Jazz Articles about Miles Davis

About Miles Davis

Album Review

Charlie Parker: The Savoy 10-inch LP Collection

Read "The Savoy 10-inch LP Collection" reviewed by Kyle Simpler

by Kyle Simpler
March 7, 2020

Charlie Parker is one of the most important musicians in jazz history and a household name even for people who never listen to jazz. His music is like a textbook for aspiring jazz musicians, and it still sounds modern even after more than a half century since its creation. 2020 marks the centennial of Parker's birth, and to help commemorate the anniversary, Craft Recordings has released a vinyl box set containing the first four “The New Sounds in Modern Music" ...

Album Review

Miles Davis: Music From And Inspired By Birth Of The Cool, A Film by Stanley Nelson

Read "Music From And Inspired By Birth Of The Cool, A Film by Stanley Nelson" reviewed by Doug Collette

by Doug Collette
February 22, 2020

The most devout fans of the late Miles Davis will likely hear the selections on this album as touchstones of their collections of the jazz icon's work. More casual fans and dilettantes can listen and learn to the same cuts as guideposts to assemble their own. Neither approach undermines the value of the title as a worthwhile companion piece to Stanley Nelson's film. It's been said a formidable jazz library might be built from works by musicians with ...

Interview

Stanley Nelson: How Do You Make A Film Do Justice To Miles Davis And His Music?

by Victor L. Schermer
October 7, 2019

Miles Davis is far more than a legendary jazz great. He was and is a cultural and musical icon whose life was largely compelled by five driving forces: 1) his groundbreaking innovations in cool jazz, modal music, fusion, and beyond; 2) his “cool" persona, which has influenced and inspired several generations; 3) his tempestuous love life; 4) his struggles with and opposition to racism; and 5) his drug and alcohol addiction. To make a film documentary about him which encompasses ...

Radio & Podcasts

Miles Davis & the First Great Quintet (Sextet) (1956 - 1959)

by Russell Perry
September 25, 2019

(If this program is unavailable in your country from Mixcloud, please scroll down and listen via Soundcloud.) Miles Davis was more than a trumpet player, composer and taste-maker—he led some of the greatest bands in the history of jazz. In this hour, we will feature his first great quintet of John Coltrane on tenor, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums. Playlist Host Intro 0:00 Miles Davis Quintet. “How ...

Film Review

Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool

by Victor L. Schermer
September 16, 2019

Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool Firelight Films Director: Stanley Nelson Run Time: 115 minutes 2019 In addition to his place as a legendary jazz musician, Miles Davis has long been a cultural hero for the African American community and for so many others of varied backgrounds and ethnicity around the world. We all continue to marvel at his creativity, personal independence, and passionate willingness to go to the wall ...

Film Review

Blue Note Records: Beyond The Notes

by Doug Collette
September 6, 2019

Blue Note Records: Beyond the Notes Eagle Vision2019 Seventy-one minutes hardly seems long enough to tell the story of a record label so profoundly influential as Blue Note. Yet even a marathon film of multiple parts could not capture the essence of this phenomenon any more completely and certainly no more succinctly than Sophie Huber does on her second stint as a documentarian (her debut was the critically-acclaimed Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction). With Beyond The ...

Radio & Podcasts

Bitches Brew @ 50, Sonny Rollins with Brownie & Max (& More)

by Marc Cohn
August 23, 2019

This week we have recent music from Akiko Tsuruga (her best yet!), Pierre Dorge, Chris Rogers, Anthony Fung and Conrad Herwig. But the big news is that Bitches Brew was recorded in August, 1969 over three days. This week we offer the sessions recorded on August 19, 1969. The edit log for the title track (on our Mixcloud blog) is fascinating, as the track was 'constructed' post-production. Oh, and there's Sonny Rollins with Clifford Brown and Max Roach from 1956, ...