Who wrote Blue in Green?
October 23, 2011 5:13 PM Subscribe
Did Bill Evans write Blue in Green, or did Miles Davis, or did they both?
I'm a big fan of both Miles Davis and Bill Evans. And I've briefly read that there is some contention, partially based on changing album credits, about which of them wrote Blue in Green, or whether it was co-written, or what.
To my ears, which have spent a lot of hours absorbing Bill Evans records, it sounds more like something painted with Evans' palette, but Miles was a guy with a lot of tools.
I know that there are a couple of real jazz heads kicking around on MeFi -- do any of you know more about this?
I'm a big fan of both Miles Davis and Bill Evans. And I've briefly read that there is some contention, partially based on changing album credits, about which of them wrote Blue in Green, or whether it was co-written, or what.
To my ears, which have spent a lot of hours absorbing Bill Evans records, it sounds more like something painted with Evans' palette, but Miles was a guy with a lot of tools.
I know that there are a couple of real jazz heads kicking around on MeFi -- do any of you know more about this?
You can search Ashley Kahn's Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece at Google Books. Page 191 has Orrin Keepnews describing Evans' "uncharacteristic insistence" that he be given a co-credit when he recorded it with his own group the same year Kind of Blue appeared (see the first search result for 'Orrin').
I'm not sure you'll be able to get much further than the competing claims from Davis and Evans; you'll probably just have to choose which man you want to believe.
posted by mediareport at 9:13 PM on October 23, 2011
I'm not sure you'll be able to get much further than the competing claims from Davis and Evans; you'll probably just have to choose which man you want to believe.
posted by mediareport at 9:13 PM on October 23, 2011
Response by poster: Thanks, guys -- this is very helpful.
posted by liminalrampaste at 12:24 PM on October 24, 2011
posted by liminalrampaste at 12:24 PM on October 24, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
It has long been speculated that pianist Bill Evans wrote "Blue in Green", even though the LP and most jazz fakebooks credit only Davis with its composition. In his autobiography, Davis maintains that he alone composed the songs on Kind of Blue. The version on Evans' trio album Portrait in Jazz, recorded in 1959, credits the tune to 'Davis-Evans'. Earl Zindars, in an interview conducted by Win Hinkle, said that "Blue in Green" was 100-percent written by Bill Evans. In a 1978 radio interview, Evans said that he himself had written the Song.
There is more detail in the footnotes that looks like it might be helpful to you.
posted by 4ster at 5:17 PM on October 23, 2011 [1 favorite]