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Post by gregorythefish on Jul 29, 2019 15:49:37 GMT
it takes all kinds, doom girl. i like electric miles very much. and there is clear overlap, such as on "miles in the sky".
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Post by bassman on Jan 22, 2021 15:57:53 GMT
Here is a little footnote to the "Cookin'" album: I have never understood why "Tune Up" and "When Lights Are Low" appear as one track on the original album. Some later editions, such as the Complete Prestige Miles Davis recordings, have dared to separate them, which makes perfect sense. Some have dubbed them a "medley", which is utterly ridiculous. They are definitely two complete songs played at different pace, separated by a decent pause. So what I suspect is that packing them into one track was due to a technical error in the original mastering which they didn't want to correct for whatever reason, and which has persisted on most reissues.
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Post by Doom Girl on Jan 22, 2021 20:58:12 GMT
Here is a little footnote to the "Cookin'" album: I have never understood why "Tune Up" and "When Lights Are Low" appear as one track on the original album. Some later editions, such as the Complete Prestige Miles Davis recordings, have dared to separate them, which makes perfect sense. Some have dubbed them a "medley", which is utterly ridiculous. They are definitely two complete songs played at different pace, separated by a decent pause. So what I suspect is that packing them into one track was due to a technical error in the original mastering which they didn't want to correct for whatever reason, and which has persisted on most reissues.
Maybe this was the rare occasion at a recording session where the band played one song and immediately went into the next song on the agenda. We know that an enormous amount was accomplished at these sessions. If we look at the log at the Van Gelder Studio on Oct 26, 1956 we see that the recording of “When Lights Are Low” indeed followed “Tune Up.” For the first side, the order of “Blues by Five” and “My Funny Valentine” on the album was reversed as compared to the order in which they were recorded. Just speculation. I don't know why
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Post by natara on May 25, 2021 21:36:31 GMT
Hi I'm new to the forum and this is my first post.
The CBS 'Sunburst' reissues from the 80's are quite decent and reasonably priced I have a SDMPWC 'Sunburst' and it's very good.
And the OJC Prestige reissues are very good I have the Legendary Quintet Craft box set and they compare favourably.
As for the 3 or 4 titles most have been mentioned but
ESP
Seven Steps To Heaven
Sorcerer
Tribute to Jack Johnson
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Post by gregorythefish on May 26, 2021 13:24:28 GMT
welcome, natara!
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dg
Full Member
Posts: 125
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Post by dg on Jun 15, 2021 20:04:18 GMT
I have recently obtained a copy of Richard Cook’s book IT’S ABOUT THAT TIME: MILES DAVIS ON AND OFF RECORD, and would recommend it heartily to anyone who is beginning, or continuing, a serious study of the enormous body of work recorded by Miles Davis.
Cook is of course the co-creator, with Brian Morton, of the famous, and massive, PENGUIN GUIDE TO JAZZ. Cook’s Davis book was first published in Great Britain in 2005 by Atlantic Books. I have obtained a first edition of the 2007 version published by Oxford University Press. I don’t know if there are any significant differences between the two editions, but I would hope that the earlier one had better reproductions of the album covers than the one I have obtained. Nearly all of the illustrations are so saturated in black that one can barely make out who or what is/are in the photos! Other than that, I find the book, though it is a bit outdated, a useful reference in planning future additions to my own Miles collection.
Cook has come up with an interesting strategy for reviewing Miles’ discography. He has divided Miles’ life into 14 SECTIONS of varying lengths of time. For each section he has chosen one (occasionally two) albums that he deems the most exemplary for the period and reviews it in depth. Of significance, at the end of each section, he has a numbered list of all the other albums - both official and unauthorized – which were recorded during the period under investigation and these are all referred to somewhere in the text, often only by number. Taken as a whole, the book covers virtually all of Miles’ albums that were released prior to the publication of the book – all of the authorized releases and most of the unauthorized ones released up to that point. With the continued scouring of the vaults for Davis’ scraps, there are newer ones that are of course not included. It should also be noted that, with admirable humility, Cook notes that his is not a complete discography and refers the reader to several of the more “academic” ones then available.
