Miles Davis
The Essential Miles Davis (2001)

review by: Chelan David
Date: 5/15/03

Some people are simply better at certain tasks than others. Every once in a while a deity emerges who is so talented in their field that they set a new standard of excellence for all who follow. Picasso with the brush, Jimi Hendrix with the guitar, Michael Jordan with the basketball, and Miles Davis with the trumpet.

The Essential Miles Davis is a two-disc set starting with "Now’s the Time," a 1946 collaboration with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie and ending with "Portia," released in 1986. In between these two tracks is an excellent retrospective of the innovative trumpeter’s recording career.

Drawing from the catalogues of all seven of the labels for which he did his significant work, this package tracks his career from his start at the Julliard School of Music to his coronation as an icon. At the tender age of 19, Davis was recording with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. At the age of 60, still a creative force, he was meshing his soaring horn with a synthesizer and drum machine.

While all of the works are solid, some of the standout tracks include: "Round Midnight," "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down" and "Time After Time." "Round Midnight," with its dramatic arrangement and a majestic chorus by the then-unknown John Coltrane was the title track of the first album Davis recorded for Columbia.

"Miles Runs the Voodoo Down," which was released on the seminal Bitches Brew, features an expanded ensemble featuring multiple keyboards, basses and percussion. A 14-minute track, this uplifting song could run another 20 minutes and still be a pleasant listening experience as Davis ebulliently chases down the voodoo.

A cover of Cyndi Lauper’s 1984 hit "Time After Time" highlights Davis’ ability to sample popular music while stamping his distinct signature on the interpretation. The distinctive sound of Davis’ horn is the essence of instrumental lyricism on this beautiful track.

Miles Davis
Kind of Blue (1959)

review by: Glenn Pfeifer
Date: 2/2/01

God I feel old right now. It's not the pending birth of my first child (48 days till ETA). It's not my once accommodating body getting sore on me now when all I've done is paint a 12'x15' bedroom. And it's not my constant reminders to slow down when my wife drives my SUV. No friends, it's 2 Walls Webzine that's making me feel my age.

I mean look at my review list. The Grateful Dead, Neil Young, The Beatles for Pete's sake! AND I just wrote "For Pete's Sake!

I borrowed a couple of Radiohead discs from a younger friend after reading all 87 of the heated reviews on this site. Did I enjoy the listen. Yes, especially the OK Computer disc. Did I want to run out and trumpet Radiohead as one of the finest bands to ever pick up instruments, as was alluded to by many of the 2Walls faithful. Hell No!

So I suppose I am getting long in the tooth. My only resource now is to continue using archaic cliches and to review a disc that's even OLDER than The Beatles!

I just finished watching Ken Burns' Jazz last night (it ran 10 weeknights this past month on PBS for those that still go out during the week). While it meandered in spots and dealt more with American race relations than Jazz in other spots, it was damn good. And it inspired me to sit down and write this review of my pick for the greatest Jazz album of all time: The Miles Davis sextet in 1959 recording Kind Of Blue.

I can hear the Radiohead fans clicking outta here en masse right now. "1959!!! My parents weren't even born in 1959, were they?"

But I think what makes Kind Of Blue so incredible is it's lasting appeal and it's lasting influence. I'm not only talking about Miles' direct influence on all jazz musicians who followed his enormous footsteps, but also on every musician who writes music.especially those who perform intricate melodies and extended solos. I read in the liner notes of this disc (The Columbia re-issue w/Bonus track) that Duane Allman formulated many of his monster solos from Miles Davis and John Coltrane inspirations.

If I learned anything from Ken Burns' Jazz, it was that American Jazz touched every music form that followed it. The original "Rock and Roll" may have it's roots in Robert Johnson's delta blues. But anything that progresses creatively beyond 4/4 timing and the three major chords owes a debt to Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis.the most giant innovators in the gigantic landscape of Jazz.

Warning: if you've never gotten into the free-form "modal tones" of acoustic jazz, this disc will not be for you. However, if you've bopped along to any form of jazz, Kind Of Blue will become a staple of your collection, a muse for your creative soul. gp fife

Get off this website you old fart! Just kidding. Best of luck with your new child. And thanks for posting the Miles Davis review.

Miles Davis was an extraorinary musician. Kind of Blue is extraordinary music. I was living in Avignon, France when Miles Davis died. You probably recall from the Burns docu-epic on PBS that Miles Davis had a special relationship with the French. Davis hated the racism he endured in the U.S. and he was stunned by people he met in Paris, who appreciated, responded to, even loved him for what he was--an artist, a musician, a man. He toured in France often later in life, and the French took pride in his success.

Imagine, then, the night Miles Davis died. I don't know what it was like back in the U.S., but France mourned this man's loss openly. Every jazz radio station up and down the dial (there are quite a few over there) shifted over to an all-Miles Davis format. And boy, did I get an earful of Kind of Blue. Wonderful, wonderful.

But what, then of Radiohead? Yes, Miles Davis did way more for music than they will ever do, it's true. But I hope you won't mind my saying that I'm glad we can have both.