Miles Ahead
Encyclopedia
Miles Ahead is a jazz
album by Miles Davis
that was released in 1957 on Columbia CL 1041. This was the first album following Birth of the Cool
that Davis recorded with Gil Evans
, with whom he would go on to release albums such as Porgy and Bess
and Sketches of Spain
. Gil Evans combined the ten pieces that make up the album in a kind of suite
, each following the preceding one without interruption; the only exception to this rule was on the title track since it was placed last on side A. Davis is the only soloist on Miles Ahead, which also features a prominent horn section
of 16 players. Art Taylor
played drums on the sessions and current Miles Davis Quintet
member Paul Chambers
was the bassist.
A fifth recording date involved Davis alone (re-)recording material to cover or patch mistakes or omissions in his solos using overdubbing
. The fact that this album originally was produced in mono makes these inserted over-dubbings rather obvious in the new stereo setting.
gave Miles Ahead a four-star rating out of a possible four stars, and called the album "a quiet masterpiece... with a guaranteed place in the top flight of Miles albums." Of Davis' flugelhorn, Kevin Whitehead of Cadence wrote that it "seemed to suit [Davis] better than trumpet: more full-bodied, less shrill, it glosses over his technical deficiencies." The Penguin Guide, on the other hand, opined that "the flugelhorn's sound isn't so very different from his trumpet soloing, though palpably softer-edged.... [S]ome of the burnish seems to be lost."
. He made his displeasure known to Columbia executive George Avakian
, asking, "Why'd you put that white bitch on there?" Avakian later stated that the question was made in jest. For later releases of the record, however, the original cover-photo has been substituted by a photograph of Miles Davis.
A current CD reissue contains alternate takes of "Springsville", "Miles Ahead" (incorrectly labeled as being one of "Blues for Pablo"), a complete rehearsal take of "The Meaning of the Blues," and "Lament" (recorded as a continuous track by Avakian as a contingency plan) and "I Don't Wanna Be Kissed (By Anyone But You)".
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
album by Miles Davis
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...
that was released in 1957 on Columbia CL 1041. This was the first album following Birth of the Cool
Birth of the Cool
Birth of the Cool is a compilation album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released in 1957 on Capitol Records. It compiles twelve songs recorded by Davis's nonet for the label over the course of three sessions during 1949 and 1950...
that Davis recorded with Gil Evans
Gil Evans
Gil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer and bandleader, active in the United States...
, with whom he would go on to release albums such as Porgy and Bess
Porgy and Bess (Miles Davis album)
Porgy and Bess is a studio album by jazz musician Miles Davis, released in 1958 on Columbia Records. The album features arrangements by Davis and collaborator Gil Evans from George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess. The album was recorded in four sessions on July 22, July 29, August 4, and August 18,...
and Sketches of Spain
Sketches of Spain
Sketches of Spain is an album by Miles Davis, recorded between November 1959 and March 1960 at the Columbia 30th Street Studio in New York City....
. Gil Evans combined the ten pieces that make up the album in a kind of suite
Suite
In music, a suite is an ordered set of instrumental or orchestral pieces normally performed in a concert setting rather than as accompaniment; they may be extracts from an opera, ballet , or incidental music to a play or film , or they may be entirely original movements .In the...
, each following the preceding one without interruption; the only exception to this rule was on the title track since it was placed last on side A. Davis is the only soloist on Miles Ahead, which also features a prominent horn section
Horn section
In music, a horn section can refer to several groups of musicians. It can refer to the musicians in a symphony orchestra who play the horn . In a British-style brass band it refers to the tenor horn players. In popular music, it can also refer to a small group of wind instrumentalists who augment a...
of 16 players. Art Taylor
Art Taylor
Arthur S. Taylor, Jr. was an American jazz drummer of the hard bop school.After playing in the bands of Howard McGhee, Coleman Hawkins, Buddy DeFranco, Bud Powell, and George Wallington from 1948 to 1957, he formed his own group, the Wailers...
played drums on the sessions and current Miles Davis Quintet
Miles Davis Quintet
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...
member Paul Chambers
Paul Chambers
Paul Laurence Dunbar Chambers, Jr. was a jazz bassist. A fixture of rhythm sections during the 1950s and 1960s, his importance in the development of jazz bass can be measured not only by the length and breadth of his work in this short period but also his impeccable time, intonation, and virtuosic...
was the bassist.
A fifth recording date involved Davis alone (re-)recording material to cover or patch mistakes or omissions in his solos using overdubbing
Overdubbing
Overdubbing is a technique used by recording studios to add a supplementary recorded sound to a previously recorded performance....
. The fact that this album originally was produced in mono makes these inserted over-dubbings rather obvious in the new stereo setting.
Reception
The Penguin Guide to JazzThe Penguin Guide to Jazz
The Penguin Guide to Jazz is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which are currently available in Europe or the United States...
gave Miles Ahead a four-star rating out of a possible four stars, and called the album "a quiet masterpiece... with a guaranteed place in the top flight of Miles albums." Of Davis' flugelhorn, Kevin Whitehead of Cadence wrote that it "seemed to suit [Davis] better than trumpet: more full-bodied, less shrill, it glosses over his technical deficiencies." The Penguin Guide, on the other hand, opined that "the flugelhorn's sound isn't so very different from his trumpet soloing, though palpably softer-edged.... [S]ome of the burnish seems to be lost."
