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wdent
Senior Member
USA
3979 Posts |
 Posted - 01/05/2004 : 08:11:20 AM
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I got into "jazz" through the fusion movement (I hate that term too Pat Metheny)...Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report, etc. I never took the time in my youthful ignorance, to check out where all these young (at the time)players were coming from. Now 50 yrs. old, I am checking out the early Miles Davis records, Gil Evans (a very big influence on Jaco as a writer/arranger), Charlie Parker, etc.
Doing this makes me appreciate even more, Jaco's place in this beautiful thing called music history. Question 1: did Jaco indeed have a personal goal of playing with Miles (I've always heard this but never actually saw in print, any quotes by Jaco stating this)?
Question 2: Any suggestions from you jazzbo's as to the best Miles Davis albums (exclude 'Kind of Blue' which I just got and Bitches Brew, with which I've been familiar a long time...)to pick up on...?
Thanks!
Strap On In |
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June
Junior Member
118 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2004 : 09:01:43 AM
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Check out the Quintet consisting of Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. If you don't have "In A Silent Way" already, get it. Damn, too many to list. I guess you better find out yourself (I always thought that's part of the fun discovering new music). Consider to get "The Complete In A Silent Way Sessions" (3 CD set; saw it for under US$ 30) - it includes material that wasn't released before. It also has unedited versions of the material that was originally released in edited form (edited by Teo Macero).
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&uid=UIDCASS80311092312473195&sql=Aabb1z85a3yv3
Search allmusic.com for Miles Davis. Search results will provide links to Barnes&Noble where you can listen to samples.
This is a fantastic Miles Davis discography: http://www.plosin.com/milesAhead/
June
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Edited by - June on 01/05/2004 8:30:07 PM |
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Surreybass
New Member
United Kingdom
82 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2004 : 09:05:18 AM
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Hi!,
I read an article on John Goldsby's website about a live Miles Davis album called "Live at the Plugged Nickel" which was recorded in about '65. I've never heard it but it said to be a very good recording of Miles' band live.
I've never seen a copy on CD - not sure if this is one which has yet to make the transfer from vinyl....
L.K. Lefrancois |
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June
Junior Member
118 Posts |
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Surreybass
New Member
United Kingdom
82 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2004 : 3:31:23 PM
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Hi June!,
Thanks for posting those links - they came in very handy. When I get the chance I'll try and get into one of the big record stores in London and buy a copy....
Cheers,
Louis.
L.K. Lefrancois |
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Milestones
Starting Member
USA
38 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2004 : 8:25:06 PM
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I would have to say, Wdent, what kind of Miles are you after? He had many phases and stages in his musical career, all very worth checking out. For example, "Sketches of Spain" is totally different than "Kind of Blue" which is totally different than "Bitches Brew". Before all this he was playing bebop, so you have lots of choices.
With that said, "In a Silent Way" has to be coolest album that you seem to not have heard, with one of the best lineups I've ever heard in any band. The keys alone are killer. Herbie, Joe, and Chick? Get out of here! It is a true gem, IMO. Just listen to the first lines Miles plays on Shhh/Peaceful, and you'll be sold too. 
I recommend getting all the albums with players you are familiar with. All the albums with Zawinul and Shorter are probably good for you to start off with. After that, you can appreciate more of his work.
Albums I need to get myself:
1. Jack Johnson
2. Miles Smiles
3. Aura
-Miles
...Shhh/Peaceful... |
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ebony
Junior Member
USA
142 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2004 : 8:53:23 PM
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One of the greatest tragedies about Miles ,imo, was that Hendrix never got to work with him.
Gil Evans & Miles were planning something but death got in the way. God I wonder about that. Miles got to work w everyone he wanted except for Jimi.
Anybody buy that new Jack Johnson box set yet? Supposedly there's a ton of great new McLaughlin playing on it. |
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wdent
Senior Member
USA
3979 Posts |
Posted - 01/06/2004 : 07:44:00 AM
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Hi Guys! Thanks so much for your responses. After posting my question in this thread yesterday, I got onto the internet and found an official Miles Davis website with a complete discography. There I ordered Sketches of Spain and a box set featuring his Columbia recordings from 1956 (I think) to 1968 (or somewheres thereabouts). From what I have read in the biography of Miles, Sketches of Spain is considered quite a culmination of work between Miles and G. Evans. I am going to guide myself through as much of his music as I can, and will use the suggestions you have made as a guidepost to prioritize my next few purchases.
Any takers on the "did Jaco have a serious goal of playing with Miles" question?
(June - thanks in particular for the links you provided)
Strap On In |
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Milestones
Starting Member
USA
38 Posts |
Posted - 01/06/2004 : 9:16:25 PM
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I'm pretty sure that Miles and Hendrix did play together, or atleast wanted to. I remember something in his autobiography about Miles giving Jimi some music but Jimi couldn't read it. Anyone else know about this story? I'll have to look it up in "Miles".
