Jump to content

Miles Ahead (album): Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
AnomieBOT (talk | contribs)
Bots
6,527,651 edits
m Dating maintenance tags: {{Vague}}
Renumbered bonus tracks under Track listing
 
(14 intermediate revisions by 13 users not shown)
Line 11: Line 11:
| studio = [[CBS 30th Street Studio|Columbia 30th Street]] ([[New York City]])
| studio = [[CBS 30th Street Studio|Columbia 30th Street]] ([[New York City]])
| genre =
| genre =
*[[Third stream]]<ref name="Kanzler"/>
*[[Cool jazz]]
*[[third stream]]<ref name="Kanzler"/>
*[[cool jazz]]
| length = 37:21
| length = 37:21
| label = [[Columbia Records|Columbia]] (CL 1041)
| label = [[Columbia Records|Columbia]] (CL 1041)
| producer = [[George Avakian]], [[Cal Lampley]]
| producer = [[George Avakian]], [[Cal Lampley]]
| prev_title = [[Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet|Cookin']]
| prev_title = [[Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet]]
| prev_year = 1957
| prev_year = 1957
| next_title = [[Bags' Groove]]
| next_title = [[Bags' Groove]]
Line 30: Line 30:
}}
}}


'''''Miles Ahead''''' is an album by [[Miles Davis]] that was released in October 1957 by [[Columbia Records]].<ref name=MilesDavis.com/><ref name=CashBox/> It was Davis' first collaboration with arranger [[Gil Evans]] following the ''[[Birth of the Cool]]'' sessions. Along with their subsequent collaborations ''[[Porgy and Bess (Miles Davis album)|Porgy and Bess]]'' (1959) and ''[[Sketches of Spain]]'' (1960), ''Miles Ahead'' is one of the most famous recordings of [[Third Stream]], a fusion of [[jazz]], [[European classical music|European classical]], and [[world music]]s.<ref name="Kanzler">{{cite web|url=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=34632|title=Miles Revisited: Sketches of Spain (50th Anniversary Edition) & Miles Ahead Live|work=[[All About Jazz]]|access-date=February 23, 2013|last=Kanzler|first=George}}</ref> Davis played [[flugelhorn]] throughout.
'''''Miles Ahead''''' is an album by [[Miles Davis]] that was released in October 1957 by [[Columbia Records]].<ref name=MilesDavis.com/><ref name=CashBox/> It was Davis' first collaboration with arranger [[Gil Evans]] following the ''[[Birth of the Cool]]'' sessions. Along with their subsequent collaborations ''[[Porgy and Bess (Miles Davis album)|Porgy and Bess]]'' (1959) and ''[[Sketches of Spain]]'' (1960), ''Miles Ahead'' is one of the most famous recordings of [[Third Stream]], a fusion of [[jazz]], [[European classical music|European classical]], and [[world music]]s.<ref name="Kanzler">{{cite web|url=http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=34632|title=Miles Revisited: Sketches of Spain (50th Anniversary Edition) & Miles Ahead Live|work=[[All About Jazz]]|access-date=February 23, 2013|last=Kanzler|first=George|date=7 November 2009 }}</ref> Davis played [[flugelhorn]] throughout.


== Background ==
== Background ==
Evans combined the ten pieces that make up the album into a [[suite (music)|suite]], each flowing into the next without interruption; the only exception to this rule was on the title track since it was placed last on side A (this has been corrected on the CD versions). Davis is the only soloist on ''Miles Ahead'', which features a large ensemble consisting of sixteen woodwind and brass players. [[Art Taylor]] played drums on the sessions and the then current [[Miles Davis Quintet]] member [[Paul Chambers]] was the bassist.
Evans combined the ten pieces that make up the album into a [[suite (music)|suite]], each flowing into the next without interruption; the only exception to this rule was on the title track since it was placed last on side A (this has been corrected on the CD versions). Davis is the only soloist on ''Miles Ahead'', which features a large ensemble consisting of sixteen woodwind and brass players. [[Art Taylor]] played drums on the sessions and the then current [[Miles Davis Quintet]] member [[Paul Chambers]] was the bassist.


