Entertainment For Lively Minds
Cold melancholy beauty: slowly discovering Miles Davis
I would like to offer hearty thanks to the massive member who recently suggested my next Miles Davis purchase should be Porgy And Bess (I've lost the thread and can't remember who it was!). It's terrific.
Over the last few years I've SLOWLY been getting into little bits of Miles Davis here and there, and it all just gets better and better.
I started with "Kind Of Blue", like most people. It's good, or perhaps great. But I think the language and sound of Kind Of Blue has become so assimilated into the mainstream impression of what "jazz" sounds like that it's almost boring, almost a parody. But I keep coming back to it, particularly the first track "So What" with its telepathically perfect blend of musicians all giving each other JUST enough space.
It took me a long time to get my next Miles Davis: I got "In A Silent Way" because I liked the cover. And it's a gorgeous album, a fantastic wash of sound. The title track has got that cold melancholy beauty that Miles does so well.
And then recently I got "Sketches Of Spain". I balked initially at the mariachi/big band sound, and I thought I had made a mistake with the purchase (well it was £3 in Fopp but you know what I mean). But then I stuck it on in the car one sunny day and it just clicked with me. I just "got" it. I love Gil Evans' orchestrations: the little touches of dissonance, the long languid drones.
And then someone here suggested I try "Porgy And Bess": so I did. And it's the best yet. I've never heard anything like it. Gil Evans' orchestrations are (once again) absolutely spellbinding: cool and poignant, touching on spiritual. And that characteristic trumpet just wafts lazily over the top of everything and pulls it all together.
So I'm slowly getting to love Miles Davis. And I'm in awe of the variety of achievements he built up over many years and many performances, and his inability to keep still. And I'm pretty excited that I've only really scratched the surface so far.
Where to next? Any suggestions?
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I would recommend
The Complete Birth of the Cool
Where it all began and it's accessible as well as profoundly revealing.
Les filles de Kilimanjaro
may be a good next move or even Milestones...
I like the ones you have mentioned with the possible exception of Sketches of Spain.
Of his later stuff I particularly like the soundtrack 'Siesta' and his cover of 'Time after Time' on 'You're Under Arrest' is well worth checking out...
Bitches Brew?
Full on jazz-rock - with all that implies...
John McLaughlin, Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Joe Zawinul, Lenny White, Jack De Johnette all in full effect.
'Miles Ahead'...
and in particular the sublime Blues for Pablo.
I totally concur...
... with Miles Ahead - the Gill Evans connection makes it a logical next step from Porgy and Bess (although I think it was recorded first). Sketches of Spain is the other part of the Gil Evans' classic trilogy.
The greatest of all Miles records is surely...
...A Tribute To Jack Johnson! It's not very well known, but it's a much better yin to A Silent Ways Yang (or vice versa) than Bitches Brew. And yes, its the third of the Miles + McLaughlin trio. His instruction to John for this track, 'Right Off', was apparently "Play like you don't know how to play"... which meant that he ends up sounding like Pete Townshend...
Humble correction...
The "play like you don't know how" was actually the advice MD gave to JM during "In a Silent Way".
http://www.accessatlanta.com/AccessAtlanta-sharing_/john-mclaughlin-play...
A good quote nonetheless!
I stand...
...corrected! :-)
Jack Johnson bargain alert
The Jack Johnson album is fantastic and it's available as a download from Amazon for a mere 1.78
http://www.amazon.co.uk/A-Tribute-To-Jack-Johnson/dp/B004IYM8GI/ref=sr_s...
Jack Johnson
Brilliant album. One of my favourite Miles.
My advice? Follow your nose ...
I started with "In a Silent Way" and listened it to death. The "You're under arrest" - which had just been released. Then "Bitches Brew" which took me literally years to "get" and now is one of my desert island discs.
Now I'm just getting to grips with other "Electric Miles" albums - "On The Corner" and in the last few weeks "Pangaea".
