fange
god
Listening to long jazz tracks
Posts: 4,555
|
Post by fange on Oct 6, 2023 2:16:04 GMT
He had such a wide-ranging career, not just in terms of the years he played but in the numerous styles he played (and often pioneered). From the bop era right up to his death in the early 90s - which albums or periods would you say are your favourite Miles?
|
|
|
Post by davey on Oct 6, 2023 3:53:43 GMT
I play Sketches of Spain and Someday My Prince will come the most. I save In A Silent Way, Kind of Blue and Birth of the Cool up for special occasions, like a fine wine or the good china.
If I want something later, I’ll go for On the Corner or Jack Johnson.
|
|
|
Post by Charlie O. on Oct 6, 2023 4:29:58 GMT
Hard question to properly answer, but I will say that I've been playing In A Silent Way a LOT lately.
|
|
|
Post by fonz on Oct 6, 2023 6:15:55 GMT
I love most, if not all of the ‘50s stuff, including the stuff that doesn’t get much love before the first great quintet. It’s a fascinating journey. There’s a great thread on Hoffman that sheds a lot of light on that era.
I really like Bitches Brew specifically. The stuff either side is good, and perhaps a bit more organic, but the studio-built result of BB is a great listen that I don’t tire of.
I have everything, but they’re the peaks for me
|
|
|
Post by osgood on Oct 6, 2023 7:30:26 GMT
My approach is similar to Davey's, except I save for special occasions Sketches of Spain, Kind of Blue and In a Silent Way, just to avoid the unlikely event of getting burnt-out on them. I tend to reach more often for the second great quitet era (E.S.P. Filles, Nefertiti), and also Birth of the Cool and the wonderful Ascenseur pour l'échafaud. For the later stuff it's On the Corner or Jack Johnson. For some reason I feel a bit lazy about playing Bitches Brew, never a big fave of mine.
|
|
fange
god
Listening to long jazz tracks
Posts: 4,555
|
Post by fange on Oct 6, 2023 7:34:26 GMT
I love most, if not all of the ‘50s stuff, including the stuff that doesn’t get much love before the first great quintet. It’s a fascinating journey. There’s a great thread on Hoffman that sheds a lot of light on that era. I really like Bitches Brew specifically. The stuff either side is good, and perhaps a bit more organic, but the studio-built result of BB is a great listen that I don’t tire of. I have everything, but they’re the peaks for me Yeah, the Blue Note stuff from the early 50s does kinda get short shrift, though it's understandable i guess when you look at what followed. There is some tremendous music there, for sure.
|
|
fange
god
Listening to long jazz tracks
Posts: 4,555
|
Post by fange on Oct 6, 2023 7:37:24 GMT
For some reason I feel a bit lazy about playing Bitches Brew, never a big fave of mine. Same. I love it in some ways, but i can't say it's ever been a big personal fave or in my top 5 Miles. IASW however has pretty much always been in there.
|
|
|
Post by DarknessFish on Oct 6, 2023 8:05:49 GMT
There are still huge gaps in my Miles collection, and I never actually ventured further than Bitches Brew, which I don't really like at all. The usual suspects are the albums I dig out most, Kind of Blue, Sketches of Spain, In a Silent Way. The two albums before the latter are really interesting, too, particularly Filles de Kilimanjaro, it should be a transitional album from Shorter being the main composer, but it has a weird sound all of its own, particularly with the awesome percussion throughout.
|
|
|
Post by Reactionary Rage on Oct 6, 2023 10:25:30 GMT
Truthfully and it's not a cool thing to say I've always been a bit underwhelmed by Kind of Blue but I do really like Sketches of Spain. Maybe one day the former will click.
I favour the late 60s stuff. Nefertiti, Silent Way, Filles de Kilimanjaro, Bitches Brew. I jump off when he gets to On The Corner. But that period is just a wonderful, er, brew of sounds and influences coming together. Mysterious, sometimes dense and challenging but also spacious, elegant and haunting. Some music really.
|
|
|
Post by adamcoan on Oct 6, 2023 10:56:02 GMT
*parp*
Genius.
Nice.
|
|
|
Post by Stacy Heydon on Oct 6, 2023 11:21:59 GMT
My approach is similar to Davey's, except I save for special occasions Sketches of Spain, Kind of Blue and In a Silent Way, just to avoid the unlikely event of getting burnt-out on them. I tend to reach more often for the second great quitet era (E.S.P. Filles, Nefertiti), and also Birth of the Cool and the wonderful Ascenseur pour l'échafaud. this is me more or less, the 60s run up to and including in a silent way. Filles de Kilimanjaro is wonderful, as well as ESP, Miles Smiles. i quite like jack johnson and On The Corner, but not as much as what came before. There's still a few things in that run I haven't heard though.
|
|
|
Post by Stacy Heydon on Oct 6, 2023 13:07:59 GMT
|
|
fange
god
Listening to long jazz tracks
Posts: 4,555
|
Post by fange on Oct 6, 2023 14:01:27 GMT
|
|
|
Post by harrylemon on Oct 6, 2023 14:02:20 GMT
I love most of his stuff, although the Warner Brothers years are very patchy.
I play BB a lot, and the Live sets in the Bootleg series, Newport and Filmore, and Jack Johnson
|
|
loveless
god
Bringing ballet to the masses. Sticking to the funk.
Posts: 2,799
Member is Online
|
Post by loveless on Oct 6, 2023 14:17:55 GMT
I'm gonna be pathologically real and transparent here and say that my late uncle had a copy of Kind of Blue when I lived with him...35 years ago? Anyhow, I absolutely loved it. Something like 'All Blues', I don't even want to say that it's "the kind of jazz I like", it's just...a kind of music and sound that I find really satisfying. Based on everything I've read about Miles Davis, this particular album is...I dunno, music for neophytes, muzak, easy listening, coffee table jazz, whatever..."Miles for dummies"?
I've had that copy ever since, and I play it pretty regularly, but...I've NEVER felt like I had ANY sense of where to go next. On the surface, descriptions of records like Bitches Brew always seemed like...dare I say it, Zappa or something. Just..."you couldn't possibly get, understand or enjoy this, kid - but you're also a cunt for not trying" (I'm projecting a lot into this, obviously). There's box sets of all of these supposedly impossibly abstract works, and you're getting into names like John McLaughlin (again, I may be the problem here, but...fusion-y names, right?).
So...entry level Miles Davis. I love it, but my general "there be monsters" feeling once we step out into traffic is not insignificant.
What WOULD the Miles expert recommend to a fan of such entry level mellowness?
|
|