Happy Birthday Miles!

[20to20K]

The Most important musician in the history of jazz(IMO) would have been 79 today.

As a tribute I will list my top 10 Miles Albums in order:

1) Kind of Blue (I know its EVERYBODY's fav, but I won't deny the truth just to be diiferent)
2) E.S.P.
3) Miles Smiles
4) Someday My Prince Will Come
5) Milestones
6) We Want Miles
7) Round About Midnight
8) *****es Brew
9) Jack Johnson
10)Sketches of Spain

[Swish]

The Most important musician in the history of jazz(IMO) would have been 79 today.

As a tribute I will list my top 10 Miles Albums in order:

1) Kind of Blue (I know its EVERYBODY's fav, but I won't deny the truth just to be diiferent)
2) E.S.P.
3) Miles Smiles
4) Someday My Prince Will Come
5) Milestones
6) We Want Miles
7) Round About Midnight
8) *****es Brew
9) Jack Johnson
10)Sketches of Spain

he died. He wasn't exactly in top form, deferring to his younger bandmates for most of the solo spotlights. It was still one of the highlights of my musical experiences since I held him in such high regard. KOB was certainly among my faves, but I can't really say which is # 1, much less 2 thru 10. B<a>itches Brew was special to me, although many of my friends just don't get it.

Nice post.

Swish

[nobody]

Miles was born about 5 minutes away from where I live. East St. Louis has been holding some events for his birthday every year for the past few years. I hope to get a chance to go down and catch some good music at least one night this weekend. Old jazz guys from the area play jam sessions heavy on the Miles stuff in bars around town. Should be a good tiem.

[DarrenH]

Mine are:

1) Round About Midnight
2) B!tches Brew
3) In A Silent Way
4) Jack Johnson
5) Cookin' , Relaxin', Workin, Steamin' - It's practically one set..well two...(May 11 & Nov 26, 1956) so it counts as one here. Anyone want to disagree?
6) Sketches Of Spain
7) Agharta & Pangaea (live set recorded on the same night Feb 1, 1975)
8) Birth Of The Cool
9) Dark Magus: Live At Carnegie Hall (March 30, 1974)
10) Live At The Fillmore East (March 7, 1970): It's About That Time

11) Kind Of Blue - This didn't impress me like most folks.

Miles' electric period was like no other. Listening to these live concerts on cd made me wish I was there. The musicians that left Mile's band during this time spawned a myriad of rock/fusion bands. Love it or hate it. I think it's great.

[MindGoneHaywire]

I'm not sure if I have more albums by any other artist than I do Miles albums, and I don't think I have much past E.S.P.--In a Silent Way (courtesy of Mad Rhetorik) & Doo-Bop, which I actively sought out, the reissue of Tribute To Jack Johnson plus a mid-80s rec that came as a mystery disc courtesy of JDaniel, if I remember correctly. But I've never really thought about a favorites list beyond KOB, which would certainly be at the top. I guess it'd look like this:

KOB
Seven Steps box set (7 discs, I know, but it's that good to claim this spot)
'58 Sessions with Stella By Starlight (one of the first Miles albums I picked up, only 10 years ago. Sounds to me like the peak of any variation of the band that's known as the 'first quintet'...even though this is actually the sextet)
Sketches Of Spain (put this on back-to-back with A Love Supreme & then tell me you don't like jazz & I'll tell you you're a chump)
Someday My Prince Will Come (I thought this was the last really good thing he did prior to the 2nd great quintet, which is not my cup of tea, until Seven Steps came out)
Birth Of The Cool (didn't like it at first, but it grew on me)
Workin'/Cookin'/Steamin'/Relaxin' (For this list I rank this as one album as well)
In A Silent Way (couldn't see how I'd like this since I'm not into the 2nd quintet much, can't stand the fusion period, but MR knew it was great & figured I'd agree. I do)
Round About Midnight
Somethin' Else (don't love it as much as some folks around here, but I agree that it can be thought of as a Miles album, as opposed to a Cannonball Adderley album)

BTW I'd argue that Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Duke Ellington, and Charlie Parker have to be considered at least as 'important' as Miles, in spite of his tremendous body of work. Of course, comparing eras is silly, but I say Armstrong & Hawkins were probably more influential in terms of being instrumentalists, Ellington at least as much as a composer, and Parker certainly as much as an improviser. But we could debate that all day long.

Darren--have you heard Seven Steps yet?

[DarrenH]

Darren--have you heard Seven Steps yet?

Yes, I have the box set as well. I thought about including it in my list but I chose not to list box sets otherwise it would rank fairly high (along with the Complete Live At The Plugged Nickel set).

The live material within these discs is what makes it for me. Well worth the price I paid.

[nobody]

Oh yeah...favorite Miles albumns...in no particular order...

Kind of Blue
Sketches of Spain
Walkin'
Relaxin'
In a Silent Way
Birth of the Cool
Miles Smiles
Porgy & Bess
On the Corner
Milestones

[Ex Lion Tamer]

Kind of Blue
Milestones
Cookin'
In A Silent Way
Relaxin'
Workin''
Sketches of Spain
Seven Steps to Heaven
Highlights from the Plugged Nickel

[20to20K]

I'm not sure if I have more albums by any other artist than I do Miles albums, and I don't think I have much past E.S.P.--In a Silent Way (courtesy of Mad Rhetorik) & Doo-Bop, which I actively sought out, the reissue of Tribute To Jack Johnson plus a mid-80s rec that came as a mystery disc courtesy of JDaniel, if I remember correctly. But I've never really thought about a favorites list beyond KOB, which would certainly be at the top. I guess it'd look like this:

