Jazz Articles about Miles Davis

Miles Davis: Water Babies

by Jim Santella
August 1, 2002

Every morning, about an hour before sunrise, the day breaks gradually, with little noticeable fanfare. It’s the best time of day outdoors. The nighttime goblins have gone to their hiding places, loud day creatures have yet to rise, and it’s just us with the cool morning mist and that dim kind of landscape that lets us see only what we want to see.

When Water Babies was recorded in 1967 and 1968, Miles Davis had with him ...

Miles Davis: Filles De Kilimanjaro

by Jim Santella
August 1, 2002

The excitement in this classic 1968 album remains as firm as it was back then. Jazz is still looking, today, for a musical voice to rival that of Miles Davis. At the peak of his career, the trumpeter was experimenting with the new sound of electric piano and electric bass when he assembled this program of straight-ahead material. The big revolution was yet to come. Filles De Kilimanjaro is reissued here with superb sound quality and the addition of an ...

Miles Davis: The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions

by Michael Fortuna
December 1, 2001

Miles Davis was an innovator from the moment he first picked up the trumpet. But for years, the public didn't have a clear enough picture of Davis' journey from jazz into the rock/funk sounds of James Brown and Jimi Hendrix as well as his use of electric instruments.At the time, all the public knew of was the funk groove and electric piano sounds of “Stuff" from Miles in the Sky, followed by more electric sounds on Filles de ...

Miles Davis: 'Round About Midnight

by Jim Santella
November 1, 2001

His Harmon mute brought deep feelings to this title ballad in 1956. It also brought wider recognition to a tenor saxophonist who was just starting to climb the stairs. Four titles from those same recording sessions have been added to the original LP and reissued this year on CD. In that respect, it's been a very good year. Miles Davis used space like few others cared to. It gave his performances an air of dignity and respect. Remember, bebop was ...

Miles Davis: At Newport 1958

by Jim Santella
October 1, 2001

This is a different Miles Davis. He's playing much better than he had when bebop was in its infancy. Accuracy and tone had always meant a lot to the trumpeter, and he worked hard to get it done just right. During the fifties, he kept getting better and better. Here, he's using both Harmon mute and a natural, open tone to get his message across. This is also a far cry from the Miles Davis who later took his trademark ...

Miles Davis: Live at Fillmore East (March 7, 1970): It's About That Time

by Michael Fortuna
September 1, 2001

The crowd at the Fillmore East may have been puzzled after trumpeter Miles Davis finished his sets at the New York concert hall in March 1970. At the time, the audience was hearing something revolutionary and controversial pumping out of the loudspeakers.Little did they know that Davis was about to unleash the electric jazz/rock album Bitches Brew onto the public a month later, causing a rift in the jazz community. Thirty-one years later, Columbia/Legacy Jazz has unearthed two ...

Miles Davis: Live At The Fillmore East (March 7, 1970): It's About That Time

by Jim Santella
September 1, 2001

“Directions" begins each of these sets, which reflect the change in direction that Miles Davis was pursuing with his landmark albums that had already been recorded in the late 1960s. Bitches Brew had not yet been released, when Davis and his band opened for The Steve Miller Blues Band and Neil Young & Crazy Horse in New York. All tracks are previously unreleased.

Davis, then 43, was in fine form. His pure trumpet tone carries through, both muted and open. ...