...As Cody B can attest, I've written in publications elsewhere about why I love jazz so much , not that new-fangled, electro-muzak they pump on those "Cool Jazz" stations that makes me want to tear my teeth out with my bare hands, no...I'm talking about that stuff that got dropped from the early 50s on into the early 60s...I'm talking about five or six guys, masters of their axes, working shit out on a small stage at the back of a smoke-filled room like NYC's Birdland, the Blue Note or the It Club in Los Angeles...I listen to this shit sometimes and feel like I was born a couple of decades too late (at least on the music tip)...
...I put a word out that I'd lost a lot of my digital Miles Davis tunage the other day and got sorted out by a couple of my homebiscuits on the fly (thanks Mog Group)...I'm lying on the floor, looking up at the ceiling and listening to all the stuff I got- just smoking cigarettes 'n watching Captain Kangaroo as the Statler Brothers would put it...this is what I sometimes do when I wake up and can't go back to sleep-- whatever's clever...and now, a few notes from one of the coolest motherfuckers to ever pick up a trumpet, rockin' wild, laying it down and hooking it up with the title track from his Milestones album which featured swinging fat cats like Julian "Cannonball" Adderley; John Coltrane; Red Garland; Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones...it's upbeat...it's bad-to-the-bone and...well, just checkit...
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You know how in so many instances there will be some band or artist that is popular with so many people because their music is as cliche as it is classic? THIS AIN'T ONE OF THEM. Miles was, is, and will always be the real deal and your "re-discovery" just shows how fresh and timeless his music will always be. Even though Kind Of Blue is sort of the token jazz album out there for every yuppie that owns one jazz album, I don't think any of us could recommend anything better.
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There's also a lot to be said for his fusion period 68-75. _In A Silent Way, On The Corner_ are the top studio efforts. And for live joints, _Agharta_ pretty much blows the doors off anything before or since.
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Very Sweet. I agree with you, Miles Davis was a pioneer, and an explorer. Like all the greats, he gathered fine musicians and gave them the freedom they wanted and the discipline they needed. He saw musical boundies in his rear-view as he flew off into the mystic. (as Van Morrison so aptly put it)
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Miles. Nothing else to say, except read his autobiography before you die.
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My brother in law took me to see Miles at a small venue in San Francisco early seventies late eighties ('79-'81?). I was just a punk snotty nosed kid but it was life changing. It really opened up my mind and appreciation of music, plus to be so near a living (RIP) legend that you could hear him catch a breath, well, was incedible to say the least.
Great post brother, keep them coming!
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Great post. I'm a jazz fanatic, and I love the period you describe (early 50s, 60s) - you can probably tell that from my profile picture of one of my idols (and underappreciated genius) Hank Mobley :)
I don't know what happened after the 60s, and why we can't bring some of that creativeness and inventiveness back in the same way, but jazz hasn't been the same.
I am a big fan of The Bad Plus, Happy Apple, Fat Kid Wednesday (all with roots in Minneapolis), I think they're on the right tip, hopefully we'll see a progression to the right side of things again like these guys. If you're not familiar, look them up and check them out!
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i am DIGGIN your musical selections. 'milestones' was on the first real album i ever purchased. 7th grade. mile davis OBSESSION. like another poster said, totally fresh. timeless as fuck.
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Lovin' what you are layin' down on the jazz tip, Crash. I gottta get back on My MOG. Terry Callier is my next target.
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well said
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When Big Bands were taking the pop-charts in the 40s and 50s, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie were pioneering Jazz with the new intellectual sound of Bebop. But it was Miles Davis who really epitomized the "cool" of modern jazz. Good stuff, man.
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Miles encapsulates everything that makes a star: looks cool, plays cool, doesn't give a fuck about what other people play or what the trend is. Fabulous music choice, I'm gliding on that rhythm section.
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great post, thank you!