Miles Davis Appreciation (Has anyone done more?)

[Copper Scroll]

I know that, in here, I post a lot about Miles. He deserves it, though.

Really--Is there anybody in 20th Century music that has done more than him? Others may (or may not) have come out with more albums... and others may (or may not) have had more fans. But Miles probably the one person who recorded the most important music over the course of his 40-something year long career. He innovated from the time he was college-age until the time of his death. He recorded mad albums and more than half of them are undeniable greats in the field of jazz:

Birth of the Cool
Walkin'
Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet
Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet
Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet
Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet
'Round About Midnight
Miles Ahead
Porgy & Bess
Sketches of Spain
Ascenseur pour l'échafaud [soundtrack]
'58 Sessions
Milestones
Kind of Blue
Someday My Prince Will Come
My Funny Valentine
Live at the Plugged Nickel [box]
ESP
Miles Smiles
Sorcerer
Nefertiti
Miles in the Sky
Filles de Kilimanjaro
In a Silent Way
Biitches Brew
Black Beauty
At Fillmore
A Tribute to Jack Johnson
Live/Evil
Cellar Door Sessions [box]
Big Fun
On the Corner
Dark Magus
Agharta
Pangaea
Get Up With It
Aura

And I've only named one album he did after the 70s, because I haven't heard most of his 80s output!

Who else could have worked with both Charlie Parker (the mythic figure who pioneered bebop and created "modern jazz") and Easy Mo Bee (the main producer of BIG's Ready to Die)?

What artist started so many careers for his sidemen? John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz, Tony Williams, Ron Carter, Bill Evans, John Scofield, Marcus Miller, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Dave Holland, Sonny Rollins, Mtume, Gary Bartz, Paul Chambers, and others all worked under Miles' leadership before making their own big names in music.

Who can compare?

[Copper Scroll]

5-minute clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnFhnscKRXQ) of Miles at the Isle of Wight Festival, 1970. Miles at, perhaps, his most revolutionary.

Personnel: Miles; Keith Jarrett; Chick Corea; Dave Holland; Jack Dejohnette; Airto Moreira; Gary Bartz (the clip doesn't include him playing)

[Paul Mooney]

Agartha was probably some of the weirdest "music" I ever heard. It would probably trip out a serial killer.

Miles sounded tortured on that album

[Copper Scroll]

Agartha was probably some of the weirdest "music" I ever heard. It would probably trip out a serial killer.
Miles sounded tortured on that album
Based on what I've read, he just may have been tortured there. From what I understand, he was in a lot of pain (from his hip, I think) during the recording of Agharta and Pangaea (the same night).

Though Miles on those albums may not be working with the same amount of fire that he had on Live Evil and Jack Johnson, I do think he is still working with plenty of passion, technique, and fresh ideas. The sense of rhythm and timing reflected in his playing is as perfect here as it is anywhere in his recorded catalogue. And he is still able to execute his melodic lines with style.

Having said that, the sound of his trumpet does sound "tortured" at times and just meloncholy at other times. Though the music is generally funk-based, Miles' use of the wah-wah here doesn't sound as funky as it sounds like a futile cry for help--like a small animal caught in a mouse-trap in the middle of a jungle.

That's why I think Sonny Fortune's (saxes and flute) is a great match here for Miles. Fortune's playing is uplifting and danceable and reminds the listener how funky the music really is. Miles was always great at picking sidemen who could provide sounds he either couldn't or was unwilling to provide. Miles is pure darkness here, and Fortune offers the light.

But, yeah, a lot have people have found Miles' music from 72 to 76 impenetrable. For the jazz audience, it was Miles' heavy use of non-jazz musicians and his emphasis on polyrhythms. For the non-jazz audience, it was how far Miles' band extended its grooves without offer any hooks to latch onto--and the utter dread and doom conveyed in his playing.

Without conventional song structure, one groove just sorta melted into the next without any warning flags being raised. The labelling of the tracks on these albums confused matters even further. (The divide between tracks 1 and 2 cut "Agharta Prelude" into two pieces, and the divide between tracks 4 and 5 cute "Ife" into two pieces--while grooves like "Funk", "Right Off", and "For Dave" are lost somewhere in between. It reminds me how the European colonists cut up Africa without regard to real tribal or ethnic boundaries.)

[Copper Scroll]

"Miles Runs the Voodoo Down" with his so-called "lost" quintet in this clip (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5IYr6Kl86I&mode=related&search=) from 1969... much better than the first clip I posted.

His best line-up after his two "classic" quintets:
Miles - trumpet
Wayne Shorter - soprano sax
Chick Corea - electric piano
Dave Holland - bass
Jack Dejohnette - drums

[gussto b]

Miles is the truth!!! If you haven't read his autobiography check it out. "Dark Magus" is a must have. Does anyone have "On The Corner"?

[Copper Scroll]

Miles is the truth!!! If you haven't read his autobiography check it out. "Dark Magus" is a must have. Does anyone have "On The Corner"?
I've read the Ian Carr biography but only pieces of the autobiography. I'm hesitant to pick it up because I know how egotistical and vain Miles was and expect that he would "revise" certain parts of his history.

I have On the Corner and the majority of the albums listed in the OP. It's not one of my favorites on the list, but it's good enough to be included there (ahead of duds like Dig, Quiet Nights, In Concert, and The Man with the Horn).

