Entertainment news and discussion on TalkFuse.
The 1959 album Linda Ronstadt knew she would never forget: “I was blown away”
Linda Ronstadt recalled being deeply affected by Miles Davis’s 1959 album *Kind of Blue*, saying it left her “blown away” when she first heard it. The record mattered to her because it expanded her understanding of musical expression and demonstrated how jazz could be both technically sophisticated and emotionally immediate.
Released by Columbia Records, *Kind of Blue* features Davis alongside musicians including John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb. Often regarded as one of the most influential jazz albums ever made, it used modal improvisation and has remained a major commercial and cultural landmark.
In short
- Ronstadt said Miles Davis’s *Kind of Blue* profoundly impressed her.
- The 1959 record reshaped her sense of musical possibility.
- It remains among jazz’s most influential albums.
Explained simply
Linda Ronstadt is an American singer whose career has crossed several styles, including rock, country and traditional Mexican music. Miles Davis was an influential American jazz trumpeter and bandleader, known for changing direction several times over his career.
Davis’s Kind of Blue was released in 1959, with John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb among the musicians who played on it. Its spacious sound and improvisation helped make it one of jazz’s best-known and most influential records.
The album is associated with modal jazz, in which musicians build improvisations around musical scales rather than changing chords rapidly. Its lasting appeal reflects how a record can be musically intricate while still feeling direct and expressive to listeners.