Articles by Greg Masters

Book Excerpts

For the Artists: Critical Writing, Volume 2

by Greg Masters
August 13, 2014

Miles Davis: The Complete On the Corner Sessions Sony-Legacy Music, October 2007 “There is no architecture and no build-up. Just a vivid, uninterrupted succession of colors, rhythms and moods." —Arnold Schoenberg, describing his Five Pieces for Orchestra in a letter to Richard Strauss, 1909, quoted in The Rest is Noise, Alex Ross (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007) The music Miles Davis forged in the first half of the 1970s, his so-called “electric period," is ...

676

Jazz Art

We Want Miles: A Series of Reinventions

by Greg Masters
June 23, 2010

We Want Miles: Miles Davis vs. Jazz Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Montreal Through August 29, 2010 Treasures await fans of Miles Davis up in Montreal, Canada: Photos, letters, film clips, paintings, instruments, wardrobe and enough information on wall placards to bring visitors on the full journey through the life and times of one of America's greatest artists. For anyone who has read a biography of Davis, there are ...

1,830

Extended Analysis

The Complete On The Corner Sessions

by Greg Masters
October 31, 2007

“There is no architecture and no build-up. Just a vivid, uninterrupted succession of colors, rhythms and moods." --Arnold Schoenberg describing his Five Pieces For Orchestra in a letter to Richard Strauss, 1909, quoted in The Rest Is Noise, Alex Ross (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007) The music that trumpeter Miles Davis forged in the first half of the 1970s, his so-called “electric period," is not jazz. In a determined effort to keep his sound fresh, Davis took the audacious ...

1,477

Album Review

Miles Davis: The Cellar Door Sessions 1970

Read "The Cellar Door Sessions 1970" reviewed by Greg Masters

by Greg Masters
December 20, 2005

For devotees of Miles Davis's so-called “electric period," the full release of the music recorded live in December 1970 at the Washington, DC club The Cellar Door has long been something of a holy grail. A healthy sampling was released in 1971 on Live-Evil providing evidence that more of this sound existed. The possibility that more from this lineup was in the vault gave hope to at least many of the baby boomers I keep in touch with. With the ...