Essence of Green, A Tribute to Kind Of Blue

That's the way you should do a tribute recording.
Jae Sinnett, WHRV

With Jimmy Cobb, the final remaining member of Miles Davis' Kind of Blue ensemble, pianist Ron Di Salvio creates a timely tribute to the top selling jazz recording of all time, nearly 50 years after the original recording. Currently living in Michigan, Di Salvio studied improvisation with the legendary Lennie Tristano, played jazz clubs in New York's Greenwich Village in the late sixties and performed with Sonny Rollins, Joe Henderson, Enrico Rava, Renee McClean, Roland Kirk and Art Farmer.

Production Info:

Produced by RON DI SALVIO
Recorded March 2005 at ARCADIA RECORDING STUDIO, Kalamazoo, MI
Recorded, mixed & mastered by JOHN STITES
Piano technician: YAT-LAM HONG
Band photography by JOHN LACKO
Cover photo by JOSHUA HAVIV
Design & layout by JOHN BISHOP

Reviews of Essence of Green, A Tribute to Kind Of Blue

Jazz Programmers List (Jae Sinnett)
I hesitate in using the word clever when talking about the music most of the time because it can be interpreted as something cynical or sneaky but in the case of "Essence Of Green" I'll use it in a very positive way. As a "tribute" release it could have easily fallen into the predictable trap of taking "Kind Of Blue" material and changing a cho ...

All Music Guide (Adam Greenberg)
A fine group of musicians from the Michigan area gather for what appears at first glance to be a song-by-song response to Miles' classic. The album opens with "Six Shades of Green," following the structure and feel of "All Blues" relatively closely. "Crossing Lines" follows the tone of "Freddie Freeloader" similarly. The chord progressions continue ...

All About Jazz.com (Dan McClenaghan)
Essence of Green is pianist/composer Ron Di Salvio's nod to the music created by Miles Davis and his sextet on the classic album, Kind of Blue (Columbia, 1959). The sound that opens the album on "Six Shades of Green" is unmistakable: that elastic, slow-loping rhythm from Davis' "All Blues," with bassist Rodney Whitaker front-and-center here, backed ...

Audiophile Audition (John Henry)
**** A most interesting concept is behind this CD. Pianist/composer Di Salvio - who studied with Lennie Tristano - sought to do an album along the lines of the historic Miles Davis/Bill Evans Kind of Blue. That landmark 1959 recording has been reissued in countless forms, had two books written about its making, and its complete score is now ava ...

Platter Chatter (George Fendel)
If you were into Kind of Blue (and who wasn't?), or if you tend to lean in the direction of what is sometimes referred to as chamber jazz, give this one a listen. Di Salvio has brought together a skilled and sensitive group of musicians, the most famous of whom is drummer Jimmy Cobb (who, you might recall, sat at the drum set on Kind of Blue). Thes ...