Kind of Blue is “like the Bible, in a way: You just have one in your house.” So sayeth Q-Tip in the documentary DVD that half-justifies this lavish box set (along with some chin-scratching essays and an outtakes CD). But while many a King James Version molders, trumpeter Miles Davis’ greatest album begs frequent use, both as an elusive object of worship and a soundtrack for things that tend to happen with the shades drawn. Its ageless cool now seems intertwined with its back story: Just months after making the album, Davis and most of his sidemen (notably pianist Bill Evans and saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian “Cannonball” Adderley) would spin off in different directions, founding entire schools of jazz. To hear them simmering all together on “So What,” even now, is to appreciate the power of the ephemeral. As the good book says, Amen.

DOWNLOAD “So What,” “Freddie Freeloader,” “Flamenco Sketches”