I like Dark Magus too--especially those sounds that you really can't find anywhere else in Miles' catalogue (the electronic effects he puts his horn through and that archaic drum machine that comes ticking in out of nowhere). It was actually the first Miles Davis album I bought--a bizarre intro to Miles I wouldn't recommend to anyone. Like Agharta and Pangaea, Dark Magus is bound to confuse, confound, and frighten many people. I would only recommend it after this chronological order: In A Silent Way, Biitches Brew, Live Evil, On the Corner... then Dark Magus. People should hear Live Evil (and/or the Cellar Door box set) at least before hearing Dark Magus. I was freaked out by it when I first got it.

[Copper Scroll]

Today was Miles' 82nd birthday, so I thought I'd resurrect this thread in memory....

[howard roark209]

i love this miles song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00tzcnyDL68 I tend to hate 80's fusion because of how they used the Yamaha Dx7, which always sounds super fukking corny. I hear it all over Miles' tutu album and I want to puke.

I love the Yamaha Dx7 (it's actually my favorite synth of all time), but they really overused that shyt back then, and they used the most corny preset sounds.

80's fusion and smooth Jazz are all probably trash because of the Yamaha Machine. I don't there is anything more lame then Yamaha Dx7 pianos and strings.

[howard roark209]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc3wk0brtig&feature=related

Here's another version of tutu. agian I love the song, but I see those Yamaha Dx7's right in the opening and I feel like some gay-shyt is going to be heard.

[THE 101]

I've got Kind Of Blue and Biitches Brew, which I both love. Which albums would you recommend after that? I've heard good things about Sketches Of Spain.

[Copper Scroll]

I've got Kind Of Blue and Biitches Brew, which I both love. Which albums would you recommend after that? I've heard good things about Sketches Of Spain.
Depends on whether you want something similar to what you already have or something new and different.

But, either way, I'd recommend Miles Smiles, which is my favorite Miles album. It is an acoustic quintet recording, but packs more energy and dynamic group interaction than Kind of Blue... even if the solos aren't quite as "perfect" or memorable as those on KoB. The music is looser and more intense.

Sketches of Spain is cool too. (The track "Solea" I posted comes from SoS.) I like it, but is very different from anything else Miles ever recorded and a lot of Miles fans don't like it. They think it's too classical and not jazz-like enough. (It was recorded with an orchestra conducted by Gil Evans.) This might be a fair criticism. Miles sorta finds a new and different way of improvising on this album--not unlike how he does on Biitches Brew--and, occasionally, the experimentation sounds a little awkward. SoS and BB don't sound much alike, but the way Miles plays on them (given the odd musical surroundings) is pretty similar.

If you really like Biitches Brew, the closest thing to that would probably be In a Silent Way. It's interesting to listen to those two back-to-back--IaSW and then BB. They flow nicely together.

[Copper Scroll]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc3wk0brtig&feature=related

Here's another version of tutu. agian I love the song, but I see those Yamaha Dx7's right in the opening and I feel like some gay-shyt is going to be heard.
I feel the same way re: Miles' Tutu-era music. Somehow he and Marcus Miller got Miles playing over bland, pre-recorded funk to work. I'd much rather hear a younger Miles in a more dynamic musical context, but some of the 80s stuff ain't bad at all.

lol@ the Miles imitator in the video--swagger jackin like a mug, but not bad. I wonder who he is. Kenny Garrett's solo is nice.

[Apey]

Copper Scroll, did you ever read Mile's autobiography? I'm sure most of it is bullshyt, but it's still one of the most amusing books I've ever read. Dude was almost as creative with his use of the word "mother****er" as he was with the horn....

[Psiko]

Miles Davis = :king:

Only person I can think of who could **** with the dude creativity wise is Frank Zappa but they can't really be compared.

[Copper Scroll]

Copper Scroll, did you ever read Mile's autobiography? I'm sure most of it is bullshyt, but it's still one of the most amusing books I've ever read. Dude was almost as creative with his use of the word "mother****er" as he was with the horn....
No I haven't, but I'll do it sometime this summer. I've been meaning to pick it up.

And, yeah, in the few pages that I have read, "motherfukcer" was used better than in my favorite rap songs.

[Copper Scroll]

Some videos.

Miles w/ Gil Evans' orchestra, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb doing "Blues for Pablo" (great tune w/ commentary by Gil Evans):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pk9qSokHvGI&feature=related

Classic clip of Miles w/ John Coltrane, Wynton Kelly, and Chambers/Cobb doing "So What" (from Kind of Blue):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4FAKRpUCYY&feature=related

Miles w/ Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams (greatest band ever) doing "Footprints":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkUULYE-LAA

Same band (3 years earlier, brand new, and a lot more restrained) doing "Joshua":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o40smfOyIso&feature=related

Miles w/ Gary Bartz, Keith Jarrett, Michael Henderson, Don Alias, and Ndugu Leon Chancler doing "What I Say":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCM9PPpNqCs&feature=related

Miles w/ Dave Liebman, Pete Cosey, Michael Henderson, Mtume, and Al Foster doing something funky: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjiusdXr_O0&feature=related

[Copper Scroll]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTfBpKzu6XA&NR=1
:ohmy:

I'm not sure if music gets any better than that.

[RapMusicIsCool]

What ya'll know about Dark Magus? That's my personal favorite Miles album, it's jazz-fusion from Hell. It's jazz, rock, funk, metal, noise, sometimes all at the same time. A true mind **** of an album.

[Copper Scroll]

What ya'll know about Dark Magus? That's my personal favorite Miles album, it's jazz-fusion from Hell. It's jazz, rock, funk, metal, noise, sometimes all at the same time. A true mind **** of an album.
I agreed. Nice description.

That was one of the first Miles Davis albums I bought. I have to say that it's far from my favorite, though. Too scary.

[Copper Scroll]

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