Blue Moods

Blue Moods
Studio album by Miles Davis
Released	1955 (1955)
Recorded	July 9, 1955
Studio	Van Gelder Studio, Hackensack, New Jersey
Genre	Jazz, cool jazz
Length	26:50
Label	Debut
Producer	Charles Mingus
Miles Davis chronology
Musings of Miles (1955) Blue Moods (1955) Dig (1956)

Blue Moods is a studio album by Miles Davis, released on Charles Mingus' Debut Records label in late 1955. It brings Miles Davis on trumpet together with Charles Mingus on bass, trombonist Britt Woodman, vibraphonist Teddy Charles, and drummer Elvin Jones. The arrangement of "Alone Together" is by Charles Mingus, while the other tracks were arranged by Teddy Charles.

According to the original sleeve notes, the short playing time of the album was because "the recording was cut at 160 lines per inch (instead of the usual 210 to 260 lines per inch) making the grooves wider and deeper and allowing for more area between the grooves for bass frequencies ... and was deemed necessary to reproduce the extended bass range and give the listener more quality to that of high fidelity tape recording." ^[1] It was also included in the Charles Mingus Complete Debut Recordings 12CD box-set.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide	[3]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings	[4]

The Allmusic review by Alex Henderson stated "Blue Moods is an excellent example of cool jazz. However, not all of the musicians who join Davis on this album were full-time members of jazz's cool school... But even so, Blue Moods offers considerable rewards to those who have a taste for '50s cool jazz". ^[2]

Track listing

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Nature Boy"	eden ahbez	6:14
2.	"Alone Together"	Arthur Schwartz, Howard Dietz	7:17

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"There's No You"	Hal Hopper, Tom Adair	8:06
2.	"Easy Living"	Ralph Rainger, Leo Robin	5:03
Total length:			26:50

Personnel

• Miles Davis – trumpet
• Britt Woodman – trombone
• Charles Mingus – bass
• Teddy Charles – vibes
• Elvin Jones – drums

References

1. "Miles Davis – Blue Moods (1960, Vinyl)". Discogs .
2. Henderson, Alex. Blue Moods – Review at AllMusic . Retrieved May 15, 2015.
3. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 57. ISBN   0-394-72643-X.
4. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 342. ISBN   978-0-141-03401-0.