Like Mick Jagger, there are many Miles Davises, and I wouldn’t profess to know all of them that well. I really like the Coltrane era, and this album, not often mentioned as it’s overshadowed by its kind of blue brother (but a real gem nonetheless), is one of my favourites.
So what’s your favourite Miles? Chasing Bird, with cool elan? Rewriting the rules of jazz with Trane? Getting free with the second quartet? Going all weird with rock dudes? Put on your shades and be cool.
The Good Doctor says
My Jazz knowledge is incredibly patchy never mind my Miles knowledge. However, I came to this via Richard H.Kirk of Cabaret Voltaire and also Tim Gane (Cavern of Anti-Matter/Stereolab) who swear by this one. This is monstrously good – it’s noisy but it’s also funky and the drumming is insanely ahead of it’s time – this is basically Jungle/Drum & Bass 20 years early.
Junior Wells says
Couldn’t possibly decide.
My go tos (should there ben an apostrophe there – he asks while listening to Uncle Frank’s Apostrophe) used to be Sketches, Jack Johnson and Kind Of Blue.
Bitches Brew then became a bit of an obsession.
Those heavy funk albums are fantastic when in the mood.
50’s early 60’s cool is so agreeable for so many audiences it is easy to put on any time.
But if pressed I’d probably go for this one
https://www.allmusic.com/album/miles-davis-at-carnegie-hall-mw0000598156
Tiggerlion says
That’s an understated review for Allmusic. Carnegie Hall captures Miles’s playing at its very best. Unusually for Miles, he soared in the high notes. The upper register was generally regarded as a weakness for him, but here he proves his critics wrong. He demonstrates his mastery of both fire and ice, boiling with aggression and singing emotion. It is said that Miles actually smiled at the audience.
mikethep says
No apostrophe. You’re welcome.
Junior Wells says
Looks odd though. Since “go to” is a made up term should normal rules of granmar apply.
And yes Tig those piercing high notes are the err high point.
mikethep says
Slippery slope, mate. Normal rules of grandma always apply, hence rules. This ain’t Vietnam.
Junior Wells says
Ha ha. If there was a blog award for typos I’d be a contedner.
Moose the Mooche says
I thought that the dread spectre of Paul Nicholas and his Grandma’s Party was being invoked.
*makes sign of cross, strews garlic everywhere *
Leicester Bangs says
What I used to hate was subbing those quizzes where all the ‘yes’ answers indicate one thing, and all the ‘no’ answers another, so you’d write, ‘All Nos’, which was grammatically correct but looked so awful that I couldn’t help but change it to ‘All no’s’.
Moose the Mooche says
Yeses presents the scary inage of multiple prog rock groups. Nos looks like it’s going to become Nosferatu.
Undead, undead, undead.
Harold Holt says
Your sure its not “Kin’d of Blu’e” ?
Moose the Mooche says
You bully’s!
duco01 says
That album often gets referred to as “A Kind of Blue”. That really brings out the pedant in me (not difficult, admittedly).
mikethep says
I think the last Miles album I bought when it came out was In a Silent Way, but the last one I loved unreservedly was probably Seven Steps to Heaven. I’ve made sporadic attempts to connect with stuff from the Shorter/Williams/Hancock years and beyond, but, brilliant thought it is, I soon drift away again.
SteveT says
In a Silent Way and Sketches for me but I do have a soft spot for Tutu which is often maligned these days
Mavis Diles says
I agree on Tutu – it’s very listenable and there are some great compositions. Probably should have been co-credited as an album to Marcus Miller.
Moose the Mooche says
Twas my first MD album and a good intro for a lad of 13 in the summer of 1987.
The other side of the C90 was Force by ACR. I’m sure Don and the chaps would have been pleased.
Twang says
Great album. I remember first playing it driving through London at night through a series of tunnels and underpasses. I felt like I was in a music video.
retropath2 says
Early as far as SoS, but it, Sketches, does drag a bit, showing he needed a I hope you like our new direction. I never got BB and never have, it remaining a cacophonous din of random tape splicings, music written apropos Bowie and his 70s lyrics, and it don’t work, Mr Macero. For me. Paradoxically, I was drawn back in via his sublime solo on O Patti/Scritti Politti and thus can take some of his later stuff, but then I like Marcus Miller too.