A fifth recording date involved Davis alone (re-)recording material to cover or patch mistakes or omissions in his solos using [[overdubbing]]. The fact that this album was originally produced in mono makes these inserted overdubbings rather obvious in the new stereo setting.{{Citation needed|date=September 2019}}
A fifth recording date involved Davis alone (re-)recording material to cover or patch mistakes or omissions in his solos using [[overdubbing]]. The fact that this album was originally produced in mono makes these inserted overdubbings rather obvious in the new stereo setting.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Miles Ahead - overdubbed solo |url=https://www.milesdavis.com/track/miles-ahead-overdubbed-solo/ |access-date=2024-02-04 |website=Miles Davis Official Site |language=en-US}}</ref>


== Critical reception ==
== Critical reception ==
Line 41: Line 41:
|rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
|rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
|rev1score = {{rating|5|5}}<ref>[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r106144|pure_url=yes}} AllMusic review]</ref>
|rev1score = {{rating|5|5}}<ref>[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r106144|pure_url=yes}} AllMusic review]</ref>
|rev2 = ''[[DownBeat]]''
| rev2 = ''[[Disc (magazine)|Disc]]''
| rev2score = {{rating|5|5}}＋<ref name="Disc">{{cite magazine |title=Get it―one of the finest albums of the decade |last=Hall |first=Tony |author-link=Tony Hall (music executive) |magazine=[[Disc (magazine)|Disc]] |date=24 May 1958 |issue=16 |page=16}}</ref>
⚫
|rev2score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tower.com/miles-ahead-davis-cd/wapi/106692997|title=Down Beat review}}</ref>
| rev3 = [[The Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]''
| rev3 = ''[[DownBeat]]''
⚫
| rev3score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tower.com/miles-ahead-davis-cd/wapi/106692997|title=Down Beat review}}</ref>
⚫
| rev3Score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin|title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music|year=2007|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|edition=4th|isbn=978-0195313734|title-link=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music}}</ref>
|rev4 = ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]''
| rev4 = ''[[The Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]''
⚫
| rev4Score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin|title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music|year=2007|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|edition=4th|isbn=978-0195313734|title-link=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music}}</ref>
⚫
|rev4score = A<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ew.com/article/1991/10/11/remembering-miles-davis/|title=Remembering Miles Davis|website=EW.com}}</ref>
|rev6 = ''[[The Independent]]''
| rev5 = ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]''
⚫
| rev5score = A<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ew.com/article/1991/10/11/remembering-miles-davis/|title=Remembering Miles Davis|website=EW.com}}</ref>
⚫
|rev6score = (favorable)<ref>[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19981209/ai_n14204648 The Independent review]</ref>
|rev7 = ''[[The Penguin Guide to Jazz]]''
| rev6 = [[Tom Hull (critic)|Tom Hull]]
|rev7score = {{rating|4|4}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/Current/A1817.htm|title=Penguin Guide to Jazz review}}</ref>
| rev6Score = B+<ref>{{cite web|last=Hull|first=Tom|author-link=Tom Hull (critic)|date=n.d.|url=http://www.tomhull.com/ocston/nm/jazz-40s.html|title=Jazz (1940s–50s)|website=tomhull.com|access-date=March 3, 2020}}</ref>
| rev7 = ''[[The Independent]]''
|rev5 = [[Tom Hull (critic)|Tom Hull]]
⚫
| rev7score = (favorable)<ref>[http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19981209/ai_n14204648 The Independent review]</ref>
|rev5Score = B+<ref>{{cite web|last=Hull|first=Tom|author-link=Tom Hull (critic)|date=n.d.|url=http://www.tomhull.com/ocston/nm/jazz-40s.html|title=Jazz (1940s–50s)|website=tomhull.com|access-date=March 3, 2020}}</ref>
| rev8 = ''[[The Penguin Guide to Jazz]]''
| rev8score = {{rating|4|4}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/Current/A1817.htm|title=Penguin Guide to Jazz review}}</ref>
}}<!-- Automatically generated by DASHBot-->
}}<!-- Automatically generated by DASHBot-->


