Home » Jazz Articles » Interview » 1959: The Year Classic Albums Were Born
1959: The Year Classic Albums Were Born
When the year 1959 began, there were only 48 states. Alaska and Hawaii would became part of the United States during that annum, the third year of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's second term. It was the year Fidel Castro came to power in Cuba and took a goodwill tour of the U.S., two months after an interview with Edward R. Murrow on CBS television.Mattel toy company launched the Barbie doll. In professional basketball, the Celtics beat the Lakers for the NBA crown—but it was the Minneapolis Lakers.
Bob Dylan
guitar and vocalsb.1941
Marilyn Monroe
vocals1926 - 1962
In music, the Grammy Awards were created and debuted. And on the darker side, a chartered plane transporting musicians Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the J.P. "Big Bopper" Richardson crashed in an Iowa snowstorm, killing them and the pilot, a tragedy later termed "the day the music died" in Don McLean's song, "American Pie." Famed New York disc jockey Allan Freed at WABC Radio refused to sign a statement saying he never accepted payola—payment for getting an artist's records on the air—and was fired.
But in jazz, there was no such bad news (if one discounts the increasing popularity of rock n' roll music that was pushing jazz toward the fringes of popularity). The year 1959, for whatever reason, whatever alignment of the planets or whim of the Fates, was a glorious year.
At Columbia Records, albums were made that year that became some of the most influential music of its time. In fact, any time. Much has been written and said about 
Miles Davis
trumpet
1926 - 1991
But 1959 was also the year that the first recordings for what was to become Sketches of Spain were done. It became the third major large-group project Miles did with his collaborator and trusted friend 
Gil Evans
composer / conductor
1912 - 1988
Label mate 
Dave Brubeck
piano
1920 - 2012
That magical year 50 years ago also saw the larger-than-life 
Charles Mingus
bass, acoustic
1922 - 1979
Those are colossal recordings in the history of jazz and it's remarkable they were developed around the same time by diverse musical minds. Those minds, however different, also had things in common. Davis, Brubeck and Mingus were—and in Brubeck's case are still—all about music. And they had a penchant for exploring. Those jazz giants were enormously inquisitive about music, and, as such, willing to absorb things they heard, applying them to their art with their own inimitable stamp.
There is no way to explain why things happen as such in 1959. Music lovers certainly appreciate that things came to be. As Gil Evans once said about Miles, "I sure am glad you were born." The same can be said about the birth of these creative albums.
"Looking at it from the perspective of 2009, a major record label (Columbia) was really doing a pretty good job documenting jazz. If not the whole spectrum, at least it wasn't a narrow focus," says Bob Blumenthal, noted jazz critic who has received Grammy Awards for Best Album Notes and the Jazz Journalists Association's Excellence in Newspaper, Magazine, or Online Feature or Review Writing and Lifetime Achievement awards. "They had 
Duke Ellington
piano
1899 - 1974
Erroll Garner
piano
1921 - 1977
Gil Evans and Miles Davis in the studio in 1959
But those four projects became momentous. Sony Music, which owns Columbia, celebrates those four albums by releasing them in their 50th anniversary editions that includes expanded writing, additional music from the bands involved, and, in the cases of Kind of Blue and Time Out, DVDs documenting the making of the music and its impact. Each package is available as part of a Colombia/Legacy series.
The impact of these musicians and their creativity was not lost on the extraordinary musician/educator 
Gary Burton
vibraphone
b.1943
Saxophonist 
Gerald Albright
saxophone, alto
"For years, jazz's archetypal artist have been conditioned to fit the constraints of this industry and starved into acknowledgment of the insincerity that is requisite to their musical survival. Kind Of Blue, Sketches Of Spain, Time Out and Mingus Ah Um all illuminate the type of conviction these artists refined to allow themselves to be vulnerable enough to compel us to listen," says the remarkable young trumpeter 
Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah
trumpet
b.1983
Blumenthal notes the development of these albums is somewhat tied to the artists' way of dealing with the relatively new format of the long-playing album format.
"The format of the 12-inch long-playing albums had really only come in about 1955. Some companies, 1956. So the idea that you have 20 minutes on each side. You make an album. You can make the album hang together somehow, differently than if you were just putting out singles or albums where you had a bunch of three-minute recordings. I suspect part of what was going on is people realizing, 'We can do something with this format.' One thing about all these albums is they have an impact as entire albums, even though there are certain tracks that you remember on them. I think that may have something to do with it, above and beyond the quality of musicians who were making recordings at that time."
Mingus left Atlantic Records in 1959 for the chance to sign with the bigger label, Columbia. It meant a bigger budget project was possible and Mingus surrounded himself with musicians he was comfortable with, including 
Jimmy Knepper
trombone
1927 - 2003
Booker Ervin
saxophone, tenor
1930 - 1970
John Handy
saxophone
b.1933
Horace Parlan
piano
1931 - 2017Shafi Hadi
b.1929
Dannie Richmond
drums
1935 - 1988
"It was kind of two bands," says Blumenthal. "He was clearly very satisfied that these guys in the band could play his music the way he wanted to hear it. To that extent, it may be his best album in terms of the entire band being on his wavelength."
