Your top 5 Miles Davis albums (in no order)

[Santa C]

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Studio or live

Come on, jazz cats or not, most of us have at least five - don't we....?

Playing ESP as I type...




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[robertff]

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Studio or live

Come on, jazz cats or not, most of us have at least five - don't we....?

Playing ESP as I type...


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I’ll come back to this tomorrow. Crikey that’s a hard one.


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[ChrisB]

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Studio or live

Come on, jazz cats or not, most of us have at least five - don't we....?

Playing ESP as I type...


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I’ll come back to this tomorrow. Crikey that’s a hard one.


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First Zappa, now Miles ....for God's sake, Rob, splash your face with cold water and get a grip on reality!

[Darkness_Fish]

Kind of Blue
In a Silent Way
Sketches of Spain
Filles de Kilimanjaro
Nefertiti

[Nervous Ned]

Just 5!

Filles de Kilimanjaro
Miles in the Sky
In a Silent Way
Bitches Brew
On the Corner

[robertff]

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Studio or live

Come on, jazz cats or not, most of us have at least five - don't we....?

Playing ESP as I type...


.

I’ll come back to this tomorrow. Crikey that’s a hard one.


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First Zappa, now Miles ....for God's sake, Rob, splash your face with cold water and get a grip on reality!

I do like a bit of Miles Chris, not something I listen to regularly but every now and then when the mood takes me. Everyone should have a bit of Miles in their record collection.


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[ChrisB]

I actually own "Bitches Brew" and "Jack Johnson" and I can honestly say, I've never played them They were given to me by some well meaning friend many years ago (don't know what the occassion was). I feigned gratitude, filed them away, and they've not moved to this very day

[robertff]

Can't honestly say I could pick out one Miles album from another but these are the ones I've got, mostly the recognised greats but I like them.


Birth of the Cool
Porgy and Bess
Kind of Blue
Sketches of Spain
Bitches Brew
Tutu
Ascenseur pour L'echafraud
Olympia with John Coltrane
and this box set;





Thought I also had In A Silent Way but can't find it currently, perhaps it was my imagination or just wishful thinking (I have got it now, just ordered it for £3.99). The one I play most regularly is Ascenseur pour L'echafraud, really like the haunting quality of it.


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[Santa C]

I actually own "Bitches Brew" and "Jack Johnson" and I can honestly say, I've never played them

Try Jack Johnson first





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[Santa C]

Thought I also had In A Silent Way but can't find it currently, perhaps it was my imagination or just wisheful thinking (I have got it now, just ordered it for £3.99).

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Good lad - it's a corker



Incidentally, this is one of my favourite live albums ever.

It's a box set which is expensive, but can be bought in bits (cheaply)



Superb sound quality - hardly 'bootleg'




These are the bits:




You can get both for about a fiver each





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[Santa C]

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Milestones is a corker and one of my favourites





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[robertff]

Thought I also had In A Silent Way but can't find it currently, perhaps it was my imagination or just wisheful thinking (I have got it now, just ordered it for £3.99).

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Good lad - it's a corker



Incidentally, this is one of my favourite live albums ever.

It's a box set which is expensive, but can be bought in bits (cheaply)



Superb sound quality - hardly 'bootleg'




These are the bits:




You can get both for about a fiver each


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Already got the Coltrane one.


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[BARON CORNY DOG]

Bitches Brew
Dark Magus
In A Silent Way
Birth of the Cool (yeah it's a compilation)
Kind of Blue

If Birth of the Cool isn't allowed then Filles de Kilimanjaro.

[Santa C]

Bitches Brew
Dark Magus
In A Silent Way
Kind of Blue
Filles de Kilimanjaro.

Dark Magus is an interesting choice from the electric period.

Personally, I prefer the next one Agharta

Pangaea from the evening session (Agharta was the afternoon) is noticeably weaker

Miles was in considerable pain during that time and fatigue shows

Peter Cosey’s guitar is sublime throughout




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[Santa C]

Incidentally, who was the idiot that suggested just FIVE….?

The lad Nervous Ned is spot on

An impossible task



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[The Slider]

Kind of Blue and In a Silent Way have no business being absent from any list

Milestones

Miles Ahead

Porgy and Bess or Sketches of Spain - toss a coin.
The hard noisy 70s records do not appeal at all.
Best Miles is late 50s Miles into the 60s.

[Nervous Ned]

Oddly enough I'n not particularly fond of Miles' post bop albums. For that style I'd go to Freddie Hubbard, Donald Byrd, Lee Morgan, Jackie McLean and so on. I've always thought Miles' true talent was as an arranger, bandleader and, as pretentious as it sounds, a visionary. 'My' Miles era is Miles in the Sky through to Pangaea.
Which is not to say the recordings outside that period are bad, just not my favourites.
Miles covered so much ground.

The next 5?

Sketches of Spain (The only Gil/Miles album I particularly like)
A Kind of Blue
Live Evil
Big Fun (A compilation of outtakes, bar Go Ahead John. But Miles outtakes in this period were so good)
Dark Magus
A Tribute to Jack Johnson
Get Up With It (Which would appear on this list purely for He Loved Him Madly)

Ok ... 7 ... sue me!

[Santa C]

Best Miles is late 50s Miles into the 60s.

Agreed

Worthy of mention are the recordings at two sessions on May 11th and October 26th, 1956 that produced four albums:
Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet
Relaxin' with The Miles Davis Quintet
Workin' with The Miles Davis Quintet
Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet

All robust stuff





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[mudshark]

Today:

In a Silent Way
Sketches of Spain
Bitches Brew
Kind of Blue
On the Corner

[Six String]

A very tough job but here goes…
Kind Of Blue (predictable, but yes)
Nefertiti
E.S.P.
In A Silent Way
Bitches Brew

I could have easily picked all of the second great quintet recordings or the Prestige sessions that produced Steamin’, Workin’, etc. to make it easier but I couldn’t leave out IASW or Bitches Brew. Two seminal albums that begat a lot of children in the electric jazz world.

NP E.S.P. MoFi 45 RPM Pressing. One long drone, indeed.