''[[The Penguin Guide to Jazz]]'' gave ''Miles Ahead'' a four-star rating out of a possible four stars, and called the album "a quiet masterpiece... with a guaranteed place in the top flight of Miles albums."<ref name="penguin">{{cite book|last=Cook|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Cook (journalist)|author2=Brian Morton|author-link2=Brian Morton (Scottish writer)|title=The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings|orig-year=1992|edition=8th|series=[[The Penguin Guide to Jazz]]|year=2006|publisher=Penguin|location=New York|isbn=0-14-102327-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/penguinguidetoja00cook_1/page/321 321]|url=https://archive.org/details/penguinguidetoja00cook_1/page/321}}</ref> Of Davis' flugelhorn, Kevin Whitehead of ''[[Cadence Magazine|Cadence]]'' wrote that it "seemed to suit [Davis] better than trumpet: more full-bodied, less shrill, it glosses over his technical deficiencies."<ref name="whitehead">{{Cite book | last =Whitehead | first =Kevin | year =1994 | title =[[All Music Guide to Jazz]] | editor =Ron Wynn | place =San Francisco | publisher =Miller Freeman | page =[https://archive.org/details/allmusicguidetoj00wynn/page/196 196] | isbn =0-87930-308-5 }}</ref> The ''Penguin Guide'', on the other hand, opined that "the flugelhorn's sound isn't so very different from his trumpet soloing, though palpably softer-edged.... [S]ome of the burnish seems to be lost."<ref name="penguin" />
''[[The Penguin Guide to Jazz]]'' gave ''Miles Ahead'' a four-star rating out of a possible four stars, and called the album "a quiet masterpiece... with a guaranteed place in the top flight of Miles albums."<ref name="penguin">{{cite book|last=Cook|first=Richard|author-link=Richard Cook (journalist)|author2=Brian Morton|author-link2=Brian Morton (Scottish writer)|title=The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings|orig-year=1992|edition=8th|series=[[The Penguin Guide to Jazz]]|year=2006|publisher=Penguin|location=New York|isbn=0-14-102327-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/penguinguidetoja00cook_1/page/321 321]|url=https://archive.org/details/penguinguidetoja00cook_1/page/321}}</ref> Of Davis' flugelhorn, Kevin Whitehead of ''[[Cadence Magazine|Cadence]]'' wrote that it "seemed to suit [Davis] better than trumpet: more full-bodied, less shrill, it glosses over his technical deficiencies."<ref name="whitehead">{{Cite book | last =Whitehead | first =Kevin | year =1994 | title =[[All Music Guide to Jazz]] | editor =Ron Wynn | place =San Francisco | publisher =Miller Freeman | page =[https://archive.org/details/allmusicguidetoj00wynn/page/196 196] | isbn =0-87930-308-5 }}</ref> The ''Penguin Guide'', on the other hand, opined that "the flugelhorn's sound isn't so very different from his trumpet soloing, though palpably softer-edged.... [S]ome of the burnish seems to be lost."<ref name="penguin" /> [[Tony Hall (music executive)|Tony Hall]] of [[Disc (magazine)|''Disc'']] said the album "one of the finest records of the decade" and rated five stars and plus.<ref name="Disc" />


== Album cover ==
== Album cover ==
Davis was reportedly unhappy about the album's original cover, which featured a photograph of a young white woman and child aboard a [[sailboat]]. He made his displeasure known to Columbia executive [[George Avakian]], asking, "Why'd you put that white bitch on there?"<ref>Miles Davis and Quincy Troupe, ''Miles: The Autobiography'', Simon and Schuster, 1989, {{ISBN|0-671-63504-2}}.</ref> Avakian later stated that the question was made in [[jest]]. For later releases of the record, however, the original cover-photo has been replaced by a photograph of Miles Davis.
Davis was reportedly unhappy about the album's original cover, which featured a photograph of a young white woman and child aboard a [[sailboat]]. He made his displeasure known to Columbia executive [[George Avakian]], asking, "Why'd you put that white bitch on there?"<ref>Miles Davis and Quincy Troupe, ''Miles: The Autobiography'', Simon and Schuster, 1989, {{ISBN|0-671-63504-2}}.</ref> Avakian later stated that the question was made in jest. For later releases of the record, however, the original cover-photo has been replaced by a photograph of Davis.


== Jon Hendricks' vocalization ==
== Jon Hendricks' vocalization ==
Line 76: Line 78:
# "I Don't Wanna Be Kissed (By Anyone but You)" ([[Harold Spina]], [[Jack Elliot (songwriter)|Jack Elliot]]) – 3:05
# "I Don't Wanna Be Kissed (By Anyone but You)" ([[Harold Spina]], [[Jack Elliot (songwriter)|Jack Elliot]]) – 3:05


Bonus tracks on the 1997 CD reissue:
A current CD reissue{{vague|date=November 2022}} contains alternate takes of "Springsville", "Miles Ahead" (incorrectly labeled as being one of "Blues for Pablo"), a complete rehearsal take of "The Meaning of the Blues", and "Lament" (recorded as a continuous track by Avakian as a contingency plan) and "I Don't Wanna Be Kissed (By Anyone but You)".
{{ordered list|start=11

| Springsville (Remake take 7)
| Miles Ahead (incorrectly labeled as being one of "Blues for Pablo")
| Medley (Rehearsal): The Meaning of the Blues/Lament
| I Don't Wanna Be Kissed (By Anyone but You) [Alternate take]
}}
== Personnel ==
== Personnel ==