The result is an album of superior energy and creativity. They brought compositions like "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat," "Better Git It In Your Soul," "Jelly Roll" and "Fables of Faubus" to life in grand style. If it stands as a career summation at that point, it certainly wasn't a stopping point. Mingus was also moving forward.
Says Blumenthal, "You could pick a piece, like 'Better Get It In Your Soul,' and say that's (Mingus') gospel music references from his youth, his experiences in church. He wrote other pieces like that. 'Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting' from around the same time is very close to being the same piece. But maybe this version is a little more succinct, so the impact is a little more. 'Jelly Roll' is very similar to a piece called 'My Jelly Roll Soul.' 'Self Portrait in Three Colors,' I believe, uses two pieces he wrote and recorded under a different name somewhere else. He's really been working on some of this music and improving on it and editing it down and getting a stronger idea of how to make it work than some of the earlier versions.
Charles Mingus
"There's some stuff he wrote around this time, as well, like 'Fables of Faubus,' which was very contemporary in terms of commenting on what was going on in the country at the time," he added. It was a protest against Orval E. Faubus, governor of Arkansas, who in 1957 and sent the National Guard to prevent black children from attending high school in Little Rock. The music is delicious, and the words Mingus used to chant during live performances of the piece, openly questioning and criticizing the government, were appropriately biting and chastising.
The Legacy package also includes a second album Mingus made in 1959 with some of the same musicians, but adding others like 
Teddy Charles
vibraphone
1928 - 2012
Don Ellis
trumpet
1934 - 1978
On Mingus Dynasty, "There is stuff on there that's much more of him trying to relate to classical music, than on Mingus Ah Um. I think that was part of Mingus' character as well. He was very ambitious. He wanted to write long, extended pieces. I don't think you would necessarily come away from Mingus Ah Um with that feeling. I don't know that (Mingus Ah Um) is a complete portrait of him to that point. I think it's probably the best recording of him executing a lot of the ideas that he was already known for: his blues stuff, his historical reference, his political protest, his very passionate, emotional playing when he writes ballads. There are great examples of all of those sides of him on there," says Blumenthal.
"I think it was a nice idea they added that album ... There are things that sound a little different on there. The band is different. He's using different instruments. He has vibes playing, but it's not like vibes solos, more than the orchestral sound of the thing. He was moving forward. He was going in different directions. Even after he made what many people might consider a perfect album (Mingus Ah Um), he was already looking for other things to do.
To give a picture of his musical personality, you really need Dynasty. 'Far Wells, Mills Valley' is probably the most obvious example, although I think 'Song With Orange' and 'Diane' also have the feeling of Mingus the composer, who is writing all these complex parts. Above and beyond the ability to improvise on the music, the musicians have to interpret it like an orchestra would interpret a symphony. I think that's an important part of the guy. You can hear in the music that he has a lot of diverse and volatile moods to him."
Meanwhile, in the 1950s Brubeck was taking flack from people, even though he was popular, so much so that Time magazine made him their cover story feature in 1954. Some people said what his group—
Paul Desmond
saxophone, alto
1924 - 1977
Eugene Wright
bass
1923 - 2020
Joe Morello
drums
1928 - 2011
Johnny Hodges
saxophone, alto
1907 - 1970
Charlie Parker
saxophone, alto
1920 - 1955
Brubeck broke not only time signature rules, doing music in odd meters, but he also approached Columbia with an idea of all-original material. The record label preferred to have something interspersed that listeners could attach themselves to, i.e., interpretations of standards or some popular fare. Thankfully, Goddard Lieberson, president of the label, supported the project.
"Time Out had a huge impact on me," says pianist David Benoit. "My parents played this record in the early '60s, then I learned 'Take Five' in high school and began experimenting with odd time signatures. I loved the mix of sensual odd time grooves mixed with beautiful rich melodies and harmonies. This record was clearly the basis of how I developed my own sound. I later had a the good fortune to become very good friends with Dave Brubeck and performed a series of concerts with him. Time Out remains one of my favorite recordings of all time."
Blumenthal notes that there was also a controversy apart from Brubeck's worthiness at the time, that being does jazz have to be 4/4 time or not. "People had played jazz waltzes, but they were kind of controversial. Benny Carter made a record in 1936 called 'Waltzing the Blues' and a lot of people that were in his band said, 'This is a good record. But it's not a jazz record because it's a waltz. Max Roach made an entire album of waltzes before Time Out came out. It was called Jazz in
Tags
Comments
PREVIOUS / NEXT
Support All About Jazz
All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.
Go Ad Free!
To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.
Showcase
Featured
Darwin AI: Surivior Choice
By Alex Otey buy
Carnaval - The Songs Were So Beautiful
By Antonio Adolfo buy
Giveaway
Playlist
Premium
Weekly newsletter
Get more of a good thing
Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories and includes your local jazz events calendar.
Buy Now
