Listening to Miles With Sadness in My Heart

So goddamned cool

She went quickly and much too soon and of course, we were all heart-broken. You know the details so I won't get into them. I imagine you got an invite to next weekend's memorial gathering.

She didn't think much of jazz, but I liked her anyway. This weekend, since I needed as much comfort as possible, I turned to an old friend, Miles Davis's Prestige recordings.

It's a debate I've had many times in many cities and hope to have another debate soon: namely, what is Miles' best musical period. It's a great debate since there is, clearly, no BEST period. It's all a matter of taste. I love his earliest recordings with Bird as well as his fusion recordings, especially In A Silent Way.

Admittedly, I've never met anyone who would argue that the recordings from his final decade are the cream of the crop, though I still like his recording of "Time After Time" from You're Under Arrest, (or how about this live version?) but maybe that's just because I'm partial to that Cyndi Lauper tune. Now I know that many of you are groaning from much of what I've written in this paragraph, but I'll stand by Cyndi.

As I'm sure I've told you before, I'm partial to Miles' Prestige recordings. Great bands, great songs. Jazz doesn't get much better than albums likeas the classics Cookin', Steamin', Relaxin' and Workin'. The familiarity of these great recordings helped get me through this tough weekend. I could offer up a dozen tracks to prove my point, but how about "Ahmad's Blues"?


Enjoy. I hope to raise a glass with you again soon. Call me.

Fabulous Flamenco on a Winter's Morn

Miles & Bill - I wish they had recorded 100 albums together...

Friends, I know I've spoken a great deal about spending a lot of time listening to lesser known jazz musicians and while this is true, the track that accompanied me through my drive to work on this unseasonably mild January morning (what happened to northern winters?) was the absolutely lovely "Flamenco Sketches" from Miles Davis' seminal recording Kind of Blue. You know that I am in love with Bill Evans and to hear him playing with Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Paul Chambers, Cannonball Adderley and Jimmy Cobb... well it doesn't get much better than that, does it?

Enjoy this classic, my friends.

Kind of Blue is the best-selling jazz album of all time for a very good reason, don't you think? After all, I named it an Essential Album That All Humans Should Own, so I imagine you've already bought it, listened to it constantly like I did upon first hearing it, then rushed out and bought as much Bill Evans as you could afford.

So What!

On hold to talk to the government about this and that. 

What should be playing?

So What by Miles Davis.  Not a lousy Muzak version either, but the original recording!

Sure, the fidelity is terrible and I couldn't make out much of Miles' muted trumpet or Paul Chambers bass, but that song has a great mid-range. Bill Evans, Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley have my toes tapping.

Say what you will about the Canadian government, and believe me there's a lot I could say, (proroguing Parliament twice! slashing funding to the arts, to hell with the environment, etc etc etc) but I will give them their due: their on hold service has great taste in music!

Keep me on hold a little longer! I don't mind!

Albums That All Humans Should Own #3

As I said in an earlier post (Dec. 20, 2009, which is why I am being brief here), my number three pick is the best-selling jazz album for good reason.

'Kind Of Blue' (1959) by Miles Davis is my third pick of essential albums that all humans should own.

The music is incredible and it may be the  biggest all-star line-up to ever record together and surely this list of names will have you wanting this album:

• Miles Davis, trumpet.
• John Coltrane, tenor sax.
• Cannonball Adderley, alto sax.
• Bill Evans (and sometimes Wynton Kelly), piano.
• My man Paul Chambers, bass.
• Jimmy Cobb, drums.

It's a superb disc. I can't think of a bad thing about it. It's beyond essential. As much as I love my picks #1 and #2, if you were only going to own one jazz album, I suggest this one.

The Theme

Babies are asleep.
Malay Chicken in Coconut Milk is in the oven.

Paul Chambers is setting the mood with The Theme which he probably played every night when he was with the Miles Davis Quintet, (which had the stellar line-up rounded out by John Coltrane tenor, Red Garland piano and Philly Jo Jones drums).

[My wife didn't enjoy the track that was on previously: Charles Tolliver's attacking brilliance demonstrated on Impact. Hit it certainly does.  The electric bass has me playing this track several times a day in between the gentle tones of Walt Dickerson, of To My Queen fame. More on Charles Tolliver's in a later post, my friends.]

Just before dinner was prepared I read about Mr. Chambers in the new Monk biography, stating that when Monk first met Mr. Chambers through Coltrane:

Chambers was jazz's golden child... and Down Beat critics were about to anoint him 'New Star' on bass...

 I knew my faith in him was well placed.

Ahh, the basmati is ready.  Good night for now. Let's allow Cannonball Adderley's Somethin' Else to lead us to dinner.