Milestones | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | September 2, 1958 [1] [2] | |||
Recorded | February 4 and March 4, 1958 | |||
Studio | Columbia 30th Street (New York City) | |||
Genre | Jazz, modal jazz, bebop | |||
Length | 47:36 | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Producer | George Avakian | |||
Miles Davis chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [3] |
DownBeat (Original LP release) | [4] |
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [5] |
Tom Hull | B+ [6] |
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings | [7] |
Milestones is a studio album by Miles Davis. It was recorded with his "first great quintet" (augmented to a sextet with the addition of alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley) and released in September of 1958 by Columbia Records. [8]
Tenor saxophonist John Coltrane's return to Davis' group in 1958 coincided with the "modal phase" albums: Milestones and Kind of Blue (1959) are both considered essential examples of 1950s modern jazz. Davis at this point was experimenting with modes – scale patterns other than major and minor. [9]
Davis plays both trumpet and piano on "Sid's Ahead", a blues which is reminiscent of "Walkin'" that Davis had recorded under the title "Weirdo" for Blue Note in 1954. He plays trumpet in the ensemble passages and solos on trumpet but moves to the piano to accompany the saxophonists and Paul Chambers's bass solo in the absence of pianist Red Garland. "Billy Boy" is a solo feature for Garland and the rhythm section. [10]
In a five-star review, AllMusic's Thom Jurek called Milestones a classic album with blues material in both bebop and post-bop veins, as well as the "memorable" title track, which introduced modalism in jazz and defined Davis' subsequent music in the years to follow. [3] Andy Hermann of PopMatters felt that the album offers more aggressive swinging than Kind of Blue and showcases the first session between saxophonists Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley, whose different styles "feed off each other and push each musician to greater heights." [11] Jim Santella of All About Jazz said that the quality of the personnel Davis enlisted was "the very best", even though the sextet was short-lived, and that Milestones is "a seminal album that helped shape jazz history." [12]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz selected the album as part of its suggested "Core Collection", calling it "one of the very great modern-jazz albums." [7]
Milestones was originally released in mono, as well as in electronically re-channeled stereo (also called pseudo-stereo). [13] The album was remixed and remastered in stereo for The Complete Columbia Recordings of Miles Davis with John Coltrane and, in 2001, reissued in stereo on the Columbia/Legacy label.
Tracks 3–9 recorded on February 4, 1958; tracks 1–2 recorded on March 4, 1958.
Kind of Blue is a studio album by the American jazz trumpeter and composer Miles Davis. It was released on August 17, 1959 through Columbia Records. For the recording, Davis led a sextet featuring saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, pianist Bill Evans, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer Jimmy Cobb, with new band pianist Wynton Kelly appearing on one track—"Freddie Freeloader"—instead of Evans. The album was recorded in two sessions on March 2 and April 22, 1959, at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City.
Somethin' Else is an album by American jazz saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, recorded on March 9, 1958 and released on Blue Note in August later that year—his only album for the label. Also on the session is trumpeter Miles Davis in one of his handful of recording dates for Blue Note. Adderley was a member of Davis' group at the time, and the album was recorded shortly after Davis' own landmark album Milestones.
William McKinley "Red" Garland Jr. was an American modern jazz pianist. Known for his work as a bandleader and during the 1950s with Miles Davis, Garland helped popularize the block chord style of playing in jazz piano.
Someday My Prince Will Come is the seventh studio album by Miles Davis for Columbia Records, catalogue CL 1656 and CS 8456 in stereo, released in 1961. Recorded at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in Manhattan, New York City, it marked the only Miles Davis Quintet studio recording session to feature saxophonist Hank Mobley.
"Milestones" is a jazz composition written by Miles Davis. It appears on the album of the same name in 1958. It has since become a jazz standard. "Milestones" is the first example of Miles composing in a modal style and experimentation in this piece led to the writing of "So What" from the 1959 album Kind of Blue. The song's modes consist of G Dorian for 16 bars, A Aeolian for another 16 bars, and then back to G Dorian for the last eight bars, then the progression repeats.
Miles & Monk at Newport is a split album featuring separate performances by the Miles Davis sextet and the Thelonious Monk quartet at the Newport Jazz Festival. It was released in June 1964 by Columbia records. Davis's set was recorded in 1958, and Monk's in 1963. Despite the album's title, the two artists do not perform together at either date.
