 4 ABB albums.

It was basically in my listening every day for something like a year. I could play it over and over and over again and it never seemed like it wasn't the freshest piece of music I have ever come across.

Even in the year 2002, I sometimes listen and marvel that it sounds more original, captivating, and spellbinding than almost anything else I can play. Strange.

I have met a lot of people who hate the album, including most of the people who have lived in my home. But, if it grabs you, it just won't let go. The modal jazz, first popularized in this piece, is absolutely hypnotic. I cannot say it's the notes, or the sound when the notes are being played, but there must have been some kind of deal made with the Devil when this album was recorded. There is something along the lines of magic in these songs.

From afar, there is nothing much to the music. In fact, some early critics laughed at it. A bunch of musicians simply playing scales? Others derided it as slow, morose, maudling.

To this day, more than 40 years after its release, it remains on the Top 10 Jazz Sales list, year after year after year. My biggest shock of the 40th Anniversary Edition of Stereophile(November, 2002) was its lack of inclusion into the most important albums of all time, jazz category. Unforgivable!!!

Interesting citing, Trelja, about the ABB and KOB - I can see that connection, now that you have pointed it out. (I'll politely take exception to "THE American Rock & Roll Band" however! :-)