He’s been gone for 15 years, but that’s not stopping Miles Davis from having a crazy busy 2006. The King of Cool is celebrating his 80th year with lots of CD releases, a book, a DVD, a Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame induction and talks of a biopic (starring Don Cheadle, so you know it’ll be good). The AP tells us that the man’s sales haven’t slowed down a bit in the 15 years since his death, but that’s only logical. Whether it’s late-Bird bebop, orchestral Gershwin reinventions (ala Porgy & Bess) or pioneering rock-funk exploration, it’s all there with Miles.
I started predictably with Kind of Blue, but that’s just where you start. It wasn’t long before I was wearing grooves into Bitches Brew, Birth of the Cool and Sketches of Spain. And the life changer was Highlights From the Plugged Nickel, an astonishing concert recording featuring his peaking Second Great Quintet (with Wayne Shorter on sax, Ron Carter on bass, Herbie Hancock on ivories and Tony fuckin’ Williams on drums). Plug that thing in, trip out to Tony’s ride patterns, Wayne’s hummingbird-like linear zig-zags and Herbie’s quintessential comping. Miles just had to add color and steer the ship. And that’s just “Milestones!” The record highlights one of Davis’s most underrated talents: assembling the greatest musicians possible to actualize a sound.
You into the King of Cool? Partial to one of his quintets? Have a favorite album? Stereogum’s just glad to see him alive and well, even if it is just in spirit. And his pimptastic fashion sense.
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miles ahead will change anyone’s life.
I like this about Miles Davis: When asked how he would like to die, he replied, “With my hands around the throat of a white man.”
The Best of the Miles Davis Quintet Live box set that Columbia put out about 7-8 years ago is one of my favorites. Just a notch under “In A Silent Way”.
1. Kind of Blue
2. Sketches of Spain
3. Birth of the Cool
4. ‘Round About Midnight
5. Someday My Prince Will Come
Nefertiti with Hancock and co (Williams, Shorter…) is a masterpiece (of course with Kind of blue) and In a silent way is always a miracle.
’58 Sessions. The entire thing cannot be beat.
And the forgotten Jack Jonhson with a great McLaughlin.
Never really got the appeal. For me anyway, his playing (in any style) has a meandering quality, lacks focus and personality. Try Monk.
The Cellar Door Sessions (from whence Live/Evil came) are absolutely staggering.
…if anyone can find a copy of that downbeat where he disses mingus (roach and ellington)… worth the read, what an ass.
A Tribute To Jack Johnson is the greatest rock n’ roll album ever. It blows my mind every time I listen to it, as does In A Silent Way. But the recently released Cellar Door Sessions from 1970 just might be the best thing of the twentieth century.
Cookin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet
Relaxin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet
the yin and yang of brilliance
Yeah, blah. I think we all have a copy of that Downbeat somewhere. . . oh here’s mine! That didn’t take long to find. Everybody dig up your copy and we can read the interview at the same time!
I wrote my final college paper on Miles’ Second Classic Quartet and I love this post. (Yes, I thought I was cool… Yes, I still probably do…)
Miles Smiles is a fantastic album. Also, My Funny Valentine, the live album from ’64. That whole era of Miles is amazing to study. There are so many people who floated in and out of that group (basically all the saxes before Wayne Shorter) and every incarnation of the group is worth checking out. Tony Williams is around 18 years old on most of the albums and he rips. Listen to the album to album development from the First Classic Quartet to the Second Classic Quartet to Bitches Brew era.
And he breathes out… thank you Stereogum…
I said Quartet three times. I meant Quintet. I didn’t do too good on that final paper…
this is why this site is different from any other. it has people (amrit in this case) who have an incredibly well rounded knowledge of music and speak to more than just what is hot at the moment in the LES. amrit, just reading your description of the Plugged Nickel makes my hairs stand up.
the rhythm section of the second great quintet basically invented the concept of Metric Modulation and Implied Time…i am still convinced they were aliens though.
Am I wrong for liking Coltrane more than Miles??
Kind Of Blue, Jack Johnson, In a Silent Way, Miles Ahead, Bitches Brew, Porgy & Bess, the list goes on – and his work with Charlie Parker is incredible, too
Highlights of The Plugged Nickel is great, but I was lucky enough to pick up a copy of The Complete Nickel sessions at a knock down price a few years back – 8 discs music that demands you pay attention for the duration – all essential, and recorded over 2 evenings!
no, miles was not (in a technique sense) the greatest player in jazz history and like many great artists he was an amateur human being – but what a band leader and orchestrator! just look at the people who he played with. one of the few real geniuses in 20th century music, but i feel that more reissues will only hurt my bank balance – dammit
last year I picked up the total recording sessions from the seven steps period in the sixties. this is about the time where kind of blue and sketches of spain came out…that stage in between bebop and experimental where miles was peerless, at least in his arrangements. this was back in the days of the first great quintet. if anyone also digs this period, i recommend they pick this collection up…http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002YCVSI/sr=8-6/qid=1151507847/ref=sr_1_6/103-2426142-3975025?ie=UTF8…can be a little repetitive but worth it
I tried to get my redneck brother to expand his mind and listen to some Miles…he said, “I just can’t take not having any vocals.” I said, “what the fuck do you think Miles’ trumpet is for…”
“on the corner”…it’s funky and strange???
Yeah, everybody who reads this site spends 23 out of every 24 hours a day reading and listening up on every single jazz record ever made. I believe that. Cause people who devote lots of time to following the latest news on trashy pop and movie stars really have the time, intelligence, and motivation to do that.
Me, I like to listen to obscure classical music while reading Best Week Ever and Thighs Wide Shut. Afterwords I bone up on my Latin skills while watching the OC.
“It Never Entered My Mind” (off of Workin’) is a gorgeous song. I’m partial to Filles de Kilimanjaro and In a Silent Way.
Here’s a nice profile of The Cellar Door Sessions:
http://culturespace.typepad.com/index/2006/04/evolution.html