Miles Davis with John Coltrane

BTW,it is 6 cd´s in a box!

I can't address the particular box set you are referring to as I don't know about it. However I do have many mid and late 50s LPs of Miles Davis with John Coltrane, both before and after Miles recorded on Columbia. The Columbia LPs are a high point for Miles Davis as a band leader with Coltrane as part of his group.

Starting with the LP Round About Midnight and including Kind of Blue you'll have some of the finest jazz available from anyone, anywhere.

Even my 1957 Columbia mono pressing of Round About Midnight sounds fantastic. It was a very well recorded LP that will have you wondering why music recording technology hasn't advanced more than it has since then.

Scott

Thank you Scott.
I will go for it.

I have the box and it's great but, possibly not if you have a lot of the records from that period - it contains the sessions for such albums as Kind of Blue and Milestones and features some really wonderful music. The job done by the remastering team is especially fine. In my view it is one of the finer boxes from the series (although, to be honest they're all good), though my favourite is the Gil Evans one.

regards, Tam

I echo what Tam says. The Columbia reissues of Miles' recordings are superb. I have the Gil Evans box, In a Silent Way and the Miles and Coltrane sets. They are examples of the fine music of the era and the great recording techniques employed at that time. The CD's rival the openness of the LP's, of which I also have.


Anthony

Coltrane is one of my heroes, but I think Miles Davis was a rather pompous and boring musician. Very slick and clean trumpet sounds, more pose than anything else. Lester Bowie (Art Ensemble of Chicago) is a much more adventurous trumpet player.

So this box would not be for me.

Willem

If I might say, I think that's a rather unfair assessment of Miles. To be sure he had a huge ego, but not without some degree of justification. The charge that he was more pose than anything else in particularly unfair, not least because of the number top notch musicians who emerged from under his wing but also influence he had on jazz over almost half a century.

regards, Tam

Tam,

Congratulations on such a restrained reply. I doubt I would have managed such a dignified response.

Willem,

Miles's music evolved constantly, hence it is virtually impossible to get bored. His musical output has certainly stood the test of time, and commercial success. As Tam has already stated, you only have to look at the influence he had on the musicians around him, to see his worth.

It is not his pose or ego that I listen to, just the music.

Regards

Nic

I think there are a number of Jazz artists - Miles, Roy Eldridge,Louis Armstrong, Ben Webster, Monk to name a few who though undoubtably very influential in their day are now given an undeserved reverence when compared to some of their contemporaries. If ones try to listen to them without this mantle of adoration, this hagigraphy, you will recognise that often the playing is inferior to the other musicians on the set. EG Adderley or Coltrane with Miles.
And again Dorham or Gillespie with Parker rather than Davis

Jamjar,

Not entirely sure what point you are trying to make here.

Something Else (1958) - Adderly plays lead with Miles as second fiddle, result, a great record.

Miles, Adderly and Coltrane all play on Kind of Blue (1959), another great record.

Giant Steps - Coltrane (1959) another great record.

Who is really listening to whether one player is blowing another out of the park?.

I also like Sonny Stitt, Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, Coleman Hawkins, Diz and Bird, Stanley Turrentine, Tubby Hayes and more recent artists like Tommy Smith, Jan Garbarek, Jean Toussaint, Denys Baptiste, Guy Barker etc etc. Hagiography has nothing to do with it, I just like a decent tune, well played and presented. If it was not, I would not buy it!

Regards

Nic

The description of "slick and clean" to classify Miles' playing would hardly be the terms I would use. I have always thought Miles was one of those musicians who made the most out of a rather limited technique. I also think familiarity sometimes can diminish the work of some of the great players. One has to put oneself back in time when some of his classic recordings were released to really get an idea of how great and influential his work was, especially during the late 50's and 60's. It has stood the test of time, but when first released his recordings during that time period, like Coltrane and Monk, were simply riveting. Guess I'm dating myself here.....

Apart from changing the course of music 4-5 times, discovering Coltrane, composing most of the best album of all time, having a near 40 year career and being one of the most influential musicians of all time, just what exactly did Miles Davis ever do other than look good in a suit? Whoever made the point of people like Coltrane et al being technically inferior to modern players is missing the point by such a wide margin it is impossible to quantify! Innovators such as Monk, Coltrane, Davis, Parker, Ellington, Armstrong transcend such parameters because they provided the template, the building blocks upon which modern music evolved from.

I'm not trying to diminish the part those musicians played in establishing the course of Jazz and they crop up many times in my Jazz collection - But as an example, for me I'm glad that Miles Davis played and probably thought out the famous Autumn Leaves arrangement with Cannonball Adderley - But when I listen to it, I prefer to hear what Adderley does to the theme over and above anything Miles has to say on that particular track. And as another example I would prefer to listen to Charlie Rouses improvisations rather than Monks - Though I accept that Monk was a great composer and acted as a catalyst for the people playing with him.