Jazz Articles about Miles Davis

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. ...

Miles Davis: The Essential Miles Davis

by Todd S. Jenkins
August 1, 2001

There can't be too many musical tasks as daunting as trying to trim Miles Davis' prodigious output down into two discs worth of “essentials". No matter how much time and thought went into this amazing package, arguments are sure to ensue for years to come. That said, reissue producers Michael Cuscuna and Bob Belden have done a most commendable job of distilling Miles' essence. From his 1945 sessions with Charlie Parker through his 1986 smash hit Tutu, all the major ...

Miles Davis: The Complete In A Silent Way Sessions

by Jim Santella
August 1, 2001

Three previously unissued performances and six months of Miles Davis' recording activity mark this 3-CD set as something special. This was a transitional time for the bandleader. It marked the beginning of a fusion. The package documents this period very well. Davis wanted a new sound. With several keyboards and significant changes in personnel, he got it. The trumpeter introduced his musical changes gradually. The more radical shift would come later. These sessions are pleasant and full of intrigue. In ...

Miles Davis: The Essential Miles Davis

by Michael Fortuna
July 1, 2001

It is possible to boil a musician's extensive career down into two CDs.This year, in honor of what would have been trumpeter Miles Davis' 75th birthday, Columbia/Legacy Recordings has compiled The Essential Miles Davis, a collection that spans nearly four decades of Davis' eclectic career.From “So What" to “Miles Runs the Voodoo Down," Davis never stopped experimenting with new ideas and sounds.He made the blues his own. He added orchestra instruments to his lineup. ...

Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool

by Michael Fortuna
July 1, 2001

As jazz's bebop movement flourished during the late 1940s with its fast-paced rhythms from virtuosos like trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and saxophonist Charlie Parker, trumpeter Miles Davis headed off in a new direction. Taking cues from the innovations learned in Parker's group, Davis, along with his nonet, recorded 12 songs in a two-year span that, when released together on one album, became known as Birth of the Cool. This landmark album has been issued on CD several ...

Miles Davis: The Complete In A Silent Way Sessions

by Todd S. Jenkins
June 1, 2001

Another Miles classic re-excavated with grand results. In A Silent Way was an astonishing step further towards a fusion of jazz and rock for Miles Davis, and for jazz in general, when it was released in 1969. The acoustic instruments of Davis, Wayne Shorter, Dave Holland and Tony Williams were combined with John McLaughlin’s electric guitar, Joe Zawinul’s organ, and the twin electric pianos of Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock. Each LP side held a medley of two themes. Miles’ ...