It is threads like this that help, however, as I am a novice dabbler in Jazz generally, and I realise I have not knowingly heard In a Silent Way and realise I should remedy that.
minibreakfast says
I’m only a Davis dabbler, but I’m with you on Someday. My go-tos are Cookin’, Steamin’ etc. They’re just so darned listenable.
fitterstoke says
Just bought these this week (Cookin’ / Relaxin’ / Workin’ / Steamin’) on a two CD set for tuppence ha’penny. I’d never listened to them before – what a superb set of toons!
duco01 says
The Miles albums I tend to return to are the following:
Kind of Blue
Porgy and Bess
Sketches of Spain
In Concert – My Funny Valentine
In Person Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk, Complete
Nefertiti
Jack Johnson
The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions (which will always be my favourite)
I’ve sometimes considered getting the Complete Jack Johnson Sessions box, but … I dunno … I just think that five CDs’ worth might be a bit much, y’know.
I’m rather ashamed to admit that I don’t like Bitches Brew. I’ve tried to get into it a few times, but … no dice. Pity. It’s always seemed a pretty cool album to like!
Twang says
I’ve got the Complete Jack Johnson and whilst it’s interesting, the very nature of listening to a bunch of jam sessions makes it hard to appreciate as a thing as opposed to a lot of good bits.
Tiggerlion says
Try the Complete On The Corner. There’s a marathon worth running.
fitterstoke says
Best part of £300 for a second-hand copy on eBay today…
fitterstoke says
Ah yes – but is it “better” than Soft Machine Third? 🤔
bang em in bingham says
A big yes for In A Silent Way Sessions just so bloody wonderful….I mean there is tons of great Miles stuff, but that box set is spine shivering stuff…Oh and a shout out for the soundtrack album Ascenseur pour l’échafaud”…lovely stuff
TRMagicWords says
While I love all eras of Miles I would have to go for his late 60s/early 70s electric phase as The One. Bitches Brew is one of my favourite albums ever and In A Silent Way and Live-Evil are up there too. There’s something about this period’s combination of liquid grooves and edge-of-your-pants playing that makes it utterly compelling. Also v keen on the Second Great Quintet era in the 1960s, and the transitional Filles de Kilimanjaro album that acts as bridge between this and what was to come.
jazzjet says
I’m with you on Filles de Kilimanjaro. I was a virtual Miles obsessive and have pretty much all of his released (and unreleased) output but I keep coming back to this one. I love most of his different phases, although I struggle sometimes with the 70s material (Fillmore etc).
Lodestone of Wrongness says
With Miles I am the complete civilian. Love Kind of Blue, it would follow me to my Desert Island – that’s cos it’s got actual tunes as opposed to , according to these cloth ears, nearly everything else he recorded where the old John Peel adage applies “Jazz was the peoples’ music before intellectuals got hold of it”….
Twang says
try “Some day my prince will come”. Lovely and COBesque.
Keef says
I think he was consistently pushing out great albums during the Columbia era, only faltering in the comeback years when the chops and inspiration faltered. Even then there are some good tracks to be found but there’s too much generic jazz/funk and I really struggle with the Warners/Marcus Miller stuff. Miller was no Gil Evans.
Absolutely love Milestones, Kind of Blue, Sketches of Spain, Filles de Kilimanjaro, Nefertiti, In A Silent Way, Bitches Brew, Get Down With It, On The Corner and the live albums from the early 70s. I’ve probably left loads out too.
Mavis Diles says
I like all of it. Those of you who like Kind of Blue, seek out 1958 Miles for more of the same.
Moose the Mooche says
Fancy seeing you here!
Tony Japanese says
I own two Miles Davis albums – ‘Sketches of Spain’ and ‘Bitches Brew’. I did have ‘A Kind of Blue’ but it’s something I was never able to get into. As far as these ears are concerned, there are better albums out there – ‘Time Out’, ‘A Love Supreme’, ‘Black Saint and the Sinner Lady’ to name but three.
Clearly I’m missing something on ‘A Kind of Blue’ but I don’t know what it is.