In terms of my own Miles collection - mostly vinyl recordings but complemented by many CDs - I anticipate that the book will be useful in one specific way. I have concentrated in my collection on authorized albums with some bias for the studio recordings. Now having nearly all of the original studio records, I am thinking of branching out more into the “live” dates and perhaps a few so-called “complete studio recordings” which are filled with alternate and other previously unreleased tracks. Cook’s book will be valuable in separating the wheat from the chaff since he is not shy in expressing his disdain for material which was poorly recorded, which many of the “live” sessions were - and/or contain gaffes and missteps that are likely not worth having, except for the “completists,” among whom I do not number myself.
Though the main focus is on the recordings, Cook fleshes out his work with many Davis biographical elements – the marriages, problems with label executives, drug addictions, and so on. These are not particularly useful to one who has read other more detailed biographies, but do make the work somewhat more readable – perhaps less clinical or analytical in tone.
Cook is an opinionated listener, but his opinions are based on a long and intense career of studying the subject and are expressed in a generally felicitous fashion. There is an open mindedness about his review of Davis’ work that I admire - and share. In all phases of Miles’ work, from the earliest to the latest, there is great music to be found. Here are the 16 periods of Miles’ life and the most notable album(s) in each, according to Richard Cook.
1. 1926-1952 BIRTH OF THE COOL
2. 1952-1956 STEAMIN’ WITH THE MILES DAVIS QUINTET
3. 1956-1957 MILES AHEAD
4. 1957-1958 MILESTONES and PORGY AND BESS
5. 1958-1959 KIND OF BLUE
6. 1959-1962 IN PERSON FRIDAY NIGHT and IN PERSON SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE BLACKHAWK
7. 1963-1966 THE COMPLETE LIVE AT THE PLUGGED NICKLE
8. 1966-1967 NEFERTITI
9. 1967-1969 IN A SILENT WAY
10. 1969-1970 BITCHES BREW
11. 1970-1975 AGHARTA
12. 1975-1985 YOU’RE UNDER ARREST
13. 1985-1988 AURA
14. 1989-1991 LIVE AT MONTREUX
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Post by bassman on Jun 16, 2021 7:36:21 GMT
[ ... ] I would hope that the earlier one had better reproductions of the album covers than the one I have obtained. Nearly all of the illustrations are so saturated in black that one can barely make out who or what is/are in the photos! [ ... ] I, too, have the Oxford version, and there seems to be no way to find out what the Atlantic version looks like. You may want larger images with more shades of grey. However, I think the black and white representation as such harmonizes with the general design (including B/W photographs), which I rather like. It doesn't bother me at all.
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Post by Doom Girl on Jun 18, 2021 21:20:09 GMT
Listened today to the original IN A SILENT WAY from 1969. Two side-long tracks. Miles with Tony Williams and Dave Holland. Wayne Shorter, soprano sax, John McLaughlan, guitar, and three keyboard players – Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and Joe Zawinul (and of course cutting and splicing by Teo Macero).
Yes, Miraculous Music.
But Richard Cook wrote in “It’s About That Time,” “The two pieces they recorded that day more or less announced the revolution.” Really?
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Post by gregorythefish on Jun 19, 2021 16:06:01 GMT
I think that is an example of a statement that made a lot more sense at the time. Nowadays, it's hard to see what that was like to hear in the early 60's.
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Post by Doom Girl on Mar 25, 2024 23:45:47 GMT
Here is a link to a discography of sorts, of miles davis' studio recordings. It includes 57 short reviews, mostly the studio albums. The reviews are brief and rather superficial, but may be helpful to those trying to get a handle on Davis' massive body of work and to decide which Davis albums to acquire. I was surprised to see this article, as the DoomBox site seems devoted mostly to hip hop, rap, etc. But the opening sentence drew me in....."There is a case to be made that Miles Davis is the greatest artist in music." www.doomboxmusic.com/post/a-masterful-discography-miles-davis-complete-1951-1992
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Post by bassman on Mar 26, 2024 12:19:26 GMT
A somewhat bold claim, I daresay ...
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Post by Rikki Nadir on Mar 27, 2024 1:30:03 GMT
Speaking as someone who much prefers the trumpet playing of Freddie Hubbard, Don Ellis, Kenny Wheeler, Manfred Schoof, Tomasz Stanko and Enrico Rava, you couldn't possibly expect me to believe that "Miles Davis is the greatest artist in music." That's just lazy thinking. As lazy, in fact, as thinking that The Beatles are the greatest band in music.
