Its impact on music, including jazz, rock, and classical genres, has led writers to also deem it one of the most influential albums ever made. Kind of Blue is regarded by many critics as Davis's masterpiece, the greatest jazz album ever recorded, and one of the best albums of all time. Basing Kind of Blue entirely on modality, he gave each performer a set of scales that encompassed the parameters of their improvisation and style, and consequently more creative freedom with melodies Coltrane later expanded on this modal approach in his own solo career. Influenced in part by Evans, who had joined the ensemble in 1958, Davis departed further from his early hard bop style in favor of greater experimentation with musical modes, as on his previous album Milestones (1958).
For the recording, Davis led a sextet featuring saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian 'Cannonball' Adderley, pianist Bill Evans, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb, with new band pianist Wynton Kelly appearing on one track – ' Freddie Freeloader' – in place of Evans. It was recorded on March 2 and April 22, 1959, at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City, and released on August 17 of that same year by Columbia Records. Kind of Blue is the fifth studio album released on Columbia, and twenty-eighth overall, by the American jazz musician, trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Miles Davis.