Graculus says
I think I have almost everything from Birth of the Cool onwards, but the albums I return to again and again are In a Silent Way (the first Miles album I ever heard) and the “out there” triumvirate of Dark Magus / Agharta / Pangea
Moose the Mooche says
The view of some seems to be that all was well until he started stepping out with that brazen hussy John McLaughlin…
Junior Wells says
Wanna be startin’ somethin’ Moose?
Moose the Mooche says
Nyerrr…. we antlered beasts are more than a match for the likes of you, two-necks!
Ahh_Bisto says
Has to be Oh Patti (extended version) from 1988
Oh my aching (12) sides (of Miles)
Ahh_Bisto says
On a serious note if I could only take one album it would be the complete In A Silent Way sessions. An album that one day I can listen to and enjoy as a jazz album, on another day enjoy as an avant-garde rock album and on another day enjoy as a first-time listener. I’m not sure there are many albums that can achieve that triumvirate of listening pleasures after years of repeated playing..
Mavis Diles says
That’s a good call. If only there were rock box sets as good as this…
retropath2 says
I never knew there was a longer version! Blissful. O that you could convert videos to music files, eh. (Shaddup)
Junior Wells says
In A Silent Way is of course Joe Zawinul’s triumph.
Santana does a nice version segueing from Incudent At Neshabur.
fitterstoke says
So, is this actually the definitive version?
Mavis Diles says
Fantastic song. Green never bettered it.
Junior Wells says
Green ?
Ahh_Bisto says
Green, grass of?
Junior Wells says
Blue in green
Ahh_Bisto says
Hughie Green?
Tiggerlion says
On Green Dolphin Street?
Ahh_Bisto says
Through a Green Haze?
SteveT says
Green earrings
Mike_H says
I remember.
The rings of rare design.
Tiggerlion says
There is so much wonderful Miles. But, when all is said and done, the modal phase still turns me on, that is the small group work on Milestones, Jazz Track, Kind Of Blue and Someday My Prince Will Come. I’d even include Scaffold in that list but not his orchestral work with Gil Evans. Interestingly, his small group was unstable at that time, with members coming and going in contrast to the quintet in 1955-7, yet the music is so serene, for the most part.
Moose the Mooche says
Me too. I do also have a lot of affection for the early tentative tootlings with Bird.
*ahem*
Tahir W says
Maybe when Miles eventually gets ‘canonised’ it will be the early 1980s Miles that gets raised on high. Who knows how these things turn out?
Arthur Cowslip says
It’s a tough question. I’ve been dabbling in Miles with guidance of the good Afterword massive over the last few years, but I still think of myself as a dabbler and not an obsessive.
If the question is what would I RECOMMEND it would be Kind of Blue. It’s an obvious choice but it is so listenable and stylish. It’s as undeniably pleasant as a warm bath.
My own personal favourites are Sketches of Spain and In A Silent Way, because they touch on a particular kind of ambient dreaminess that appeals to me. By equally I think they might alienate casual listeners.
My absolute favourite single track though is It Never Entered My Mind, which is a contender for my funeral anthem. It’s so damn chilled and beautiful. BUT there are two versions and one is not so good. The one I like is on some magazine cover CD I have, and I think it differs from the album version (on Cookin I think).
Moose the Mooche says
The Cover CD you’re thinking of was an Uncut one of some movie music in about 1997-8. That Never Entered… is from the soundtrack of Lenny. One of Mrs Moose’s DIDs, specifically that version.
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Reel-Music-The-Coolest-Sounds-From-The-Greatest-Movies/release/2311826
JQW says
The two versions of It Never Entered My Mind:
One recorded for Blue Note in 1954. Confusingly it appeared on the 10″ LP Miles Davis Vol. 3, but is now one of the extra tracks on the CD version Miles Davis Vol. 1, having also appeared on the LP version of Miles Davis Vol. 2 when it was extended from 10″ to 12″ back in the 1950s!
The second was recorded in 1956 for Prestige, appearing on Workin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet. I presume this is the superior version you mentioned.
