Miles Davis

[LetYouDown]

I've always liked jazz, but somehow I'm only starting to get into it lately. I've acquired a ton of Miles Davis tracks, but I'm really unfamiliar with him. What are generally considered his best works/tracks? There's a lot of stuff to filter here.

[rusellmj]

Bitches Brew.

Smells Like Teen Spirit

[mmbt0ne]

Seven Steps to Heaven
Stella by Starlight
Joshua
Basin Street Blues
Walkin'

[codewarrior]

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Bitches Brew.

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I'll second that.

[MrWookie47]

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Bitches Brew.

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I don't really care for any of the tracks on that album. Sketches of Spain doesn't really do it for me either. I much prefer Birth of the Cool and Kind of Blue.

Edit: Also check out Porgy and Bess.

Edit 2: This isn't my favorite genre of jazz, so maybe my advice is worthless. I much prefer jazz from the 20's and 30's. However, the albums I listed, especially Birth of the Cool, feature a lot of innovation, and I can certainly appreciate the fine musicianship.

[turnipmonster]

miles davis has a huge range of work, from electric funk/fusion to completely straight ahead. here's a few of his different bands/albums and their (IMO) best work:

"birth of the cool" - this record is a nonet miles had early in his career. it is a good record with interesting arrangements, but IMO it is somewhat overrated.

the "first quintet" - miles' first quintet had red garland, philly joe jones, paul chambers and john coltrane. their most famous records are cookin',workin',steamin', and relaxin'. the music is all jazz standards, and is quintessential hardbop.

"kind of blue" - this cd is probably the most famous/bestselling jazz cd of all time. it's must have, enough said.

the "second quintet", which is one of my favorite musical groups ever, had tony williams (who joined the band at 19 and already had a completely unique style that revolutionized jazz drumming), ron carter, herbie hancock and a rotating cast of tenor players, the most notable being wayne shorter and george coleman. they have an absolute ton of great recordings, but the absolute best is "my funny valentine + four and more", which is a live recording. tony is unbelievable, as is everyone. the studio recordings mostly feature new compositions instead of standards, my favorite is "miles smiles" although they are all good.

miles davis/gil evans - miles did a few records with the arranger gil evans. they're modern big band recordings with interesting instrumentations and beautiful arrangements, very subdued. "miles ahead" is my favorite, but "sketches of spain" and "porgy and bess" are classics and also great.

"bitches brew" - a lot of people say this is first fusion record, at any rate it's all electric instruments and is completely different from all the stuff mentioned before. it's a classic though. another good one from this period is "in a silent way".

later electric stuff - if you like bitches brew, you'll want to check out "live evil", "dark magus", "agharta" and "pangea". I can't really explain this music, but it's sort of like funk and awesome.

anyways, this is really just scratching the surface of all the stuff miles did. if you had to limit it to 5 albums you should get, I would choose:

kind of blue
milestones
miles ahead
my funny valentine + four and more
bitches brew

[turnipmonster]

one quick comment. in general, in jazz you want to think albums as opposed to tracks. miles ahead for instance is arranged as an unbroken work the whole way through, from start to finish. listening to just one track or in random order in my opinion sort of diminishes the value of it a little, it's like looking at the corner of a painting instead of the whole thing.

just my opinion obviously, I just can't imagine listening to one part of "a love supreme" or something like that, and feel the same way about a lot of miles' work.

edit: the other thing that's hard about tracks and jazz is that jazz musicians record the same songs lots throughout their career, but the playing/improvising is always different. someone said "seven steps to heaven", which is a great song, but I have at least 10 different recordings of miles playing it and they are all different.
--turnipmonster

[peachy]

i love "It never entered my mind" and "straight no chaser"

[ThaSaltCracka]

Turnip, I will heed your advice, your recommendations to me on Herbie Hancock were excellent. I will definitely check out Bitches Brew and a few others you listed.