For me, the joy of listening Miles has been the uncertainty of what you're going to find within each album. Some endure better than others but few have nothing worth a listen.
Bitches Brew...
... took me years as well - I haven't fully embraced Jack Johnson yet - but intend to.
Seven Steps To Heaven
Definitely a fantastic album IMHO. A very late night session feel to it, but a good place as any, as it includes the track "Basin Street Blues" which is Miles at his best. "Baby Won't You Please Come Home" is another exercise in restraint. There's a moment about 5 minutes in that just IS the sound of a bar man washing up at the end of the night and is all the better for it.
Definitely a jazz album. But a very good jazz album.
Not sure this will help
but had a tweet from fopp, saying they are selling a 20 cd box set of miles davis, slimline cases, for £15
Old thread, but hey
just bought the wonderful box that Mint posted about, with a nicely done booklet, a joint venture of Columbia with their French operation I think. Even at double Fopp's price on Amazon it seemed like a bargain to me. Contents rather speak for themselves:
1 'Round About Midnight (1957)
2 Miles Ahead (1957)
3 1958 Miles (1974)
4 Porgy And Bess (1959)
5 Kind Of Blue (1959)
6 Sketches Of Spain (1960)
7 Someday My Prince Will Come (1961)
8 Seven Steps To Heaven (1963)
9 Miles In Berlin (1965)
10 ESP (1965)
11 Miles Smiles (1967)
12 Nefertiti (1968)
13 Filles de Kilimanjaro (1969)
14 In a Silent Way (1969)
15 Bitches Brew 2 CDs (1970)
16 A Tribute To Jack Johnson (1971)
17 On The Corner (1972)
18 We Want Miles 2 CDs (1982)
19 Star People (1983)
20 Decoy (1984)
Would echo a lot of the comments above on the albums I knew already, but would also give a quick mention to one album not in this box the very atmospheric soundtrack CD from the Hot Spot, with the extraordinary coupling of Davis, John Lee Hooker and Taj Mahal. Works for me, anyway:
So many options
You can explore electric Miles further, as discussed above. The deeper you get into the pre-retirement 70s the deeper and darker the funk. Start with 'On The Corner' which has a sort of street funk vibe. Then move on to 'Get Up With It' which has a long elegy to Duke Ellington plus a wonderful track titled 'Calypso Frelimo'. For the really deep and dark stuff from the mid 70s, try 'Agharta', 'Pangaea' and 'Dark Magus' but be prepared for an intense experience.
Or you could explore the second quintet, with the same band format as 'Kind of Blue' but pushing the boundaries of acoustic, post-bop jazz to its limits. Albums like 'ESP' ( my personal favourite ), 'Miles Smiles', 'Nefertiti' and 'The Sorcerer'.
Or you could continuing exploring the music that led up to 'Kind of Blue'. A less obvious example would be the soundtrack to 'Ascenseur Pour L'Echafaud' ( 'Lift To The Scaffold' ). Miles recorded it in France in 1957 while watching the film on-screen. Very atmospheric.
Or you could check out the work of Gil Evans without Miles. My favourite is 'Out Of The Cool'
A few sites worth checking out :
The Last Miles ( good resource for Miles's post-retirement period )
http://www.thelastmiles.com/
Miles Beyond ( covers Mile's electric period from 1967 onwards )
http://www.miles-beyond.com/
Miles Ahead ( a very comprehensive discography )
http://www.plosin.com/milesAhead/
Some new Miles...
...film from 1970 at wolfgangs vault. Sadly, McLaughlin not present...
http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/miles-davis/video/its-about-that-time_-158...
Mid eighties
Three late period albums I love - Decoy, You're Under Arrest and Tutu.
The emphasis is most certainly on the funk, and includes cover versions of tracks by Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper and Scritti Politti. Might sound a bit odd but it works brilliantly.
I also love the Panthalassa remixes by Bill Laswell from the late 90s. Miles deconstructed!