Declan says
He finally dispensed with conventional notions of what constituted “jazz” around In A Silent Way (1969) and started inviting guitar players, sitar players, tabla players, funk guys, conga guys, whatever, down to the studio and let them loose. So Jack Johnson, On The Corner, Big Fun, Get Up With It, etc. culminating with the Osaka albums (1975), where the band had become massively dense but still loose, represent an output still unique. Not always brilliant, mind, but often was. He had health issues too and the drug input is, well, not audible exactly, but maybe imaginable. And trusty Teo Macero would edit and assemble the stuff and keep the record company happy(ish).
So 1969 to 1975 is my favourite period. Launched an entire industry/genre as well with assorted ex-Miles alumni developing many of his strands into what seemed at the time like an awakening. Of course, the record labels eventually squeezed the life out of it but those mid-70s years, with Cobham, Hancock, Mahavishnu, Weather Report, Return To Forever, et al were mind boggling.
Here’s a little sample of psychedelic Miles, released 1974 but probably recorded 2 years previously.
Mike_H says
Actually, Mtume and Maiysha are the last two tracks recorded for that album. Both from October 7th 1974.
“Get Up With It” is one of my favourite albums from early ’70s Miles. The final studio album to be released before he stopped working for several years. Cobbled together from leftovers really, but what leftovers!
There are tracks from 1970 (Honky Tonk), 1972 (Rated X, Red China Blues & Billy Preston), 1973 (Calypso Frelimo) and 1974 on it, with all manner of different lineups. Miles and bassist Michael Henderson are the only ones on every single track.
My favourite track is of course his tribute to the (then) recently deceased Duke Ellington “He Loved Him Madly”, recorded in June 1974. I imagine it must have been edited down somewhat for the original vinyl release as it’s over 32 minutes long on the CD version. Similarly, “Calypso Frelimo” from 1973 must have been edited originally. Another 32 minute track.
Actually I must confess that I slightly prefer the 1997 remix/edit of “He Loved Him Madly” by Bill Laswell, from the album “Panthalassa: The Music Of Miles Davis 1969 – 1974” which comes in at a pretty succinct 13m:38s. He did a superb job IMO.
Declan says
Ah, was listening to “He Loved Him Madly” earlier this evening: tense and loose and funky and atmospheric and driving and tottering on the brink, all at once. Thanks for filling us in, Mike. You’re dead right on Laswell too.
BTW There was another Miles via Teo cobbled together leftovers album around 1977, Circle In The Round, ranging from cuts featuring George Benson (’67) and Cannonball Adderley (’58) to a side-long version of Crosby’s Guinnevere (’70) featuring tabla and sitar. Lovely stuff, you need it..
Mavis Diles says
Yep Panthalassa is a fantastic album. I also love the Laswell/Santana follow up.
Junior Wells says
I like it but reckon the Markey album by Laswell was better.
Mavis Diles says
He Loved Him Madly is/was a huge inspiration to Eno, on Discrete Music and the Ambient series. I can hear it.
Tiggerlion says
It’s Eno’s favourite track of all time.
Miles, in turn, was inspired by Sly Stone, especially Fresh. You can hear it in the organ and the prominence of bass and drum. During the recording of He Loved Him Madly, an elegy for Duke who’d died a month earlier, the title based on a Christmas card he sent to Miles, Miles made his band listen to In Time six times in succession.
Try it:
Junior Wells says
It was Betty Davis who turned him onto Sly and funk in general and pointed him down the road he travelled in the 70s
Mike_H says
He was on a pretty strange journey then, as he was listening to James Brown and Sly Stone, but also to Stockhausen.
He was also gobbling up heavy-duty painkillers for his dodgy hip and snorting loads of coke.
By 1972 he’d added sitar and tablas to his sound and by 1974 he’d ditched both of them again and had 3 guitarists (later cut down to 2) and no keyboards except his own explorations on organ.
Declan says
Hmm… looking at the album right now and no credit whatsoever for Teo but a project involving many names. It’s taken me 40 years to notice this (as it does).
Hey Tigg, is that Larry Graham on bass? Your man Henderson from Miles’s early 70s bands became a major aspect of the sound with his relaxed but taut funk’n’soul style. There’s the Sly influence right there. Time to give the lad some credit.
