Miles Davis. Miles Davis. Miles Davis.

[No Pride]

I consider the Shorter/Hancock/Carter/Williams band to be the best small group Jazz that has ever existed.

Well, them and the Coltrane Quartet! And to think both bands were tearing it up at around the same time period. The only reason I'd ever wish I was older than I am.

I love Miles' first great quintet with Coltrane and Cannonball too! Funny, I started with In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew, which I loved when I was in my late teens/early 20s. As I got older, I grew to love the earlier stuff more.

And btw, Miles DID box, though not professionally. He wasn't just posing for that photo.

[Dave (in MA)]

The tracks on the Jack Johnson box are mostly named after boxers, with the ones that came out of the archives untitled given their names by Vince Wilburn, Jr., Miles' nephew.

"Willie Nelson" dates at least as far back as 1981, when a 1970 version of it was released on the "Directions" compilation. The boxer Willie Nelson wasn't born until 1987 and wasn't even active in boxing until after the box came out. So, was there an earlier boxer by that name, or is the piece named after everybody's favorite weed-smoking, tax-avoiding country singer? (Or maybe it's like Joe Frazier off the Bruford album that was named after some guy that Jeff Berlin knew.)

[Adrian]

I like his Silent Way-Bitches-Jack Johnson period well enough, along with a few other songs here and there, but for the most part he's never been my cup of tea. And I say that with full appreciation of his talent and creativity.

[Reid]

This summer I've been listening to the early 60s material. Monterey 1963, Seven Steps To Heaven, Miles In Tokyo w/ Sam Rivers, and Miles In Berlin, an early live recording with the great quintet. It's all good, but the playing at the Monterey '63 concert is phenomenal!

[Fracktured]

And btw, Miles DID box, though not professionally. He wasn't just posing for that photo.

Imagine that, a guy who earned a living with his hands boxing.



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[StevegSr]

And btw, Miles DID box, though not professionally. He wasn't just posing for that photo.

I never said he didn't, it was just a hobby for him.

[Poisoned Youth]

Well, them and the Coltrane Quartet! And to think both bands were tearing it up at around the same time period. The only reason I'd ever wish I was older than I am.

I love Miles' first great quintet with Coltrane and Cannonball too! Funny, I started with In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew, which I loved when I was in my late teens/early 20s. As I got older, I grew to love the earlier stuff more.

And btw, Miles DID box, though not professionally. He wasn't just posing for that photo.

Speaking strictly pre-70s, I think I have gotten more mileage from the Coltrane Quartet than the "2nd great Miles quintet", primarily because the Coltrane material not only stretches out more but sounds more fresh 50 years later when compared to the plethora of jazz bands out there since.

Speaking of Cannonball, the "Something Else" date with Miles, while an obvious selection, is just incredible almost 60 years later.

Ultimately it ends up being Silent Way and Brew that I return to the most with Miles. I usually tend to spin 60s Hancock, Shorter, and Williams recordings more than the actual quintet by a wide margin.

[walt]

I keep coming back to Porgy and Bess.So much heavy emotion and feeling that these tracks convey(to me).There are some ensemble passages that aren't note perfect, but these are minor quibbles.A monumental album, imo.Two tracks in particular.

[Svetonio]

My favourite Miles' albums are In A Silent Way, On The Corner and Decoy





And I think that On The Corner and Decoy are slightly underrrated.

[StevegSr]

Speaking strictly pre-70s, I think I have gotten more mileage from the Coltrane Quartet than the "2nd great Miles quintet", primarily because the Coltrane material not only stretches out more but sounds more fresh 50 years later when compared to the plethora of jazz bands out there since.

I agree as JCQ does still sound fresh and there's more to sink your teeth into then what's offered from the "2nd great Mile Q."

[Spiral]

The Live in Tokyo '75 release was talked about here:
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/thread...-label.494843/

Interesting. I'd say they're right on all counts.

I am still curious if it has ever been confirmed that he jammed with Jimi Hendrix and if recordings were made?????

According to Miles's autobiography, they met a few times and jammed a little but didn't record it. IIRC, Miles and Gil were in the stages of preparing for album sessions when they got the news Jimi had died.

[klothos]

I have a love/hate relationship with Miles Davis: Throughout his body of work, there's music I absolutely LOVE and stuff I absolutely hate....Interestingly enough, I have the same feeling toward Jaco Pastorius, although he floors me more often than not ( a bass player thang, of course)

[Scrotum Scissor]

Needless to say, his cultural/historical/musical influence and importance and legacy are all colossal, and I sometimes still DO listen to Bitches, Silent, Kind Of and Agharta - yet I wouldn't name myself a "fan" as such, seeing how I could never really decide whether I ever "got" Miles in the same sense that I "got" Coltrane or Ayler. I have enormous respect, still I'm bewildered. It's enticing and intriguing and beguiling, but not truly stimulating to me. I prefer Ayreon at that. Or Bronski Beat.

[Zeuhlmate]

He has definetely 'covered' a lot of musical styles. No singing I think...

[Trane]

Miles Davis. Miles Davis. Miles Davis.

Never heard of this dude!!!

===========

From 67 to 75, he couldn't go wrong...

Before that outside KoB and SoS, I don't care much...

And after that, I don't care much either.... Except maybe for the Hot Spot soundtrack

I tried numerous times to get into Miles but alas he's just not for me I guess. Maybe someday I'll get him. Arguably the greatest jazz musician of all time though.

Miles was more of a catalyser... he made things happen and he did it better than anyone else (except maybe Mingus and Ellington)... but to call him the greatest musician is somewhat a different thing.

I consider the Shorter/Hancock/Carter/Williams band to be the best small group Jazz that has ever existed.

