Haven't heard much, but I got Bitches Brew the other morning - very dark room, frequent lightning flashes, very caffeinated. Pretty incredible I thought. Miles could actually stretch things out for 20-25 minutes and hold my attention (unlike say, Herbie Hancock on his more avant-garde releases.)

I did hear Kind Of Blue a while back, I remember liking it at first just because it's almost objectively pleasant listening. Haven't been so crazy about it lately.

I have about 20 Miles albums, so to pick a fave is difficult.

Kind of Blue is deep, deep genius. Try it again nhazgaaal, and try Live-Evil and Jack Johnson if you enjoy Bitches Brew.

I once sat on a beach in Thailand listening to Bitches Brew while watching some great surf, and a hard blue sky.
A better soundtrack for the elements of nature I cannot think of.

Re: Coltrane, A Love Supreme is probably his greatest work. But Giant Steps, I'd say his second greatest album, is a better place to start. It's the end of his bop/modal phase, before he started getting intensely spiritual. You'll get to know his sound and idiosyncrasies first, before having to deal with the really abstract stuff.

It was really groundbreaking at the time--nobody had blazed through such difficult chord changes so fast. On the tune "Giant Steps," the pianist Tommy Flanagan plays a famously sub-par solo. He just wasn't prepared to play that tune that fast--almost nobody would have been. And TF is a very respected player.

It's not all fast; it has a classic ballad ("Naima"), a blues ("Mr. PC") and some other more mid-tempo stuff.

An even easier starting point would be Blue Train, another total classic. Go with one of those two first, and you'll savor the challenge of his later, abstract spiritual stuff (like A Love Supreme) a lot more.

Umm, Commontone mate....this is a Miles Davis thread.

Great post, but you may have to move it.

Kind of Blue is considered his masterpiece. First time I fell in love with Miles after a few listens of this disk. It was sunset at the beach and I was sipping a little margarita and reading Graham Greene.

I also love Bitches Brew and Sketches of Spain but Kind of Blue is very magical for me. Of course you really can't go wrong with Miles (or Coltrane commontone)

Whats with all of us Davis fans hanging out at the beach while we listen to him?

quote:

Originally posted by Ishmaels coffin:
Umm, Commontone mate....this is a Miles Davis thread.

Great post, but you may have to move it.

I was responding to....

quote:

Anyway, I want to get more into Miles or Coltrane...and I need some reccomends please.

Someone else had some Coltrane to recommend already, and I just had some more to add...

Oh sorry, that post was before my time.
You're right. I'm wrong. Silly me.

Miles:
-KoB (duh, oh and it's good "getting some" music too)
-Someday My Prince Will Come (the sonic match to coltrane's my favorite things).
-Filles De Kilimanjaro (it's pretty busy).
-My Funny Valentine (least known, most emotive).
-In A Silent Way (starting to get experimental, there's another story there in him kicking off piano-guru herbie hancock in favor of piano-guru version 1a: chick corea)...segue into...
-beeyatches brew (illicit drugs anyone?).
-the Gil Evans coupling:
--Miles Ahead (powerful)
--Porgy and Bess (the most polished of his works with gil)
--Sketches of Spain (paints quite the spanish picture aurally)
the working/cookin'...etc. series is probably the most sterile sounding music from a lethal combination of jazz icons. i wouldn't bother.

Suggested listenings to Coltrane...
-A Love Supreme he wrote this brooding, busy, not sing-songy music at the height of his born again era because his days were numbered after this release.
-Giant Steps holee shmokes! did you see his lineup for this album? his bass player got a song named after him-mr. p.c. (it's paul chambers)
-My Favorite Things it was the sonic impetus for wynton marsalis to play jazz.
once he switched from atlantic to impulse (record label), john kinda pushed his performance envelope.

Am I the only person who likes Agharta most? I like how frentic it is. Kind of Blue and Birth of the Cool are really good, but I can never concentrate on them for their full length. Agharta never does that to me.

Tribute to Jack Johnson is by far my favorite. I'm surprised no one has mentioned it yet, unless they did and I just missed it.

I have quite a few Miles Davis albums and I'd be happy to upload them and provide links, but I'm actually kind of new to these forums, so I'm not sure if that's kosher. Someone enlighten me?