Tiggerlion says
It is actually Rusty Allen on In Time. The Family had pretty much fallen out by the time of Fresh. Larry plays on Que Sera and If It Were Up To Me only. Rusty is on three tracks and Sly does the rest himself.
Henderson is crucial to electric Miles. He was the subject of controversy as he wasn’t a jazz musician (recruited from Stevie Wonder). However, he was the only constant in the band, apart from Miles, for a full seven years. Has anyone lasted longer? Miles wouldn’t keep him if he didn’t value his musicianship. Henderson deserves as much credit as, say, Ron Carter or Paul Chambers.
Mike_H says
Henderson was under instruction from Miles:
“Don’t you go listening to any of that Old shit. If any of the soloists start trying to play any of that stuff, ignore them and don’t follow.”
By which he meant any of the old repertoire from previous lineups.
Declan says
There’s a story new to me, Mike. Love it, brilliant.
Suspect he may have told Lucas and Cosey something similar, was struck* by their weaving, feinting, heavily-processed, enmeshed, brink-of-consciousness, enthralling style on Pangaea last night. They even cut loose occasionally. Now there’s a far out album.
*y’know, yet again
Mike_H says
Henderson said “Keith Jarrett used to get off on being innovative and doing off-the-wall stuff. But Miles used to come over to my side, and whisper to me, “Don’t follow that motherfucker”. I don’t think the other guys understood, because Keith Jarrett sometimes got frustrated when I didn’t follow. The others in the band didn’t know why I was in the band, but Miles knew exactly what he wanted from me.” Drummer Leon Chancler said that, in order to get musical tension, Miles told the group that “when Keith starts playing that Catholic school shit, lay out, don’t play, don’t follow him.” But he was also fascinated by Jarrett’s sense of freedom in the music, asking him “How do you start from nothing and play with no framework?”
Pete Cosey was a soul and blues player, a former Chess house band player from Chicago who’d got influenced by Hendrix and started experimenting with custom tunings and gadgets.
Probably the reason why Pete Cosey and Reggie Lucas are so prominent was because Miles was very ill with pneumonia for the two Osaka gigs (on the same day!) that produced “Pangaea” and “Agharta”.
Also his hip and ankles were so bad that he couldn’t operate his wah pedal with his foot and had to use his hand.
Tiggerlion says
Is there no love for the second great quintet: Hancock, Williams, Shorter & Carter? This band recorded the albums E.S.P., Miles Smiles, Sorcerer, Nefertiti, Miles in the Sky, and Filles de Kilimanjaro, and the live set some consider to be their crowning achievement, The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965.
These albums showcase the most dynamic, flexible group interplay ever recorded. It is breathtaking, almost as though all five musicians are attempting to unravel the same Gordian knot at the same time. The rhythm, the melodies, the harmonies are constantly shifting. It is almost in perpetual motion. I swear Tony Williams cymbals never stop ringing. The music doesn’t swing, it rolls, it jumps, it spins. The solos aren’t showcased as in hard bop, they are blended together as one. In hard bop, each solo is announced and politely applauded before another begins. In this quintet, all participants are equal and it’s hard to tell when one solo ends and another begins. Herbie Hancock seems to have two right hands. Wayne Shorter creates a cloud of notes. Miles, himself is exultant, clipped and cryptic. This is ensemble music at its very best, intuitive, imaginative and on fire. It’s a good job Ron Carter’s wide open bass provides the safety blanket.
Tahir W says
“In hard bop, each solo is announced and politely applauded before another begins.”
This ritual has since become ubiquitous in mainstream jazz and is one of the reasons that some of us are wary of Jazz gigs. Miles’s great achievement in the late 60s was for me the ways he and his cohort found of going beyond that.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Or those solos are precisely why jazz should be banned from all public spaces….
Tigger’s brilliantly written essay details exactly why I can’t listen to more than a minute of such stuff: “attempting to unravel the same Gordian knot at the same time” – aaaaaaagh!!
GCU Grey Area says
‘There are three types of jazz, Mr. Wrongness; hot, cool, and what time does the tune start?’ *
* Jill Swinburn**, in Alan Plater’s Beiderbecke Trilogy.
