THE MILES DAVIS APPRECIATION THREAD I think the man needs no introduction, but here's a link to the timeline of his life: Timeline | Miles Davis Official Site ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please feel free to share your love, your favorite recordings, your favorite period of his stylistic development or anything else you'd like to share that promotes this absolute legend of 20th Century music.
Where to begin? I guess I'll say Kind of Blue was the catalyst, I wasn't a fan of jazz before hearing that record. Since then I'm still very picky about jazz but I've probably amassed 30-40 Miles albums/recordings. He dwarfs anything else in my collection. That said, I've got a visceral, emotional connection to the 69-75 era that isn't replicated elsewhere. My favorite era by far, completely its own thing and it just does a number on me. My eras/categories in order of preference, generally speaking: 1. 69-75 2. 50s from Walkin' through the Prestige albums, first Columbia records, KOB and the Gil Evans collabs 3. 2nd great quintet 4. Birth of the Cool era and anything preceding 5. 80s comeback
Love it all, but partial to the second great quintet output. I'm continually amazed by that 1965-68 string of innovative, energetic releases...E.S.P., Miles Smiles, Sorcerer, Nefertiti, Miles In The Sky, Filles de Kilimanjaro. Not to mention In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew to follow. All of this brilliance is only just slice of his career. It's unreal.
"Round about Midnight (the mono version) did it for me with the track "Bye Bye Blackbird" on muted trumpet and then came the rest. Today I have this electronically re-channelled version The next great moment was the broadcast from radio NPS Netherlands with that unbelievable version of "So What". I saved the broadcast on a CD-RW and made my own copy with pics.
He's probably my favorite artist of all time. Incredibly brave and powerful yet a sensitive deep thinker. Birth of The Cool is where I got on board and it's still dear to me. If I have to boil it down I think his most brilliant work is BOTC, the best of the Trane quintet, the Gil Evans albums, Kind of Blue, the best of the 2nd great quintet, In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew and parts of the 70s music after that. While I still enjoy a lot of the 80s stuff too, particularly We Want Miles -> Decoy.
I still remember that moment when Kind of Blue clicked for me. I'm 28 now and was never really into Jazz when I was younger except for a few tracks until that moment when I was just laying back at night with Blue I'm Green washing over me. Since then, Kind of Blue has become one of my top 5 most listened to albums.
I don't think anyone else was making music as great as that run from In a Silent way to Pangaea. He's the greatest. Directions in music indeed
Yes, you and I are of the same mind here for sure. I find his period from the Second Great Quintet all the up to Agharta (plus Big Fun and Get Up with It) to be essential. Of course, I'm not saying that his first quintet with Coltrane, Red Garland, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones isn't essential, too, but I feel a more emotional kinship with his mid-to-late Columbia recordings. But I will say this, I absolutely adore ALL of his collaborations with Gil Evans. All of this material, for me, is desert island music for sure.
See also this amazing thread. It had a steady pace starting with Birth Of The Cool in 2013 up to Doo-Bop in 2020: The Miles Davis album-by-album thread Following that thread and listening to every album on Spotify I will say I have a weak spot for first quintet, late 50’s/early 60’s, the second quintet plus In A Silent Way. Early 80’s comeback was also a nice surprise to me.
I adore the Stockhausen/James Brown/Sly/Hendrix-inspired On The Corner -> Pangaea era, but there were some misfires too, not everything he recorded was successful or vital and he was running out of steam towards the mid 70s with the declining health and drug problems. Still, the Japanese live albums are scorching and perhaps the best distillation of that whole concept.
Here's a cool photo of Miles --- it must've been taken around the mid-70s or so: He looks like a visitor from another planet.
I always think of the 50s and 60s periods in parallel. Each following a distinct period of exploration (Modal Jazz and the larger ensembles in the 50s vs. post-Bop in the 60s). In each case he thoroughly explored a form (and in the 60s basically turned the music inside out), then capped the decade with a contemplative masterpiece that only tangentially related to works that preceded it. For this reason I experience Kind of Blue and In a Silent Way as twins separated by a decade. Even the covers evoke the same mood. The Complete Columbia Albums CD box was easily both the biggest musical again I ever bought and simultaneously the most costly gateway into an artist's catalog.
I got interested in jazz through Joni Mitchell's album Mingus, then Weather Report, then I looked them up in a rock reference book and saw that the two main guys had played on an album called Bitches Brew. Luckily for me, the library had that album as well as a bunch of Miles's earlier acoustic albums, and a good biography by Ian Carr. Kind of Blue was one of the first, but at the time its reputation seemed to be that it was just one of several great albums of that era, not the best of all time. I liked it but Milestones and Miles Smiles clicked maybe more strongly.
Two other interesting albums to compare and contrast are 1960's Sketches of Spain and 1970's Bitches Brew. Such polar opposites, but also demonstrate stylistic breaks from the albums that proceeded them.
Not much of a Jazz fan but In A Silent Way, B-Brew, Tribute To Jack Johnson and On The Corner are some of my all time favorite albums.
I’ve been seriously swept away lately with “He Loved Him Madly” and “Calypso Frelimo.” A few years ago I edited the book Miles On Miles for Chicago Review Press which came out in paperback last year.
I absolutely love Miles. At the end of the day I love all eras, maybe his latest period (let's say the 80s to the end) I enjoyed a little less. Electric Miles ('68 - '75) maybe is what I prefer though.
Yes, I was going to say that the haircut is from 69. Those glasses were making me doubt... But I also think it is a photo from Newport. The lights have a big effect on the photo making his clothes very dark. The trumpet looks yellow, but we're getting just the lower part wich I think was yellow. Finally a thread where we can discuss relevant stuff
If pressed, he's probably my favorite artist of all time as well. I am very grateful for the somewhat decent collection of Miles' music at my house... SO many highlights, it's ridiculous. And he was one of my father's favorites too, so there's an additional bond.