I'll definitely take the Coltrane quartet above that... Whether with Workman or Garrison on bass.

[Trane]

Speaking strictly pre-70s, I think I have gotten more mileage from the Coltrane Quartet than the "2nd great Miles quintet", primarily because the Coltrane material not only stretches out more but sounds more fresh 50 years later when compared to the plethora of jazz bands out there since.

Absolutely.

I realize that Miles made tons of things during the 50's (and even 40's) and the 60's, but Trane did more for the "jazz cause" in the timeframe from 61 to 65 (basically his Impulse! days + Olé Coltrane), not even mentioning the Ascension album and what came after.

I don't what would've musically happened if he had survived unscathed post-67, but in some weird mythical way, his untimely death wasn't
maybe so untimely for his legend.

And indeed, his modal jazz still sounds quite actual compared to Miles' Cool and Post-bops 60's stuff....

And Trane's legacy (Alice, McCoy, Archie, Pharoah, Ravi, ... and even Kamazi Washington) is at least as impressive as Miles'

[Shadow]

I heard when he toured Europe he was billed as Kilometer Davis.

[No Pride]

Speaking strictly pre-70s, I think I have gotten more mileage from the Coltrane Quartet than the "2nd great Miles quintet", primarily because the Coltrane material not only stretches out more but sounds more fresh 50 years later when compared to the plethora of jazz bands out there since.

Perhaps the Coltrane Quartet sounds more fresh because it hasn't been imitated quite as much as Miles' Second Quintet, I don't know. As for stretching out more, I'm not sure that's accurate. Both bands were forward thinking and experimental, basically utilizing the newer concepts of freedom while still maintaining a steady pulse. They just approached it in very different ways. I was into Coltrane's Quartet a couple of decades before I discovered the work of Miles' Quintet of the '60s. Before that, I thought Coltrane's group were the leading groundbreakers of the time, after, I felt Miles' band was right up there with them, though with a decidely different approach. YMMV.

[No Pride]

I usually tend to spin 60s Hancock, Shorter, and Williams recordings more than the actual quintet by a wide margin.

Same here, gotta admit! I like form and the members of Miles' Quintet were more into it on their own albums from the same time period; not to mention they were phenomenal jazz composers.

[Reid]

Same here, gotta admit! I like form and the members of Miles' Quintet were more into it on their own albums from the same time period; not to mention they were phenomenal jazz composers.

Tony's Blue Note albums sound very free to my ears. My favorite Herbie album is the trio + Latin percussion album, Inventions And Dimensions.

[mogrooves]

I prefer the SGQ to the Coltrane 4tet (yes, sacrilege, I know!). Hipper all around, imo. I can hear Miles & Co. thinking through complexity, whereas the 4tet was about direct expression, a notion I've always found dubious, though I won't deny its efficacy and the skill with which it is accomplished. The initial self-imposed constraints of the 4tet became something of a trap in time (and ultimately compelled a move to a place that both McCoy & Elvin wouldn't go), whereas the SGQ was much more open within the bounds of absolutely hip structures (sonic "Cubism"). The two groups represent a complementary binary, a kind of ying/yang, Dionysian/Apollonian, cerebration/emotion thing, but I gotta go with Miles at that point in time.

[wideopenears]

Perhaps the Coltrane Quartet sounds more fresh because it hasn't been imitated quite as much as Miles' Second Quintet, I don't know. As for stretching out more, I'm not sure that's accurate. Both bands were forward thinking and experimental, basically utilizing the newer concepts of freedom while still maintaining a steady pulse. They just approached it in very different ways. I was into Coltrane's Quartet a couple of decades before I discovered the work of Miles' Quintet of the '60s. Before that, I thought Coltrane's group were the leading groundbreakers of the time, after, I felt Miles' band was right up there with them, though with a decidely different approach. YMMV.

Coltrane's my favorite musician ever, and I love his Quartets, as well as most everything else he did. Ascension gets an annual airing, but the Impulse quartet records are regularly spun in my house.

But the thing about the Second Miles Quintet was the group interplay.....the sort of collective conversation and improvisation....I think it was unique. Yes, it's created a ton of imitators, but they did it first. With the first quartet, and to some degree with Coltrane's groups, there is still more of a "head/solos/head" sort of thing....Miles Smiles, Sorcerer, and those second quartet records seem more "free" and I just hear the guys interacting more, even when there are discrete solos.

Perhaps it's just me, though.

[Jubal]

The quality sounds fine to me. I saw it's a small label, but didn't get the impression it was dodgy or anything... then again, I didn't put much thought into that partly because it's not a living artist dependent on the income or anything.


Really? It must be the one about the scaffold (the title's escaping me right now). That's good stuff, but somehow I feel sad at the thought of it being used in a commercial.

Here is the album used for the Lincoln commercials.
https://www.amazon.com/Ascenseur-Pou.../dp/B000004785

It is also available from Pure Audio in hi-rez Blu-Ray, which sounds pretty fantastic.

[pb2015]

"Willie Nelson" dates at least as far back as 1981, when a 1970 version of it was released on the "Directions" compilation. The boxer Willie Nelson wasn't born until 1987 and wasn't even active in boxing until after the box came out. So, was there an earlier boxer by that name, or is the piece named after everybody's favorite weed-smoking, tax-avoiding country singer?

Miles was a fan of the country singer.

[profusion]

Miles is so essential to the development of 20th Century American music, that it's tough to analyze his contribution properly. I'm as much a jazz fan as a rock fan, and I enjoy all of his eras, other than the Birth of the Cool stuff, which just isn't my style.

Interestingly, I find him to be more of a stylist than a virtuoso on his instrument. Freddie Hubbard and Donald Byrd were much more sure-footed on the instrument, but Miles was far more distinctive as a stylist, IMO.