* Miles Davis – [[Flugelhorn]]
* Miles Davis – [[Flugelhorn]]
* [[Bernie Glow]] – Lead [[trumpet]]
* [[Bernie Glow]] – Lead [[trumpet]]
⚫
* [[John Carisi]] – Trumpet
* [[Taft Jordan]] – Trumpet
* [[Louis Mucci]] – Trumpet
* [[Ernie Royal]] – Trumpet
* [[Ernie Royal]] – Trumpet
* [[Louis Mucci]] – Trumpet
* Joe Bennett – Trombone
* [[Taft Jordan]] – Trumpet
* [[Jimmy Cleveland]] – Trombone
⚫
* [[John Carisi]] – Trumpet
* [[Frank Rehak]] – [[Trombone]]
* [[Frank Rehak]] – [[Trombone]]
* [[Jimmy Cleveland]] – Trombone
* Joe Bennett – Trombone
* Tom Mitchell – [[Bass trombone]]
* Tom Mitchell – [[Bass trombone]]
⚫
* [[Jim Buffington]] – French horn
⚫
* Tony Miranda – French horn
* [[Willie Ruff]] – [[French horn]]
* [[Willie Ruff]] – [[French horn]]
⚫
* [[Bill Barber (musician)|Bill Barber]] – [[Sousaphone]]
⚫
* Tony Miranda – French horn
⚫
* [[Jim Buffington]] – French horn
⚫
* [[Bill Barber (musician)|Bill Barber]] – [[Tuba]]
* [[Lee Konitz]] – [[Alto sax]]
* [[Lee Konitz]] – [[Alto sax]]
* [[Danny Bank]] – [[Bass clarinet]]
* [[Danny Bank]] – [[Bass clarinet]]
⚫
* Romeo Penque – [[concert flute|Flute]] and [[clarinet]]
* Sid Cooper – Flute and clarinet
* Sid Cooper – Flute and clarinet
⚫
* Romeo Penque – [[concert flute|Flute]] and [[clarinet]]
* [[Paul Chambers]] – [[Double bass]]
* [[Paul Chambers]] – [[Double bass]]
* [[Art Taylor]] – [[Drums]]
* [[Art Taylor]] – [[Drums]]
Line 122: Line 128:
[[Category:Cool jazz albums]]
[[Category:Cool jazz albums]]
[[Category:Albums recorded at CBS 30th Street Studio]]
[[Category:Albums recorded at CBS 30th Street Studio]]
[[Category:Instrumental albums]]
[[Category:1950s instrumental albums]]

Latest revision as of 23:42, 29 November 2024

For the 2016 soundtrack album, see Miles Ahead (soundtrack).
Miles Ahead
Studio album by
Miles Davis
ReleasedOctober 21, 1957 (1957-10-21)[1][2]
RecordedMay 6, 10, 23, 27 and August 22, 1957
StudioColumbia 30th Street (New York City)
Genre
Length37:21
LabelColumbia (CL 1041)
ProducerGeorge Avakian, Cal Lampley
Miles Davis chronology
Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet
(1957) 		Miles Ahead
(1957) 		Bags' Groove
(1957)
Alternate cover
LP cover used for reissues

Miles Ahead is an album by Miles Davis that was released in October 1957 by Columbia Records.[1][2] It was Davis' first collaboration with arranger Gil Evans following the Birth of the Cool sessions. Along with their subsequent collaborations Porgy and Bess (1959) and Sketches of Spain (1960), Miles Ahead is one of the most famous recordings of Third Stream, a fusion of jazz, European classical, and world musics.[3] Davis played flugelhorn throughout.

Background

[edit]

Evans combined the ten pieces that make up the album into a suite, each flowing into the next without interruption; the only exception to this rule was on the title track since it was placed last on side A (this has been corrected on the CD versions). Davis is the only soloist on Miles Ahead, which features a large ensemble consisting of sixteen woodwind and brass players. Art Taylor played drums on the sessions and the then current Miles Davis Quintet member Paul Chambers was the bassist.