KOB
Seven Steps box set (7 discs, I know, but it's that good to claim this spot)
'58 Sessions with Stella By Starlight (one of the first Miles albums I picked up, only 10 years ago. Sounds to me like the peak of any variation of the band that's known as the 'first quintet'...even though this is actually the sextet)
Sketches Of Spain (put this on back-to-back with A Love Supreme & then tell me you don't like jazz & I'll tell you you're a chump)
Someday My Prince Will Come (I thought this was the last really good thing he did prior to the 2nd great quintet, which is not my cup of tea, until Seven Steps came out)
Birth Of The Cool (didn't like it at first, but it grew on me)
Workin'/Cookin'/Steamin'/Relaxin' (For this list I rank this as one album as well)
In A Silent Way (couldn't see how I'd like this since I'm not into the 2nd quintet much, can't stand the fusion period, but MR knew it was great & figured I'd agree. I do)
Round About Midnight
Somethin' Else (don't love it as much as some folks around here, but I agree that it can be thought of as a Miles album, as opposed to a Cannonball Adderley album)

BTW I'd argue that Louis Armstrong, Coleman Hawkins, Duke Ellington, and Charlie Parker have to be considered at least as 'important' as Miles, in spite of his tremendous body of work. Of course, comparing eras is silly, but I say Armstrong & Hawkins were probably more influential in terms of being instrumentalists, Ellington at least as much as a composer, and Parker certainly as much as an improviser. But we could debate that all day long.

Darren--have you heard Seven Steps yet?

You could make strong arguments for those 4 cats you named as far as their significance in jazz history....in fact you could probably throw Chalie Mingus in that mix as well. I would definetely say that all of those guys are better players than Miles and Ellington and Mingus far better songwriters and arrangers....however my view of Miles as "the most important" is based on these other factors:

1) Innovation - Essentially every new trend that evolved in jazz from 1950's onwards was originated by Miles. From modal, to cool, to fusion, Parker/Dizzy certainly can claim beebop, but everything since then (IMO) belongs to Miles. He started it and everyone else followed.

2) Musicians - Almost everyone that ever started their careers in Miles band went on to be jazz superstars in their own right. In the 50's he gave us Coltrane, Cannonball and Wynton Kelly. In the 60's he gave us every member of his ESP band that he personally handpicked as youngsters...Shorter, Hancock, Carter, and Williams. Think about that
lineup...that's the '27 Yankees of jazz bands...and he basically launched their careers.
Throw in guys like Jarrett, Holland, Lieberman, Dejohnnette, McGlauglin....all of these
guys freely admit that starting off in Miles bands gave them the credibility to launch their
own careers. While dormant though most of the 70's, he came back in the 80's to help
launch the careers of guys like John Scofield, Marcus Miller, Mike Stern, Bob Berg, and Kenny Garrett.

3) Attitude - Miles marched to the beat of his own drummer. In an era when black follk were expected to do what was expected Miles took orders from no one. He played what he wanted, how he wanted and when he wanted. I didn't give a damn what critics, agents, managers, writers or even fellow musicians thought. Miles probably did this to a fault...but it's that attitude and confidence that probably facilitated much of his excellence.

4) Listen to jazz musicians - The respect and admirations of your peers is about as great a praise as any individual can recieve. When you hear any jazz musician being interviewed and being asked about their influences and inspirations...who's name do you think gets called more times than others? That's made all the more amazing by Miles' known brashness...almost cruelty to some of his fellow musicians. He was brutally honest about someones playing and he's probably insulted and demeaned just about everyone he's ever played with at least once.

There is a great British production of the life of Miles Davis done by Channel 4 of England.
Great footage, interviews, and overview of his life. It really opened my eyes to his legacy and the effect he had on jazz as a whole. I strongly recommend Miles fans...or just jazz fans in general to check it out. Here's a link:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00007CVRL/qid%3D1117327435/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/104-1901198-2851165

Unfortunetely this US version is a stripped down 2 hour version of the 4 1/2 hour version
of the entire documentary. I have not seen this version so I won't vouch for it. I recorded the British version when it aired as I was living in England at the time and I had it converted from PAL to NTSC.

Also...I saw "On the Corner" pop up on a couple of you guys lists and I had never listened to that one before. I just borrowed it up from the library yesterday and now I plan on adding it to my collection. Thanks for the feedback!

[MindGoneHaywire]

I just spent, well, a long time rebutting this post, & one wrong click & it disappears. Hey, it's not a big deal, but I have to disagree with you on this, and that's coming from someone who likes Miles better than anyone else in jazz, and I have more Miles albums than any other jazz artist by far. I'll try to get back & go into why I feel that way, perhaps a little later or tomorrow. I just think that with a little perspective it's difficult to rank Miles quite that high. But that's coming from someone who doesn't have much use for much jazz past 1965 or so, so take that as you will.

[20to20K]

I just spent, well, a long time rebutting this post, & one wrong click & it disappears. Hey, it's not a big deal, but I have to disagree with you on this, and that's coming from someone who likes Miles better than anyone else in jazz, and I have more Miles albums than any other jazz artist by far. I'll try to get back & go into why I feel that way, perhaps a little later or tomorrow. I just think that with a little perspective it's difficult to rank Miles quite that high. But that's coming from someone who doesn't have much use for much jazz past 1965 or so, so take that as you will.

I have experience with someone who doesn't have any use for jazz past 1965...my dad!
And he lives in NYC as well! Dad...is that you? :)

If that's your stance then I can clearly see why Miles does not rank that high in your book...so no need for a rebuttle. In fact, if I were someone who hated the direction that jazz took post 1965 I think I'd be inclined to blame Miles more than praise him.

I, on the other hand, appreciate the fusion movement of the late 60's and 70's and the straight ahead revival of the 80's...however, I hated the smooth jazz(ughh!) movement of 90's so I figure 2 out of 3 ain't bad!