Miles Davis

[dgp11776]

I've been listening to Kind of Blue by Miles Davis quite a bit lately.  It's definitely my favorite album by him, and probably my favorite jazz album.  I know there are some fans on here - what are you favorite Miles Davis albums?  Mine top five (I think I have about 20 of his albums) are:

1.  Kind of Blue
2.  Birth of the Cool
3.  'Round About Midnight
4.  Porgy & Bess
5.  Milestones

As you can tell, I prefer his pre-fusion days, but I would probably but Bitches Brew at #6.

[Josh]

Kind of Blue is my favorite, too-- and indeed, my favorite jazz album ever-- but the rest of my list would be very different from yours, great though all of your picks are:

1. Kind of Blue
2. Filles de Kilamanjaro
3. A Tribute to Jack Johnson
4. In a Silent Way
5. Sketches of Spain

[dgp11776]

Nice choices, Josh - especially Sketches of Spain.  I like all of the Gil Evans stuff.

[Josh]

Yeah, me too; Porgy and Bess would definitely be an honorable mention for me list, perhaps even #6.

I also really like Nefertiti and Water Babies, two very undervalued albums that represent the transitional period from acoustic jazz to fusion.

[dgp11776]

I would say Walter Babies is very good, but not one of my favorites.  However, I'm with you on Nefertiti.  I love to sit down and listen to the changes and differences between Miles Smiles, Nefertiti, Bitches Brew.   

[Josh]

I wouldn't put Water Babies in my top 10, necessarily, but I think it's better than its meager critical legacy would suggest-- certainly not a bad album, though possibly a minor one.

But the one I've played the most over the past year, I think, is Jack Johnson-- my vote for the best rock album of the 1970s! (And, it must be said, an obvious touchstone and influence for Joe Henry's Tiny Voices, merely my favorite recording of all time.)

[dgp11776]

Jack Johnson is fun to listen to.  There are so many twists and turns packed into those two songs!  I never thought of the Tiny Voices link, but as I listen to "Yesternow" while typing this, I definitely see what you mean.

[bloop]

I wouldn't say my experience is thorough enough to really rank his music.  However, everything I've ever listened to by him, I've loved, which includes Kind of Blue, Sketches of Spain, Miles Smiles, 'Round About Midnight, and Bitches Brew.  Not to sound too typical, but Kind of Blue is my favorite so far, followed by Bitches Brew.

[Aaron]

I've never heard a bad MD album.

[dgp11776]

Listen to Doo-Bop sometime.  Blech.

[Josh]

Amandla is kinda lame, too, though Miles' playing is really solid; it's just the elevator-music synths and drum machines that detract from it.

But pretty much anything up through Jack Johnson is hard to go wrong with, and even after that album there are sill a few really great albums. I really like On the Corner, actually.

[dgp11776]

Well put.  He had at least 20 years of excellent output. 

And then there is John Coltrane, whose output went from good (mid 50's) to great (early '57) to epic (mid '57-early '65) to inexplicable rubbish (late '65 until his death).