-Miles
...Shhh/Peaceful... |
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daves
Junior Member
USA
132 Posts |
Posted - 01/07/2004 : 10:06:28 AM
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I highly recommend the album "Milestones" for Miles w/ his first great quintet + Cannonball Adderley. Particular highlights for me are the second half: Milestones, Billy Boy, and Straight No Chaser. If you've ever heard Cannon play better than on those tunes (actually, Billy Boy is only the rhythm section), please let me know where!
As for Miles' later work, "Jack Johnson" rules. McLaughlin is amazing in his support, particularly on the first (of the album's only two) tunes. |
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jacogroepie
Junior Member
Netherlands Antilles
445 Posts |
Posted - 01/07/2004 : 11:32:11 AM
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Hey Dave,
What about 'Something Else', by Cannonball himself, with Miles as a guest player? Great album!
By the way, Miles' albums with Herbie H., Tony Williams, Ron Carter and Wayne Shorter contain some of the best jazz I've ever heard. Miles Smiles, ESP, Nefertiti, Filles de Kilimanjaro....wow!
JJ |
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ebony
Junior Member
USA
142 Posts |
Posted - 01/07/2004 : 8:08:20 PM
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Milestones: Jimi and Miles did meet and jam on a few occasions. I got some info on a newsgroup about it.
The Ian Carr book has quite a few references to Miles and Jimi. He
mentioned that they initially made contact because of Betty Mabry, who
is the woman on the cover of Filles de Kilimanjaro. He says that Betty
was a "singer tuned into the current rock and soul generation of
musicians and was particularly interested in Jimi Hendrix. It was
through her that Miles and Hendrix met and became good and mutually
inspirational friends." p234
Commenting on Miles in the Sky, he says; "During this whole period,
Miles's friendship with Jimi Hendrix flourished... The two spent much
time together and Dave Holland is convinced that Hendrix influenced
Miles in many ways - even in the way he created his music." p242
"Then in August, he played at the Isle of Wight Festival in the UK...
Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone were also on the bill there, as well as a
number of white rock groups.Miles and Gil Evans were planning to
record an album with Hendrix, but on 18th September, Hendrix died...
Miles was so upset by this premature death that he attended Hendrix's
funeral in Seattle." p297
He quotes Jack DeJohnette: "We were playing in California and MIles
said, 'Listen to this Jimi Hendrix track.' The drummer was Buddy Miles
and I said. 'Yeah, yeah, it's a nice groove'... Miles was trying to
tell me something that he wanted... I said, 'I get the picture - you
want Buddy Miles's groove with my technique.' He said, 'Right.'" p298
Miles said: "I tell the guitar player that if he likes Hendrix or Sly,
to play something like that, just to open it up. It can't sound
exactly like them because it'll have a little more music... in it.
What we play on top wouldn't be like what Hendrix'll play on top; what
Sly and them need is a good soloist... I ain't thinking about no
****ing market... Hendrix had no knowledge of modal music; he was just
a natural musician, you know, he wasn't studied, he wasn't into no
market, and neither am I. Columbia tries to get me into that **** but
I won't let them do it. " p318 [The Real Paper - 21/3/73]
Paul Tingen, in Miles Beyond, the Electric Explorations of Miles
Davis, says - briefly and without a cite, ""MIles and Hendrix shared a
huge mutual admiration, and apparently jammed together regularly at
the former's house. Sadly, nothing ever came of the collaborations the
two planned."
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Milestones
Starting Member
USA
38 Posts |
Posted - 01/08/2004 : 01:26:34 AM
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Thanks ebony for refreshing my memory and setting the facts straight.
-Miles
...Shhh/Peaceful... |
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BaDoo
Starting Member
Germany
6 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2004 : 10:38:32 AM
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| For you bassists the late recordings with Marcus Miller (and Mike Stern) might be interesting. I like "Siesta" very much. There's another 2CD-recording called "Spring". Really good stuff... |
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Jacel
Junior Member
Sweden
146 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2004 : 11:31:08 AM
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regarding the term fusion, I really disagree with Metheny on it being a bad term for what really should be called "electric jazz" or something.
I don't think of the term as in "a fusion of different styles etc etc" but instead I think of it as "music as energetic and powerful as a fusion reactor" or something like that :]
There is nothing I hate more, than people who boast their greatness and then are unable to proove it - jhl |
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pedro
Senior Member
USA
858 Posts |
Posted - 01/13/2004 : 3:00:42 PM
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[For you bassists the late recordings with Marcus Miller (and Mike Stern) might be interesting.
I much prefer earlier Miles, and the playing of Ron Carter and Paul Chambers but to each their own.
Pedro |
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