** as played by Barbara Flynn***.
*** sighs heavily.
duco01 says
‘There are three types of jazz; hot, cool, and what time does the tune start?’
I think we all know which of those three categories “Barbed Wire Maggots” by Borbetomagus comes under…
Twang says
Or add the Bonzos put it, jazz delicious hot, disgusting cold.
Junior Wells says
Plenty of love here.
On applauding solos, I read somewhere that applauding solos only became a habit after someone at Carnegie Hall stood up and applauded a solo they appreciated greatly. I thought it was the 50s.
Tiggerlion says
Was it a Miles solo?
Ahh_Bisto says
Han solo?
Junior Wells says
Nah poleon Solo
Ahh_Bisto says
Felicity Kendall Solo?
Moose the Mooche says
Very well.
*prepares embouchure*
Declan says
Love for the second great quintet, Tigg? But of course, fabulous albums all, one of the greatest-ever bands. You’ve nailed it beautifully, top marks. History grinds to a halt.
Except Miles, the fidgety yearning waspish bastard, needed to keep pushin’ that envelope. Next stop: Osaka. Not to be followed, obviously, hiatus instead. As SFA might’ve said, “that Miles early-70s septet – bloody hell!”
Junior Wells says
Just did a bit of research and found a reference in a book of Benny Goodman’s 1938 Carnegie Hall concert where reviews at the time complained about the enthusiasm of the crowd clapping every solo.
Ahh_Bisto says
I have a copy of the concert and it is indeed raucous and riotous. A lot of jazz concerts were the equivalent of a rave back in the day.
Moose the Mooche says
Little fish, big fish, cardboard box-oroonie
Lando Cakes says
Look, can we at least agree that Bitches Brew has the best cover?
Junior Wells says
Nope – nominating best cover just as hard as deciding on the music. Some fantastic covers.
Arthur Cowslip says
In A Silent Way is my favourite. Sketches Of Spain is horrendous.
Junior Wells says
In fact looking at these it’s the classic covers of ESP or Milestones
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-ab&biw=1411&bih=701&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=IXIiW9zNHMWV0gSfxaGoBw&q=miles+davis+album+cover&oq=miles+davis+&gs_l=img.1.4.35i39k1j0i67k1j0j0i67k1l2j0l5.236046.236604.0.241292.2.2.0.0.0.0.230.447.2-2.2.0….0…1c.1.64.img..0.2.446….0.SpuKiP58v0Y
Tiggerlion says
Here’s a download bargain. Nearly four hours of prime live Miles from 1961.
Did I say I love Wynton Kelly?
duco01 says
If you love Wynton Kelly, Tigger, then I can certainly recommend last year’s fine archival recording release of Wes Montgomery with the Wynton Kelly Trio: “Smokin in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse”. This is two marvellous radio broadcasts from 1966, and it’s lovingly produced and packaged by the good folks at Resonance records, who have done such a splendid job with three different Bill Evans releases over the past few years (Some Other Time, Another Time, and Live at Art D’Lugoff’s).
You may have the Montgomery/Kelly release anyway – in which case, I’m sure you dig it.
https://resonancerecords.org/shop/wes-montgomery-with-the-wynton-kelly-trio-smokin%C2%92-in-seattle-live-at-the-penthouse-1966-cd/
Tiggerlion says
It is sublime.
*wanders off in to a reverie*
Mike_H says
Could also buy this as 2 separate double CDs, Tiggs.
£7.73 for the Friday Night Complete set and £6.98 for the Saturday Night Complete set. My preferred option, as I like to have the physical discs to rip to FLAC files or play in the car.
Hmm.. Looking closer, these are s/h copies and delivery is total of £5.25 extra.
Maybe I’ll just get the mp3s for now.
Mike_H says
I don’t think there’s a “best” era of Miles Davis for me. All of them have great highs and the occasional low.
I loved “Bitches Brew” when it first came out but don’t feel any need to play it these days. The 2001-released “Live at the Fillmore East (March 7th 1970)” has only ever been played a couple of times. I just can’t warm to these two somehow. Most of “The Cellar Door Sessions” (some bits previously released on other albums) sounds great to me though.
