Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musical directions in a roughly five-decade career that kept him at the forefront of many major stylistic developments in jazz.
Modal jazz is jazz that makes use of musical modes, often modulating among them to accompany the chords instead of relying on one tonal center used across the piece.
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.
"Donna Lee" is a bebop jazz standard attributed to Charlie Parker, although Miles Davis has also claimed authorship. Written in A-flat, it is based on the chord changes of the jazz standard "(Back Home Again in) Indiana". Beginning with an unusual half-bar rest, "Donna Lee" is a very complex, fast-moving chart with a compositional style based on four-note groups over each change.
Sketches of Spain is a studio album by the jazz trumpeter and composer Miles Davis. It was released on 18 July 1960 through Columbia Records. The recording took place between November 1959 and March 1960 at the Columbia 30th Street Studio in New York City. An extended version of the second movement of Joaquín Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez (1939) is included, as well as a piece called "Will o' the Wisp", from Manuel de Falla's ballet El amor brujo (1914–1915). Sketches of Spain is regarded as an exemplary recording of third stream, a musical fusion of jazz, European classical, and styles from world music.
Filles de Kilimanjaro is a studio album by the American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis. It was recorded in June and September 1968 at Columbia 30th Street Studio in Manhattan, and released on Columbia Records in December of that year in the United Kingdom and in the United States the following February. The album is a transitional work for Davis, who was shifting stylistically from acoustic post-bop recordings with his Second Great Quintet to the jazz fusion of his subsequent "electric period". Filles de Kilimanjaro was well received by contemporary music critics, who viewed it as a significant release in modern jazz. Pianist Chick Corea and bassist Dave Holland appear on two tracks, marking their first participation on a Davis album.
Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet is an album by the Miles Davis Quintet which was released c. January 1960 through Prestige Records. It was recorded in two sessions on May 11 and October 26, 1956 that produced four albums — this one, Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet, Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet and Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet.
E.S.P. is an album by Miles Davis, recorded on January 20–22, 1965 and released on August 16 of that year by Columbia Records. It is the first release from what is known as Davis's second great quintet: Davis on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone, Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass, and Tony Williams on drums. The album was named after a tune by Shorter, and was inspired by the fact that, "since Wayne Shorter's arrival, the five members of the quintet seemed to communicate by mental telepathy."
Miles Smiles is an album by the jazz musician Miles Davis. It was released on February 16, 1967 through Columbia Records. It was recorded by Davis and his second quintet at Columbia 30th Street Studio in New York City on October 24 and October 25, 1966. It is the second of six albums recorded by Davis' second great quintet, which featured tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Tony Williams.
"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.
"All Blues" is a jazz composition by Miles Davis first appearing on the influential 1959 album Kind of Blue. It is a twelve-bar blues in 6
8; the chord sequence is that of a basic blues and made up entirely of seventh chords, with a ♭VI in the turnaround instead of just the usual V chord. In the composition's original key of G this chord is an E♭7. "All Blues" is an example of modal blues in G Mixolydian.
"Freddie Freeloader" is a composition by Miles Davis and is the second track on his 1959 album Kind of Blue. The piece takes the form of a twelve-bar blues in B♭, but the chord over the final two bars of each chorus is an A♭7, not the traditional B♭7 followed by either F7 for a turnaround or some variation of B♭7 for an ending.
Africa/Brass is a studio album by the jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane. It was released on September 1, 1961 through Impulse! Records. Coltrane's working quartet is augmented by a larger ensemble that brings the total to twenty-one musicians. Its big band sound, with the unusual instrumentation of French horns and euphonium, presented music very different from anything that had been associated with Coltrane to date. While critics originally gave it poor ratings, more recent jazz commentators have described it as "amazing" and as a "key work in understanding the path that John Coltrane's music took in its final phases." It is Coltrane's first release for Impulse!.
"Blue in Green" is the third piece on Miles Davis' 1959 album Kind of Blue. One of two ballads on the recording, the melody of "Blue in Green" is modal, incorporating Dorian, Mixolydian, and Lydian modes. This is the only piece on the album which does not feature alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley.
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.
Speak Like a Child, the sixth album by American jazz pianist Herbie Hancock, which was recorded and released by Blue Note Records in 1968, features Hancock's arrangements for an unusual front line of Jerry Dodgion on alto flute, Peter Phillips on bass trombone, and Thad Jones on flugelhorn. Critic Nat Hentoff described the album as an "impressive further stage in the evolution of Herbie Hancock as writer and player," saying it is characterized by a "singular quality of incisive, searching lyricism." Unusually, none of the wind players perform solos on any song. The rhythm section is bassist Ron Carter and drummer Mickey Roker.
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.
Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall: The Legendary Performances of May 19, 1961 is a live album by American jazz musician Miles Davis originally released by Columbia in 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.