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dg
Full Member
Posts: 125
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Post by dg on Mar 27, 2024 3:37:10 GMT
Speaking as someone who much prefers the trumpet playing of Freddie Hubbard, Don Ellis, Kenny Wheeler, Manfred Schoof, Tomasz Stanko and Enrico Rava, you couldn't possibly expect me to believe that "Miles Davis is the greatest artist in music." That's just lazy thinking. As lazy, in fact, as thinking that The Beatles are the greatest band in music. My reading of the comments made by the author of that DoomBox site is that she was simply using hyperbole to impress upon a new audience for jazz the importance of the incredible body of work produced by this man - Miles Davis. If you love music - have a listen to this guy! It is generally recognized that Davis revolutionized - altered - the face of jazz several times during his distinguished career - with the contrast of his “cool” style to that of bop pioneers Parker and Gillespie, “The Birth of the Cool” band with Evans, Mulligan et al, the expanded bop vocabulary of the “First Great Quintet,” the transition to "modal" jazz, the moving, ethereal other-worldly sounds of the “Second Great Quintet,” the fusion of “Bitches Brew,” etc, etc. If you need a primer on this, read Cook’s great “IT’S ABOUT THAT TIME: MILES DAVIS ON AND OFF RECORD, a book which was described in detail in one of the previous posts. Over and over, jazz enthusiasts have felt compelled to weigh in on their evaluations of Davis' remarkable career. In fact, there is a brand new book which I have just begun reading called "3 SHADES OF BLUE: MILES DAVIS, JOHN COLTRANE, BILL EVANS AND THE LOST EMPIRE OF COOL" by James Kaplan, a 484 page tome focused on the players and events leading up to the creation of one of the most notable record albums in history. The list of jazz trumpet players in the previous post has some very fine trumpet players - in fact, I would aver that Freddie Hubbard was one of the best instrumentalists in jazz history. But regardless of how one may feel about the playing of this or that horn player, it’s clear that Davis’ impact on music outshines any of these players.
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dg
Full Member
Posts: 125
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Post by dg on Mar 27, 2024 3:38:37 GMT
A somewhat bold claim, I daresay ...
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Post by Rikki Nadir on Mar 27, 2024 15:02:42 GMT
I get tired of reading hagiographies about Miles Davis. Of course he was important but jazz historians keen on re-presenting the safe "grand narratives" tend to credit Davis with much more than he deserves. Often other figures are pushed to the margin while Davis is allowed to hog the creative limelight. For example, in the late 1940s Lennie Tristano was exploring a cooler form of chamber jazz that was different to Charlie Parker's busy bebop. He was was also exploring free improvisation, though the historians would like you to believe that was Ornette Coleman's invention in the late 1950s. Actually Joe Harriott was also doing free jazz/improv in England at the same time as Ornette. Yet, Tristano, who nurtured brilliant players like Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh, and Harriott are still little-known figures to mainstream jazz fans.
One can also cite Jimmy Giuffre's pathbreaking trio with Paul Bley and Steve Swallow, which recorded the albums Fusion (1961), Thesis (1961) and the even more extraordinary Free Fall (1963). This is a spare, subtle, drummerless chamber jazz more quietly adventurous than any Davis quintet. As for Giuffre's solo clarinet improvisations, well, these lay the groundwork for Evan Parker's early work. Again these albums are little-known among most jazz fans.
As for modal jazz. I always thought George Russell was the brain behind this (much as George Martin was the brain behind The Beatles), yet Davis once again hoovers up all the credit. He also hoovers up nearly all the credit for Sketches of Spain which, let's face it, any competent trumpet player could have done the soloing for; it's the exquisite arrangements and three compositions of Gil Evans that make that album the masterpiece it is. Yet, Gil's name appears in tiny writing below the massive MILES DAVIS headline, suggesting that it's a Davis album and Gil just helped out a bit.
Finally, did Davis invent jazz-fusion? Of course not. Jazz-fusion or jazz-rock, call it what you will, was already in the air when Davis and his huge publicity machine picked up on it. Listen to the first two mid-60s Mothers of Invention albums and you'll hear an outrageously eclectic mix of rock, jazz, classical, avant-garde. In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew sound pretty tame in comparison, yet Davis gets the credit for jazz-fusion.
Lazy thinking. Lazy writing. I prefer to scratch the surface and find alternative narratives that were there all the time, but jazz writers choose, at best, to marginalise them or, at worst, ignore them.
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