Settin' the Pace is a studio album by the jazz musician and composer John Coltrane. It was released in December 1961 through Prestige Records. It is assembled from previously unissued tracks from a recording session at the studio of Rudy Van Gelder in Hackensack, New Jersey in 1958. Coltrane on tenor saxophone is accompanied by Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Art Taylor on drums. With Garland and Chambers, Coltrane had played together since at least October 1955 in Miles Davis' band. With Art Taylor they were part of the Tenor Conclave recordings in September 1956. As a quartet they had already recorded two albums for Prestige, John Coltrane with the Red Garland Trio and Soultrane. The material the quartet recorded on this session were extended interpretations of three popular songs and "Little Melonae", a classic bebop tune written by Jackie McLean. Of note is Coltrane's use of the sheets of sound technique, particularly on "Little Melonae".
The Complete Columbia Recordings of Miles Davis with John Coltrane is a box set featuring jazz musicians Miles Davis and John Coltrane. It is the first box set in a series of eight from Columbia/Legacy compiling Davis's work for Columbia Records, and includes never-before-released alternate takes, omissions of other musicians, musician comments, false starts and a first version of compositions, some of which have made it to the 50th Anniversary 2-disc CD version of Kind of Blue. Originally issued on April 11, 2000, in a limited-edition metal slipcase, it was reissued in 2004 in an oversized book format. In conjunction with Sony, Mosaic Records released the 9-LP set.
Circle in the Round is a 1979 compilation album by jazz musician Miles Davis. It compiled outtakes from sessions across fifteen years of Davis's career that, with one exception, had been previously unreleased. All of its tracks have since been made available on album reissues and box sets.
The Miles Davis Quintet was an American jazz band from 1955 to early 1969 led by Miles Davis. The quintet underwent frequent personnel changes toward its metamorphosis into a different ensemble in 1969. Most references pertain to two distinct and relatively stable bands: the First Great Quintet from 1955 to 1958, and the Second Great Quintet from late 1964 to early 1969, Davis being the only constant throughout.
1958 Miles is a compilation album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released in 1974 on CBS/Sony. Recording sessions for tracks that appear on the album took place on May 26, 1958, at Columbia's 30th Street Studio and September 9, 1958, at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. 1958 Miles consists of three songs featured on side two of the LP album Jazz Track, which was released in November 1959, one song from the same session not appearing in the album, and three recordings from Davis' live performance at the Plaza Hotel with his ensemble sextet. The recording date at 30th Street Studio served as the first documented session to feature pianist Bill Evans performing in Davis' group.
Jazz at the Plaza Vol. I is a live album by The Miles Davis Sextet. It was recorded in 1958 and released in 1973 by Columbia Records. Duke Ellington was recorded at the same event and released as the second volume (Jazz at the Plaza Vol. II).
At Newport 1958 is a live album by the jazz musician Miles Davis featuring the Miles Davis Quintet's complete performance recorded at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958. The album was first released as a single CD in 2001 though four tracks had previously been released in part as one side of the LP Miles & Monk at Newport. The entire concert was given its first complete release as part of The Complete Columbia Recordings of Miles Davis with John Coltrane box set in 1999, and all tracks were included on the 2015 compilation Miles Davis at Newport 1955-1975: The Bootleg Series Vol. 4.
Portrait of Cannonball (1958) is the ninth album by jazz saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, and his first release on the Riverside label, featuring performances by Blue Mitchell, Bill Evans, Sam Jones, and Philly Joe Jones.
Cannonball Adderley Quintet in Chicago is an album by jazz saxophonist Cannonball Adderley, his final release on the Mercury label, featuring performances by Adderley with John Coltrane, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb.
Super Hits is a greatest hits album from Miles Davis. Released in 2001, it reached #22 on Billboard's Jazz Albums chart.
The Essential Miles Davis is a 2-CD compilation album by Miles Davis released by Columbia Legacy on May 15, 2001. It belongs to Sony Music Entertainment's "The Essential" series, not to the series "Essentials", established by WEA International, and was released as part of Sony's Miles 75 Anniversary program. In 2008, The Essential Miles Davis 3.0 was released as a limited edition album featuring a bonus third disc that added five more songs to the original track list.
Miles & Coltrane is a live album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released in 1988 by Columbia Records. The music was recorded at two different shows—one on July 4, 1958, at the Newport Jazz Festival, and one from October 27, 1955, in New York. The tracks have been digitally remastered directly from the original analog tapes.
Basic Miles: The Classic Performances of Miles Davis is a compilation album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released in 1973 by Columbia Records and recorded from 1955 through 1962.
"Nardis" is a composition by American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis. It was written in 1958, during Davis's modal period, to be played by Cannonball Adderley for the album Portrait of Cannonball. The piece has come to be associated with pianist Bill Evans, who performed and recorded it many times.