8-bit versions of Miles Davis standards. Neat!

(Link here.)

Fred Kaplan at Slate writes an appreciation of one of the greatest jazz albums of all time, Kind of Blue by Miles Davis:

Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, which was released 50 years ago today, is a nearly unique thing in music or any other creative realm: a huge hit?

 
Miles Davis’ Sorcerer and Archie Shepp’s The Magic of Ju-Ju are just two of the nearly 700 jazz albums getting their deluxe due in Taschen’s newly released (and assuredly hefty) book, Jazz Covers.

This volume features a broad selection of jazz record covers, from the 1940s through the decline of LP production in the early 1990s.  Each cover is accompanied with a fact sheet listing performer and album name, art director, photographer, illustrator, year, label, and more.

But it’s not all psychedelic skulls and Cicely Tyson.  The folks at Taschen fleshed the project out with contributors ranging from John Coltrane authority, Ashley Kahn, to famed Blue Note producer, Michael Cuscuna.
 

 
Taschen Books: Jazz Covers

Prince of Darkness: Essential Audio Only Track Off Miles Davis’ Sorcerer

Ian Johnson designed this jaw-dropping series of skateboards for Western Edition. The skateboards depict the 1959 lineup of the Miles Davis Quintet, the group who played on the classic album “Kind of Blue.”

Update: Dangerous Minds reader Greg says, “Hi, just thought I’d let you know that this product and description are a bit wrong: The group that played with Miles Davis on the 1959 album ‘Kind of Blue’ was a sextet. You have missed out Cannonball Adderley. Also, on one of the tracks (Freddie Freeloader) Wynton Kelly played piano not Bill Evans. Just thought you’d like to know, Greg”

Ian Johnson

(via Nerdcore)