A fifth recording date involved Davis alone (re-)recording material to cover or patch mistakes or omissions in his solos using overdubbing. The fact that this album was originally produced in mono makes these inserted overdubbings rather obvious in the new stereo setting.[4]

Critical reception

[edit]
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[5]
Disc＋[6]
DownBeat[7]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[8]
Entertainment WeeklyA[9]
Tom HullB+[10]
The Independent(favorable)[11]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz[12]

The Penguin Guide to Jazz gave Miles Ahead a four-star rating out of a possible four stars, and called the album "a quiet masterpiece... with a guaranteed place in the top flight of Miles albums."[13] Of Davis' flugelhorn, Kevin Whitehead of Cadence wrote that it "seemed to suit [Davis] better than trumpet: more full-bodied, less shrill, it glosses over his technical deficiencies."[14] The Penguin Guide, on the other hand, opined that "the flugelhorn's sound isn't so very different from his trumpet soloing, though palpably softer-edged.... [S]ome of the burnish seems to be lost."[13] Tony Hall of Disc said the album "one of the finest records of the decade" and rated five stars and plus.[6]

Album cover

[edit]

Davis was reportedly unhappy about the album's original cover, which featured a photograph of a young white woman and child aboard a sailboat. He made his displeasure known to Columbia executive George Avakian, asking, "Why'd you put that white bitch on there?"[15] Avakian later stated that the question was made in jest. For later releases of the record, however, the original cover-photo has been replaced by a photograph of Davis.

Jon Hendricks' vocalization

[edit]

Jon Hendricks had been working on vocalizing Miles' parts on the album for over 50 years, and Pete Churchill, on hearing this, approached him to talk about developing it with ensemble the London Vocal Project. Together they finished scoring all the parts and writing the lyrics, for the band parts as well as for Miles, which the LVP then rehearsed extensively. On February 17, 2017, the LVP performed the entire album at St Peter's Church in New York, which was funded by Quincy Jones. The soloists were Anita Wardell, Michele Hendricks, Kevin Fitzgerald Burke, and Jessica Radcliffe.[16][17]

Track listing

[edit]
  1. "Springsville" (John Carisi) – 3:27
  2. "The Maids of Cadiz" (Léo Delibes) – 3:53
  3. "The Duke" (Dave Brubeck) – 3:35
  4. "My Ship" (Kurt Weill, Ira Gershwin) – 4:28
  5. "Miles Ahead" (Davis, Evans) – 3:29
  6. "Blues for Pablo" (Evans) – 5:18
  7. "New Rhumba" (Ahmad Jamal) – 4:37
  8. Medley Pt. 1: "The Meaning of the Blues" (Bobby Troup, Leah Worth) – 2:48
  9. Medley Pt. 2: "Lament" (J. J. Johnson) – 2:14
  10. "I Don't Wanna Be Kissed (By Anyone but You)" (Harold Spina, Jack Elliot) – 3:05

Bonus tracks on the 1997 CD reissue:

  1. Springsville (Remake take 7)
  2. Miles Ahead (incorrectly labeled as being one of "Blues for Pablo")
  3. Medley (Rehearsal): The Meaning of the Blues/Lament
  4. I Don't Wanna Be Kissed (By Anyone but You) [Alternate take]

Personnel

[edit]

Source: Miles Ahead (album) at Discogs.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Miles Ahead". Miles Davis. Sony Music. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  2. ^ a b "October Album Releases" (PDF). The Cash Box. The Cash Box Publishing Co. Inc. 12 October 1957. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  3. ^ a b Kanzler, George (7 November 2009). "Miles Revisited: Sketches of Spain (50th Anniversary Edition) & Miles Ahead Live". All About Jazz. Retrieved February 23, 2013.
  4. ^ "Miles Ahead - overdubbed solo". Miles Davis Official Site. Retrieved 2024-02-04.
  5. ^ AllMusic review
  6. ^ a b Hall, Tony (24 May 1958). "Get it―one of the finest albums of the decade". Disc. No. 16. p. 16.
  7. ^ "Down Beat review".
  8. ^ Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
  9. ^ "Remembering Miles Davis". EW.com.
  10. ^ Hull, Tom (n.d.). "Jazz (1940s–50s)". tomhull.com. Retrieved March 3, 2020.
  11. ^ The Independent review
  12. ^ "Penguin Guide to Jazz review".
  13. ^ a b Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2006) [1992]. The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (8th ed.). New York: Penguin. p. 321. ISBN 0-14-102327-9.
  14. ^ Whitehead, Kevin (1994). Ron Wynn (ed.). All Music Guide to Jazz. San Francisco: Miller Freeman. p. 196. ISBN 0-87930-308-5.
  15. ^ Miles Davis and Quincy Troupe, Miles: The Autobiography, Simon and Schuster, 1989, ISBN 0-671-63504-2.
  16. ^ BWW News Desk. "Jon Hendricks' MILES AHEAD Gets New York Premiere 2/17". BroadwayWorld.com.
  17. ^ "London Vocal Project". www.londonvocalproject.com.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Miles_Ahead_(album)&oldid=1260291363"