Jazz Articles about Miles Davis

Miles Davis: A Tribute to Jack Johnson

by Jim Santella
January 12, 2005

Like the motions of a boxer, Miles Davis' music for this tribute contains much repetition in the motion and rhythm of his sextet. His open trumpet drove the point home with force.

Electric guitar and electric bass were new to Davis' music in 1970. Ironically, he was honoring a traditional fighter who loved traditional jazz by rolling out his new sound with futuristic overtones. His echoing muted trumpet eventually became a Davis trademark. The perky soprano saxophone in ...

Seven Steps: The Complete Columbia Recordings Miles Davis 1963-1964

by Russ Musto
January 9, 2005

Miles Davis Seven Steps: The Complete Columbia Recordings Of Miles Davis, 1963-1964 Columbia Legacy 2004

This seven-disc box set documenting the final phase of what is generally referred to as the “transitional period" between two of the greatest Miles Davis bands, details some of the innovative trumpeter's finest work, including the complete recordings of his often neglected quintet with tenor saxophonist George Coleman. The set begins with the first of Coleman's studio ...

Miles Davis: A Tribute to Jack Johnson

by Paul Olson
January 9, 2005

Well, here it is, finally: the Miles Davis album A Tribute to Jack Johnson, newly remastered and affordably available to those unwilling or unable to pay for the five-disc Complete Jack Johnson Sessions, which has been available since 2003. That's been Columbia/Legacy's modus operandi for Bitches Brew, In a Silent Way, and now Jack Johnson: put out the box set and after a suitable, cash-draining interval, cough up the remastered album alone.Jack Johnson 's re-release (more accurately at ...

Miles Electric: A Different Kind of Blue

by John Kelman
December 17, 2004

Miles Davis Electric Miles: A Different Kind of Blue Eagle Eye Media EE39020-9 2004 By the time Miles Davis hit the stage at the British Isle of Wight Festival on August 29, '70, he was fomenting yet another stylistic leap forward, this time with a concept that revolved around extremely loose sketches that were mere starting points for collective improvisation in an aggressively electric context. Unfortunately, he had also alienated much of his ...

Miles Electric: A Different Kind Of Blue

by Mark Sabbatini
December 14, 2004

Miles Davis Miles Electric: A Different Kind of Blue Eagle Rock Entertainment 83 minutes 2004

I hated Bitches Brew. A bunch of lengthy, rambling, ear-assailing nonsense by a legend too strung out to play well and was therefore suckering audiences with a so-called “new thing."

Those with similar thinking might change their opinions faster than the years it took me after seeing Miles Electric , a two-hour documentary ...

Miles Davis: In a Silent Way

by Trevor MacLaren
October 8, 2004

Miles Davis In a Silent Way Columbia 1969Recording in February 1969, Miles Davis seemed to pick up the vibe of what was going to go down that crazy summer. It was a tumultuous time as the sixties came to a close. First came the Manson Family, then the murder during the Stones' Altamont show overshadowing the na've utopia of Woodstock. With In a Silent Way Davis seemed to sum up the dying ...

Miles Davis - Seven Steps: The Complete Columbia Recordings, 1963-1964

by Colin Fleming
September 22, 2004

Seven Steps : Review #1 | Review #2 | Review #3 | Discuss | Poll

Miles Davis Seven Steps: The Complete Columbia Recordings Of Miles Davis, 1963-1964 Columbia Legacy 2004

One of the more undervalued phases in Miles Davis' career, the years 1963-64 are typically deemed a fallow period, marked by a few mildly inventive studio creations and scattershot radio broadcasts. Davis' transformations were often stylistic, but this collection puts the bulk ...