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The Most Exciting Jazz Albums Since 1969: 1969-1983
by Robert Middleton
As a teenager of 18 in 1970, I was heavily into rock music, The Beatles, Jefferson Airplane, Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead. I subscribed to Rolling Stone Magazine and really enjoyed the record reviews. One fateful day in May 1970, I read their review (by Langdon Winner) of Miles Davis's Bitches Brew. I may have heard about him once or twice but had never heard any of his music, and this review really got my attention. So, I picked ...
Continue ReadingMiles Davis Celebration at SFJAZZ Center
by Harry S. Pariser
Music of Miles Davis: A Celebration SFJAZZ Center San Francisco, CA May 25-29, 2023 Music of Miles Davis: A Celebration For four consecutive nights, four different ensembles graced the stage of SFJAZZ Center to present four aspects of the musical legacy of renowned trumpeter Miles Davis The evenings also featured compositions from some former group members (such as Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul, both of whom went on to form Weather Report) as well as ...
Continue ReadingMiles Davis: Workin' With the Miles Davis Quintet
by Mark Corroto
1955/56 was an inflection point in the career of Miles Davis. The trumpeter and bandleader went from a promising talent to the high profile face of jazz and popular music. The two marathon sessions, May 11 and October 26, 1956, that created Workin' With the Miles Davis Quintet along with Cookin', Relaxin' and Steamin' might have been written off by Davis as a mere fulfillment of his contract duties for Prestige Records. He had signed a more lucrative contract with ...
Continue ReadingM. E. B.: That You Not Dare To Forget
by Doug Collette
With all due respect to Lettuce's A Tribute to Miles Davis--Witches Stew (Self Produced, 2017) and the all-star ensemble dubbed Bitches Brew Revisited, M.E.B. (formerly known as Miles Electric Band) is an inordinately creative homage to Miles Davis. And given the continually experimental path The “Man With The Horn" chose to follow throughout his career, it is no doubt one of which he would approve. That You Not Dare To Forget is a slightly less than half-hour audio ...
Continue ReadingBirth of the Cool at 75: A Philadelphia Premiere at the Clef Club
by Victor L. Schermer
Orchestra 2001 Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz and Performing Arts Birth of the Cool: A Philly Premiere, 75 Years Later Philadelphia, PA March 29, 2023 The advanced publicity for this exciting historically-based concert must have hit the pleasure centers of many fans, as it sold out on the second day after tickets became available. Was the rush to the box office the result of the cult-like status of the Birth of the Cool ...
Continue ReadingJimi Hendrix/Miles Davis: Rainy Day Chillin'
by Mike Jurkovic
Amid the swirling collateral from the societal and musical fever dream of the late 1960's, one could never tell who would show up at your door bearing gifts. Nor would you know for sure exactly how potent those gifts were. Within its thirty-eight minutes of chemically induced melancholia, magic, and spontaneous genius, Rainy Day Chillin' bears testimony to that and so much more. The upcoming Netflix doc goes likes this: In a penthouse atop the Hotel Navarro overlooking ...
Continue ReadingMiles Davis & Bob Dorough: Tappin'!
by Ian Patterson
There is no end, it seems, to the stream of posthumous Miles Davis releases, with this live recording coming hot on the heels of The Bootleg Series Vol. 7 That's What Happened 1982-1985. But this one is very different. In fact, it is safe to say that there has never been a Davis recording quite like this one. For twenty-nine minutes, Davis and singer/pianist Bob Dorough trade back and forth, ply intricate unison lines and push each other to ever ...
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