Best Miles Davis Album 1949-1974

I think part of it is that the album makes the most sense as a gateway point from/to certain other styles (krautrock and lots of more hypnotic electronic music) that also rose to relative critical prominence during the nineties

oh definitely

When I ranked Davis albums for Stereogum, keeping IASW out of the top ten (it was #12) pissed off even more commenters than putting On The Corner at #1.

I thought BB was the bestselling one because it was sort of properly timed and promoted as "Hey hippies, here's the breakthrough jazz freakout album for YOU!" Like he was playing all those Fillmore and festival shows with rock acts etc. at the time.

I think Bitches Brew is a much more difficult and forbidding listen to modern ears not already used to jazz.

If I was trying to introduce someone with vaguely pitchforkish eclectic taste but no knowledge of jazz I would go IASW, GUWI, TTJJ, OTC and only then BB.

*introduce to electric era Miles

agree

more difficult and forbidding listen

in what way? I didn't know much about jazz when I first heard it in 1992 or so, that's for sure.

I thought BB was the bestselling one because it was sort of properly timed and promoted as "Hey hippies, here's the breakthrough jazz freakout album for YOU!" Like he was playing all those Fillmore and festival shows with rock acts etc. at the time.

This is pretty much exactly right. Davis started playing at the Fillmores etc. in 1969, and BB came out in March 1970.

no argument there

and I think that's a point that gets lost a lot in discussions about most popular albums, often they are most popular because of right time/right place

The hippies were already primed for a jazz-rock crossover anyway; Blood, Sweat and Tears and Chicago and the Electric Flag were coming at it from the rock side, and Charles Lloyd (with Keith Jarrett on piano, Cecil McBee on bass, and Jack DeJohnette on drums) was playing the Fillmore in 1967 and 1968 and had at least one platinum album. Davis eventually stole both Jarrett and DeJohnette from him.

shakey if you were hearing it on the cd available in the early 90s then its a miracle if you could dig it, that thing sounded like shit compared to the remaster from the late 90s

was driving around town today and came across a cool Bitches Brew mural I had never seen before

if you were hearing it on the cd available in the early 90s

nah I bought a cheap vinyl copy (which I still have) from Logos in downtown Santa Cruz, put it on the stereo, clamped on the headphones, got super-stoned and drew a convoluted picture of pyramids and snakes and sun motifs that I later gave to my girlfriend.

true story!

I thought BB was the bestselling one because it was sort of properly timed and promoted as "Hey hippies, here's the breakthrough jazz freakout album for YOU!" Like he was playing all those Fillmore and festival shows with rock acts etc. at the time.

― longtime caller, first time listener (man alive), Friday, 18 October 2019 20:19 (one hour ago) link

this was v much in part the effort of the label, at least thats the impression given by the admittedly hagiographic clive davis bio on netflix right now

like imagine a label convinced idk nas to make a soundcloud rap album lol

hahaha

of course miles made a lot more of that opportunity than nas is likely to in 2019 but you know what i mean

hagiographic clive davis bio on netflix r

threw up in my mouth a little when I saw this in the queue tbh

The Clive doc isn’t utterly unentertaining, as these things go, but it’s no different than all the other music exec docs:

“I could pick hits! I didn’t always pick hits, but I mostly picked hits!”

Diddy: “(exec) always picked hits.”

"and then we took a meeting"

I think Bitches Brew is a much more difficult and forbidding listen to modern ears not already used to jazz.

I don't really think of BB as jazz

When I ranked Davis albums for Stereogum, keeping IASW out of the top ten (it was #12) pissed off even more commenters than putting On The Corner at #1.

― shared unit of analysis (unperson), Friday, October 18, 2019 3:24 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

I recall enjoying this list despite the rankings, which were imo ludicrous. No offense - I thought the writing was terrific. But can't see how any non-trolling person who's heard more than five Miles albums from literally any part of his discography would ever put OTC at #1. I don't even know how anyone tells the songs on that record apart.

any non-trolling person

Reads like trolling tbh.

SO why aren't we discussing Sorcerer or Nefertiti?

"Pee Wee"? "Prince of Darkness"? And Miles in the Sky has "Stuff," c'mon now.

I always thought Miles in the Sky and Filles de Kilimanjaro were very underrated. Also, it's ridiculous that both of these, Nefertiti, and Miles Smiles were released in the same year. I like this period, the sorta sweet spot between two very distinct eras...

It's so easy to lapse into hyperbole when you talk about this dude, but jesus what a towering goddamn body of work.

not exactly the same year since Miles Smiles is early '67 and Filles de Kilimanjaro is late '68, but I agree that those first two you mention are underrated

But can't see how any non-trolling person who's heard more than five Miles albums from literally any part of his discography would ever put OTC at #1. I don't even know how anyone tells the songs on that record apart.

― Paul Ponzi, Saturday, October 19, 2019 9:26 AM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

i try to abandon incredulity in the face of any aspect of peoples' tastes so i dont mean to echo your own here but i dont know man, the release itself is not my personal #1 but if you enjoy miles' electric work in any respect i struggle to think how you could hear the music spread across the complete OTC sessions that produced OTC, BF and GUWI and think that people who really dig that music and that band are 'trolling'

like dude maybe step back and consider that this band miles assembled is killer and the funk is harder than anything in the universe of funk, maybe people might like that? lol

Like, if someone ranked The Musings of Miles at #1 I'd be a tad bemused but On the Corner is an inaugural album for so many genres and subgenres, it's not hard to see what makes it a credible contender.

