Jazz Articles about Miles Davis

Miles Davis: The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions

by AAJ Staff
September 25, 2003

For many reasons, Jack Johnson never got the attention it deserved. For one, Columbia chose not to market the 1971 Miles Davis release as aggressively as its contemporary, Miles Davis at Fillmore East. And the LP was a soundtrack for an obscure boxing movie, which wasn't exactly a huge draw. And it disposed of much of the jazzier elements from Miles' first two fusion shots, Bitches Brew and In A Silent Way, boiling down to a power trio much of ...

Miles Davis: The Complete In A Silent Way Sessions

by Aaron Rogers
June 25, 2003

In March of 1969, Miles Davis told Washington Post journalist Hollie West, “I have to change. It's like a curse." Not only did Davis live up to his Picasso-like evolution in 1969 with the power of a “curse," but his music held the jazz and rock worlds with a spell-binding voodoo. Nowhere in the Davis discography between 1967 and 1975 is Davis' relentless quest for new sounds more evident than in this (re)issue of The Complete In ...

Miles Davis: In Person At The Blackhawk

by Nic Jones
June 25, 2003

Note: this four disc reissue includes two original 1961 Columbia releases: Friday Night At The Blackhawk, Complete (Volume 1) AC2K 8709 Saturday Night At The Blackhawk, Complete (Volume 2) AC2K 87100

Here's a transitional band at the height of its powers. Such was the longevity and variety of Davis's career that this music isn't generally considered to be amongst his seminal work, and there's a reason for this: the recorded music that chronologically surrounds these 1961 ...

Miles Davis: In Person Saturday Night At The Blackhawk, Complete, Volume II

by Jim Santella
May 6, 2003

The four sets that grace this 2-CD volume were recorded on April 22, 1961 in San Francisco. Miles Davis was in his prime, and his rhythm section knew the tunes well. Each of the sets appears here in its original performance order. Since nine of the tracks have never been issued before, this 24-bit Super Bit Mapping reissue carries a special significance.

The Miles Davis quintet was in such fine form that night that it makes you pause ...

Miles Davis: In Person Friday Night At The Blackhawk, Complete, Volume I

by Jim Santella
May 6, 2003

The three sets that grace this two-CD volume were recorded April 21, 1961 in San Francisco. Miles Davis was in his prime. His rhythm section was tight. And since this was a nightclub appearance, the quintet’s improvisation continues for extended periods. The tracks vary in length, but most run for ten minutes or more, giving the artists plenty of room to stretch out.

New technology continues to bring us better sound quality with every release, 24-bit Super ...

Miles Davis: Porgy and Bess

by Robert Gilbert
February 1, 2003

In jazz, only a handful of albums never lose their lustre. Each listening is a magical experience, no matter how familiar the material has become. The second collaboration between Miles Davis and Gil Evans, Porgy and Bess, is one such distinctive recording.

Davis and Evans’ recasting of the George Gershwin opera was their followup to the magnificent Miles Ahead. Many of that album’s characteristics are also present on Porgy and Bess : lush orchestrations, a wide-range of material ...

Miles Davis: Love Songs

by AAJ Staff
January 20, 2003

Throughout his long, varied and storied career, Miles Davis was known for many things. As the father/godfather/originator/pioneer of bop, hard bop, fusion and other styles, Miles’s 40+ albums revealed a diverse array of styles and sounds. Through it all, however, Miles maintained his trademark poise and lyricism, often best expressed through his ballads. On this collection, that element of Davis’s playing is exposed and explored, revealing a diversity even in the broad unity of the love song. These tunes range ...