I’m currently listening to the full “In Person At The Blackhawk” set and it’s a bit of a mixed bag. Some pretty forgettable stuff at the start of the Friday session but as they settle in things improve markedly. Hank Mobley acquits himself pretty well, but he’s a bit tame compared to ‘Trane. OTOH that gives Wynton Kelly a chance to shine and he certainly grabs it as things progress, on the Friday night session at any rate.
I think I could do with a bit of a refresher on the later ’60s quintet albums. It’s been a while since I played any of them.
Tiggerlion says
The Cellar Door Sessions is fantastic. I really enjoy playing all of it in the correct sequence. I love all of the preparation of the first four discs before John McLaughlin turns up and transforms everything into spectacular fireworks for discs five and six. It feels like a puzzle consuming a lifetime of bewildering concentration before all the pieces fall into place. John McLaughlin completes The Cellar Door.
nickduvet says
I’ve dug out In Person At The Blackhawk. What about those sleeve notes? Old Ralph knew how to spin a yarn for a couple of thousand words to take the listener down into the club.
Arthur Cowslip says
Good to see Sketches of Spain mentioned a few times above. That’s the main one I go back to.
I’ve never thought of myself as a Miles Davis fan, but I just realised the other day I have about 15 or so of his albums! So I suppose I am a fan after all.
Kind of Blue is unbeatable, of course.
And In A Silent Way is a perennial favourite of mine. Although having now heard the complete In A Silent Way sessions (or as near to complete as has been released) the finished album sounds like a bit of a cheat and not really representative of the sessions themselves. Sounds like Miles and the crew went off on a certain path of jamming, and then the producer (can’t remember his name offhand) distilled and extended just a couple of little bits of this to make the finished product. When you hear the album you image they were creating these amazing, grooving, quiet landscapes of sound for days on end, but the rest of the jams and outtakes sound frantic and busy by comparison.
I can’t complain though, and maybe it’s unfair to call it a cheat. I suppose I just mean that it sounds like Miles himself didn’t even know what he had created and the producer had to assemble it from discarded bits.
Moose the Mooche says
Somebody’s waking up long-dead threads?
Whilst in bed with Fred Dread?
That’s what I said…
Arthur Cowslip says
Wow, didn’t even notice the date on this. Ah well, never too late to praise Sketches of Spain.
fitterstoke says
Classic Afterword – not really a fan, only have 15 or so albums…
Arthur Cowslip says
It’s weird, isn’t it? I also seem to have quite a few John Coltrane albums. Yet if a civilian/muggle was to ask me if I like jazz, I would likely say, “Oh I don’t know much about jazz, I only have a few albums” and would plead ignorance.
deramdaze says
In a breath of fresh air, the latest issue of Uncut has Miles on the cover (he’s black!)… but it also has an article on Exile on Main Street.
So, to coin a phrase, what you get fourth with Tottenham or Arsenal, you get fifth with Arsenal or Tottenham.
fitterstoke says
Elliptical…
duco01 says
Miles Davis fans may be interested in a new release from ezz-thetics, which is a reissue offshoot of Werner X. Uehlinger’s old Swiss jazz label, HatHut.
They’re putting out two Miles Davis Quintet shows from Stockholm in 1967 and 1969, the line-ups being:
Stockholm 1967:
Miles Davis – trumpet
Wayne Shorter – tenor saxophone
Herbie Hancock – piano
Ron Carter – double bass
Anthony Williams – drums
Stockholm 1969:
Miles Davis – trumpet
Wayne Shorter – tenor saxophone
Chick Corea – piano, electric piano
Dave Holland – double bass
Jack DeJohnette – drums
The album was supposed to come out in early March, but it seems to have been delayed a bit.
Anyway, here are the relevant links.
https://hathut.com/
https://ezz-thetics.bandcamp.com/album/stockholm-live-1967-1969-revisited
Arthur Cowslip says
Yeah, but I’m not really a Miles Davis fan, I only have about 15 or so of his albums.
fitterstoke says
Arf!
fitterstoke says
Any heard these Stockholm shows? Worth investing?
Tiggerlion says
You can stream from Bandcamp. Sample before you buy.