"On the Corner" would definitely win this poll if run again. Don't like it much personally tbh.

I don't even know how anyone tells the songs on that record apart.

i'm sure you can work it out

since when does it matter

the correct album won this

where has the last 12 years gone since I ran this poll

between digital & LPs I have a lot of miles- when I play mp3s, streaming etc I listen to the stuff off the various Complete Sessions boxes- all the stuff that had gone uncollected prior. But is it my favorite or his best? Not necessarily but it's all interesting. When I put on records, I listen to Ascensur/Jazz Track, Miles Smiles, & Big Fun the most. I suspect my trajectory with Miles was like many people- Started with BB & Silent Way, then stayed in the heavy funk era for a long time. Over the ensuing years I have played the 2nd quintet stuff much more and am finally back in the 50s in the early Columbia years. No real point, just that I find it remarkable how much the music has to offer, and my changing perceptions of it over time. There isn't anything I find where I think "oh this wasn't all that after all". If anything, occasional replays of the 80s material have made me more generous toward some (not all) of it...

JAZZ IS LIKE HEROIN TO ME ! ! ! ~~~~ ILM POST-1945 JAZZ ALBUMS POLL - THE RESULTS COUNTDOWN (now counting top 25!)

In A Silent Way won that ^

Porgy and Bess is a fucking beautiful album and just about as close to perfection as he has reached at other times in a recording studio over the decades. Not that much of a controp either - 5 people back then agreed.

no votes for Big Fun is ridic!

There *is* something a little weird about OTC at number one — not that it’s not legit for someone to have as their fav miles album but it’s so representative of a very specific style of his music vs being especially representative ... I think the reason something like KoB is so often listed at no 1 is because it’s seen is bridging different styles and eras of his while being very singularly itself. OTC at number one is so dismissive of the mass of miles fans who valued the intricacies of his bebop, cool, hardbop, and post bop records it’s hard not to take it as a pretty extreme ideological statement about what “really matters” in his career — and to see that as deferential to a rock & funk generation that came later

*vs being especially representative of his whole career, I mean

In other words, nothing wrong it as personal preference but for a publication it’s saying something very uh bold about the values & preferences of its writers

There *is* something a little weird about OTC at number one — not that it’s not legit for someone to have as their fav miles album but it’s so representative of a very specific style of his music vs being especially representative

... I think the reason something like KoB is so often listed at no 1 is because it’s seen is bridging different styles and eras of his while being very singularly itself.

OTC at number one is so dismissive of the mass of miles fans who valued the intricacies of his bebop, cool, hardbop, and post bop records it’s hard not to take it as a pretty extreme ideological statement about what “really matters” in his career — and to see that as deferential to a rock & funk generation that came later

What puts In A Silent Way over the top for this period is its length and cohesion. Bitches Brew is more, I don't know, "advanced" than In A Silent Way? And sprawling. It has more to offer. But spending all that time wandering through it, it's a pretty big lift. Pharaoh's Dance requires set and setting. Shhh/Peaceful doesn't. Maybe that's because I've listened to it more and because my synapses are already primed for it. I don't know. But the idea of a canon being self-reinforcing makes sense to me, my favorite records are the ones I've listened to the most.

OTC as a pick is just extending the line of ceaseless-boundary-pushing out as far as it goes relative to a preference for 'works', decisive steps, etc. (there are reasons to pick other albums from the back end of his 70s run but maybe that one covers more criteria better). much later and you're picking fine but underrated albums that almost no one lauds as groundbreaking. earlier and someone could always object, ok but that's not nearly so XXX as OTC.

Maybe it’s less “dismissive of the mass of Miles fans,” and more that that particular mass of Miles fans is generally dismissive of electric Miles.

nah. i think there are things abt miles that the electric miles fans tend to be not interested in or dismissive of, looking to appreciate miles songs in toto bc they dont really care as much abt the soloist as auteur, more concerned w/ album creator as auteur ... i def think there's a pretty distinct difference between how rock oriented fans approach miles' catalog vs artists who came up w/ his stuff as fans of jazz

OTC as a pick is just extending the line of ceaseless-boundary-pushing out as far as it goes relative to a preference for 'works', decisive steps, etc. (there are reasons to pick other albums from the back end of his 70s run but maybe that one covers more criteria better). much later and you're picking fine but underrated albums that almost no one lauds as groundbreaking. earlier and someone could always object, ok but that's not nearly so XXX as OTC.

― j., Saturday, October 19, 2019 4:30 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

dont disagree w this but i think that kind of reinforces what im saying abt it not being especially representative of his career on the whole ... like ppl dont generally expect coltrane fans to see 'interestellar space' as the best trane album, not that they *cant* feel that way but its making a pretty extreme statement

coltrane does have a similar rep for that but that story in his case also has a TOO FAR, TOO FAAAAR qualifier

Unchallenging opinion: OTC is my least favourite from this period.