Jazz Articles about Miles Davis

Miles Davis: Miles Davis: Live at the 1963 Monterey Jazz Festival

by Samuel Chell
October 27, 2007

This recording is so fresh and alive sonically and so rich and rewarding musically that forty-five years literally melt away upon hearing it. One doesn't know whether to express gratitude to the producers for releasing a recorded event of such historic significance and rare beauty, or annoyance at those responsible for keeping it on ice for all these years. In any case, it's music that could have been recorded yesterday, assuming a cast like this one could be reassembled.

Miles Davis: The Very Best of Miles Davis: The Warner Bros. Sessions 1985-1991

by John Kelman
April 14, 2007

Miles Davis' final decade was filled with controversy. Accusations of “sell-out became even more vehement in 1985 when, after thirty years with Columbia, the late trumpeter jumped ship and signed with Warner Bros. That said, he issued two highly successful studio albums, participated on two soundtracks, and hit the road hard with a series of must-see groups that were consistent only in their ever-shifting line-ups. Miles also did the unexpected by revisiting his '50s work with Gil Evans at the ...

Miles Davis Quintet: Cookin'

by Martin Gladu
March 26, 2007

Miles Davis dared to be different. Staying true to his lifelong pugilistic passion/inspiration, he shook the jazz world many times throughout his career. To many he is remembered as the Prince Of Darkness, the raspy-voiced and hip-ly dressed maverick that poured out cool licks from his Harmon-muted red trumpet. But, above and beyond his larger-than-life persona and reported irreverence of his later years, Miles Davis remains a rare master of musical form as well as a forward-thinking iconic leader.

Miles Davis Quintet: Cookin'

by Chris May
February 26, 2007

I may not be the sharpest tool in the box, but I've finally worked out why Blue Note and Prestige are issuing so many of their iconic mid-'50s albums remastered by original sessions engineer Rudy Van Gelder. Partly it's to encourage those of us who already own the discs to buy them one more time; but more importantly, it gives the two companies an unbeatable edge over the growing number of knock-off labels operating outside the fifty-year copyright rule. The ...

It's About That Time: Miles Davis On And Off The Record

by David Rickert
February 2, 2007

Richard Cook It's About That Time: Miles Davis On And Off The Record ISBN: 978-0-19-532266-8 Oxford University Press 373 pages Hardcover, January 2007

Miles Davis is one of the most thoroughly researched and documented musicians of all time. So a writer who wants to present him in a new light needs either to have a new approach or some significant writing chops. Happily, Richard Cook demonstrates both in It's About ...

Miles Davis: The Legendary Prestige Quintet Sessions

by George Kanzler
January 6, 2007

The Miles Davis Quintet The Legendary Prestige Quintet Sessions Prestige Records 2006 (1955-56)

Miles (aka The New Miles Davis Quintet), Workin', Relaxin', Steamin' and Cookin' were the titles of the original Miles Davis Quintet LPs for Prestige that make up the first three (of four) CDs of this yet-again repackaging of what have become among the most familiar sides of Davis' recorded oeuvre. (The other studio album by this band was 'Round About Midnight ...

Miles Davis: Workin' With the Miles Davis Quintet

by David Miller
November 23, 2006

It usually takes me two listens to determine what I think of an album. The great ones usually convince me with one run-through, though. Upon popping Workin' With the Miles Davis Quintet into the stereo, I knew from the opening notes of “It Never Entered My Mind that I was in for something special. The rest of the song and, subsequently, the album was mere confirmation. Workin' is culled from the four albums worth of material recorded ...