Best Miles Davis Album 1949-1974

Live in Tokyo is wonderful, yeah. in a silent way gets my vote and is my desert island Miles if i *had* to pick one....but there are really a dozen i could pick

Tokyo's a strange one. The band actually seems to take fewer risks with Sam Rivers on board (though in this context, "fewer risks" is a relative term). Definitely worth it...better if you can spring for the Seven Steps box, which also has the phenomenal Antibes date.

I need to check that one out then too.

Cool, thanks dudes.

I don't even know that it's close to being best but Ascenseur pour l'Échafaud has the dearest memories attached to it for me.

shocker :)

Brit ILXor inside baseball?

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Surprised On The Corner finished above others but a really good amount of votes. Steamin' deserved a vote but everything else did quite well considering.
This is the perfect example where having votes ranked 1-10 would've been rewarding.

Motherfucker had a lot of good albums

results not all that surprising

A discography The Beatles could only dream of!!

Water Babies is pretty interesting.

somehow Live Evil is still underrated. I voted OtC, but it's only been in the last few years that LE wasn't my pick.

Surprised On The Corner finished above others

dont be, ultimate rock crit dork choice

dude

im not saying its bad per se

(at least in that post)

I had assumed that In A Silent Way was the ultimate rock crit dork choice - which is supported by the fact that I voted for it and that it won.

In A Silent Way is the "I've outsmarted the rock crit dork hivemind, oh wait, no I haven't" choice.

i dont know if 'in silent way' is musically rock crit dork enough. too much jazz

I very nearly didn't outsmart the rock crit dork hivemind myself.

I did!

"i dont know if 'in silent way' is musically rock crit dork enough. too much jazz"

I can sort of see this, but its relative structure makes it seem much more accessible than Bitches Brew or On the Corner, and that's speaking as someone who hardly knows any jazz.

If someone was coming from, say, a krautrock or post-rock angle (which is how i imagine a lot of rock crit dorks like myself probably come to these records) it's the one that make the most sense, I think...

Yeah Tim otm. I've always listened to In a Silent Way the same way I've listened to, say, Can.

I really need to check out Filles De Kilimanjaro perhaps.

"I can sort of see this, but its relative structure makes it seem much more accessible than Bitches Brew or On the Corner, and that's speaking as someone who hardly knows any jazz.

If someone was coming from, say, a krautrock or post-rock angle (which is how i imagine a lot of rock crit dorks like myself probably come to these records) it's the one that make the most sense, I think...

-- Tim F"

i think "in a silent way" is just way less "offensive" in that it is never in your face like OtC or BB are almost constantly. it allows people to be able to appreciate it in almost the way that ambient or background music can be appreciated rather than on the level of good jazz music. i think that is part of its strength though, that you dont need to be a big jazz head to "get it".

As opposed to OtC and BB, which can only be appreciated on the level of good jazz music? Hell, that statement would be totally wonky even if applied to his pre-electric stuff.

Argh, never mind. You are pipecock.

"As opposed to OtC and BB, which can only be appreciated on the level of good jazz music? Hell, that statement would be totally wonky even if applied to his pre-electric stuff.

-- The Reverend"

uh, no. that was 2 distinct different statements:

1. IASW is less in your face than BB or OtC

2. IASW is effective because it easily appeals to non-jazz people.

surely it can't be that difficult to read?

1. Of course.

2.

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Oh I guess the ascii was a bit too large. It's one of those head-in-hands type deals.

filles de kilimanjaro is awesome, it was my favorite for awhile

the top 5 aren't a surprise. but 4 people for Miles Ahead, wow!

I put "It's About That Time" on a comp for a Mennonite friend whose popular tastes run to hillbilly music and sacred harp singing, and his only comment on that track was "You like music that doesn't go anywhere, don't you?" (Still, he was knocked out by Ornette's "Lonely Woman.")

apropos of nothing...

i actually kind of dislike miles ahead, worst of the gil evans (doesnt say much) and worst of the period (still) and really the miles release i pull out least (says more)

If someone was coming from, say, a krautrock or post-rock angle (which is how i imagine a lot of rock crit dorks like myself probably come to these records) it's the one that make the most sense, I think...

-- Tim F"

i think "in a silent way" is just way less "offensive" in that it is never in your face like OtC or BB are almost constantly. it allows people to be able to appreciate it in almost the way that ambient or background music can be appreciated rather than on the level of good jazz music. i think that is part of its strength though, that you dont need to be a big jazz head to "get it".

-- pipecock

But wouldn't someone coming from a krautrock and a post-rock angle respond to On The Corner much more viscerally than In A Silent Way? I suppose it depends on which aspect of krautrock you're starting from. "Aumgn" fans would certainly dig the latter. But the former's groove repetitions speak to "Oh Yeah" fans. And "Black Satin" was included on that amazing Jazz Satellites comp to rake in the post-rock (certainly not jazz) dollar. Besides, isn't any kind of rock supposed to be in your face and "offensive?"

Also, big jazz heads didn't get On The Corner and many still don't, e.g. whoever said that "playing tennis without a net" comment on Ken Burns' Jazz.

I came from electronic music when I first heard IaSW, and the ambient approach on it made a lot more sense to me than BB or OtC.

The Antibes concert mentioned as part of the Seven Steps box above is available separately (though in slightly shortened form, one or two tracks missing) as Miles In Europe. It is, indeed, pretty hot. The George Coleman version of what became the Shorter-Hancock-Carter-Williams band is underrated.

So much Miles I have and yet so much more I still need to hear.

Water Babies is great! Dual Mr. Anthony Tillmon Williams Process is one of my favorite Miles tracks.

Also In a Silent Way is more accessible even for trad. jazz heads than Bitches Brew or On the Corner. Bitches Brew is just a harsh album at first.

I voted for Get Up With It, though In a Silent Way was second for me. Surprised and happy to see GUWI get so many votes, as many as KoB!

The mid-60s quintet stuff didn't fair too well, eh (save for Miles Smiles)? Wonder why.

Coltrane wasn't on them and he hadn't gone rock yet? ;)

btw if anyone can find me a good John Coltrane as leader discography complete with year of release I'll do a poll.

I'm kinda surprised nobody voted for The New Miles Davis Quintet. The reverb on Coltrane's first solo on the first cut on that disc alone makes it a winner.

Also, big jazz heads didn't get On The Corner and many still don't, e.g. whoever said that "playing tennis without a net" comment on Ken Burns' Jazz.

That was the otherwise perceptive Gerald Early. He seems like he is very desperately trying to convince himself of the alleged shortcomings of Miles' electric work.

Let's hope he's otherwise perceptive, because that's a stupid comment.

Oh, you know what, I was confusing Miles Ahead with Miles in the Sky. MitS has that funky track w/George Benson and some of the sickest Tony Williams stuff, but the rest is kinda ehh.

The George Coleman version of what became the Shorter-Hancock-Carter-Williams band is underrated.

-- unperson, Wednesday, 12 December 2007 12:37 (2 hours ago) Link

Four + More!!!

OTM. Sometimes I prefer Coleman to Shorter in that band.