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Favourite Miles Davis Albums?

les24preludes

les24preludes

pfm Member
There are so many Miles Davis albums over several decades that there's plenty to choose from, featuring a lot of the greats of modern jazz. Certainly Miles made some of the most iconic albums in jazz, from 1950 with the Birth of the Cool sessions onwards.

So what are your personal faves?

Here's my list...... doesn't include Kind of Blue!

Birth of the Cool 1957 rec. 1950, Konitz, Mulligan, Lewis
Round About Midnight 1957 1st quintet
Cookin’ 1957 1st quintet
Relaxin’ 1958 1st quintet
Workin’ 1960 1st quintet
Miles Ahead 1957 Gil Evans
Milestones 1958 1st quintet w. Cannonball Adderley
Porgy and Bess 1959 Gil Evans
Some Day My Price Will Come 1961 Mobley, Kelly, Chambers, Cobb
At Carnegie Hall 1961 Gil Evans, Kelly, Chambers, Cobb
At The Blackhawk 1961 Mobley, Kelly, Chambers, Cobb
Seven Steps To Heaven 1963 pre 2nd quintet w. Coleman, Feldman
Quiet Nights 1963 Gil Evans
Miles in Europe 1963 2nd quintet w. Coleman
My Funny Valentine 1964 2nd quintet w. Coleman
Miles in Berlin 1965 2nd quintet w. Shorter
At Plugged Nickel 1965 2nd quintet w. Shorter
ESP 1965 2nd quintet
Nefertiti 1968 2nd quintet
Filles de Kilimanjaro 1968 Holland, Corea/Hancock, Carter
Amandla 1989 electric band w. Marcus Miller

Other critics choices
Ascenseur Pour L’Echafaud 1958 film score
Kind of Blue 1959 w. Bill Evans
Sketches of Spain 1960 Gil Evans
Miles Smiles 1967 2nd quintet w. Shorter
Sorcerer 1967 2nd quintet w. Shorter
In a Silent Way 1969 w. Zawinul
Bitches Brew 1970 w. Zawinul, McLaughlin
Jack Johnson 1971 McLaughlin, Hancock, Cobham
On The Corner 1972 Corea, McLaughlin, Mike Henderson
Get Up With It 1974 Mike Henderson, Reggie Lucas
Big Fun 1974 McLaughlin, Hancock, Cobham
Agartha 1975 Mike Henderson, Sonny Fortune
Star People 1983 electric band w. Marcus Miller
You’re Under Arrest 1985 Robert Irving, Scofield
Tutu 1986 electric band w. Marcus Miller
 
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Impossible choice but depending on how I feel on the day its a toss up between In A Silent Way and Kind of Blue for top spot. I have a soft spot for Decoy too as its what really kicked me into liking his later period
 
I'm expecting a lot of hits for Kind of Blue. It's not on my shortlist because every time I listened to it the track I liked the most was Freddy Freeloader. That's with Wynton Kelly on piano, not Bill Evans. So I would far prefer to listen to the other albums with Kelly on piano, like Some Day My Price Will Come 1961, At Carnegie Hall 1961, and At The Blackhawk 1961. Wynton Kelly was such a swinging pianist - his touch was unique.
 
A very difficult choice since I like a lot/most of his content, but somehow I am almost always going back to Jack Johnson and On the corner in the last months.

KoB is great, and I like it a lot, but somehow grew tired of it (sacrilege I know :) )
 
For the acoustic stuff I’d go with:

The Prestige albums; Workin’ Cookin’ Relaxin’ etc.
Cannonball Adderley’s Something Else
KOB
Someday My Prince Will Come
Seven Steps
ESP
Nefertiti
Miles Smiles

For the electric stuff, which is where I gravitate more these days, I’d actually go for the ’Complete’ CD boxes. They add so much amazing stuff and for me contain his best work:

Complete In A Silent Way
Bitches Brew (the Complete here box is good, but not really from the sessions, plus its a remix and I prefer the original mix, hence the omission here)
Complete Jack Johnson
Complete On The Corner
Complete Cellar Door
Agharta
Pangea
Tutu
 
"So What" from Kind of Blue is the go to system tester for me. It has everything pretty much, because of its familiarity and the fact that I never tire of listening to it.

On CD or vinyl.
 
In A Silent Way was the first Miles record I really fell for - though playing it daily for years means I've not dug it out in a while.

I don't listen to the early records too much but I found a copy of Blue Moods the other week and have been playing it a lot.
 
Tony L said:
For the acoustic stuff I’d go with:

Seven Steps
ESP
Nefertiti
Miles Smiles
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Some underrated gems here. Seven Steps is wonderful, not least because of Victor Feldman

ESP is maybe my favourite from this period, but also Nefertiti has a bit of a cult following - standout playing from Wayne Shorter and Tony Williams. I think this was the weakest period of all for Miles' trumpet playing - boring repetitive flurries of notes - but these two albums still stand out because of the brilliance of the rest of the band. Plus Miles could always set a particular mood for a number.
 
I think it's a little disrespectful to pick 'Something Else' as it is not a Miles Davis record, he did rather well from others playing so I think we need to give credit where it's due.

Anyway, I still really like KoB & Bill Evans makes the record, In a Silent Way is another favourite. I have a lot of Miles Davis records but I've gone off his playing quite a bit, I find it a little dreary at times..

Tony will probably ban me now;)
 
Thinking about the period of Miles recordings I really love (late 60s - very early 70s) I'm not sure I'm really focused on Miles as leader in the way I would be with, say, a Coltrane LP.

Perhaps that's partly where his genius lay - in putting together incredible ensembles and steering them in interesting directions.
 
paulfromcamden said:
Thinking about the period of Miles recordings I really love (late 60s - very early 70s) I'm not sure I'm really focused on Miles as leader in the way I would be with, say, a Coltrane LP.

Perhaps that's partly where his genius lay - in putting together incredible ensembles and steering them in interesting directions.
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Purely as a trumpet player there are quite a few I'd prefer to listen to, like Freddy Hubbard or Woody Shaw. Miles could turn it on at his best, but he did tread water a lot as a soloist. Coltrane was one of the greatest soloists of any kind in the whole of jazz. His authority was never in question.
 
Woodface said:
He could certainly spot talent & had a confidence that comes with a relatively privileged upbringing.
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'Privilege' is an interesting one. Certainly he came from a middle class background. But being a Black musician in a racist segregated society was no picnic - as his brutal beating by white police outside Birdland attests. I kind of suspect Miles would have still considered himself the baddest mofo on the planet even if he'd been born in the gutter.
 
paulfromcamden said:
'Privilege' is an interesting one. Certainly he came from a middle class background. But being a Black musician in a racist segregated society was no picnic - as his brutal beating by white police outside Birdland attests. I kind of suspect Miles would have still considered himself the baddest mofo on the planet even if he'd been born in the gutter.
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I did use the word ‘relatively’, compared to his contemporaries he had advantages. The likes of Ella Fitzgerald & Louise Armstrong really did come from the lowest rung.

At the same time Davis would have even more advantage if he was white.

The incident outside Birdland was awful, he was smart enough to make some publicity from it. Davis was a bit of a pretend gangster & a false narrative was built around him.
 
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