Album cover
Miles reportedly was unhappy about the album's original cover, which featured a photograph of a young white woman and child aboard a sailboatSailboat
A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails. The term covers a variety of boats, larger than small vessels such as sailboards and smaller than sailing ships, but distinctions in the size are not strictly defined and what constitutes a sailing ship, sailboat, or a...
. He made his displeasure known to Columbia executive George Avakian
George Avakian
George Avakian is an American record producer and executive known particularly for his work with Columbia Records, and his production of albums by Miles Davis and other notable jazz musicians....
, asking, "Why'd you put that white bitch on there?" Avakian later stated that the question was made in jest. For later releases of the record, however, the original cover-photo has been substituted by a photograph of Miles Davis.
Track listing
- "Springsville" (John CarisiJohn CarisiJohn E. Carisi was an American trumpeter and composer.Carisi was member of Herbie Fields's Orchestra and Glenn Miller's Airforce Band. After the war he worked with Ray McKinley, Claude Thornhill, Charlie Barnet, Urbie Green, and Benny Goodman.He was trained by acclaimed composer Stefan Wolpe...
) – 3:27 - "The Maids of Cadiz" (Léo DelibesLéo DelibesClément Philibert Léo Delibes was a French composer of ballets, operas, and other works for the stage...
) – 3:53 - "The Duke" (Dave BrubeckDave BrubeckDavid Warren "Dave" Brubeck is an American jazz pianist. He has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills...
) – 3:35 - "My ShipMy Ship"My Ship" is a popular song written for the 1941 Broadway musical Lady in the Dark, with music by Kurt Weill and lyrics by Ira Gershwin.The music is marked "Andante espressivo"; Gershwin describes it as "orchestrated by Kurt to sound sweet and simple at times, mysterious and menacing at other".It...
" (Kurt WeillKurt WeillKurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
) – 4:28- Ira GershwinIra GershwinIra Gershwin was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century....
wrote lyrics for this song, but this recording is instrumental.
- Ira Gershwin
- "Miles Ahead" (Davis, Evans) – 3:29
- "Blues for Pablo" (Evans) – 5:18
- "New Rhumba" (Ahmad JamalAhmad JamalAhmad Jamal is an innovative and influential American jazz pianist, composer, and educator. According to Stanley Crouch, Jamal is second in importance in the development of jazz after 1945 only to Charlie Parker...
) – 4:37 - Medley Pt. 1: "The Meaning of the Blues" (Bobby TroupBobby TroupRobert William "Bobby" Troup Jr. was an American actor, jazz pianist and songwriter. He is best known for writing the popular standard " Route 66", and for his role as Dr...
, Leah Worth) – 2:48 - Medley Pt. 2: "Lament" (J. J. Johnson) – 2:14
- "I Don't Wanna Be Kissed (By Anyone But You)" (Jack Elliot/Harold SpinaHarold SpinaHarold Spina was an American composer of popular songs. His best-known work happened in the early 1930s, when he collaborated with lyricists Johnny Burke and Joe Young on songs such as "Annie Doesn't Live Here Anymore", "You're Not the Only Oyster in the Stew", "My Very Good Friend the Milkman" ,...
) – 3:05
A current CD reissue contains alternate takes of "Springsville", "Miles Ahead" (incorrectly labeled as being one of "Blues for Pablo"), a complete rehearsal take of "The Meaning of the Blues," and "Lament" (recorded as a continuous track by Avakian as a contingency plan) and "I Don't Wanna Be Kissed (By Anyone But You)".
Personnel
- Miles Davis – flugelhornFlugelhornThe flugelhorn is a brass instrument resembling a trumpet but with a wider, conical bore. Some consider it to be a member of the saxhorn family developed by Adolphe Sax ; however, other historians assert that it derives from the valve bugle designed by Michael Saurle , Munich 1832 , thus...
- Bernie GlowBernie GlowBernie Glow was a trumpet player who specialized in jazz and commercial lead trumpet from the 1940s to 1970s....
– Lead trumpet - Ernie RoyalErnie RoyalErnest Andrew Royal was a jazz trumpeter.His older brother was clarinetist and alto saxophonist Marshal Royal, with whom he appears on the classic Ray Charles big band recording The Genius of Ray Charles .He began in Los Angeles as a member of Les Hite's Orchestra in 1937...
– Trumpets - Louis Mucci – Trumpets
- Taft JordanTaft JordanTaft Jordan was an American jazz trumpeter, heavily influenced by Louis Armstrong....
– Trumpets - John CarisiJohn CarisiJohn E. Carisi was an American trumpeter and composer.Carisi was member of Herbie Fields's Orchestra and Glenn Miller's Airforce Band. After the war he worked with Ray McKinley, Claude Thornhill, Charlie Barnet, Urbie Green, and Benny Goodman.He was trained by acclaimed composer Stefan Wolpe...
– Trumpets - Frank RehakFrank RehakFrank Rehak was a jazz trombonist.Rehak, one of the finest bop players of the fifties and sixties, first came to fame in 1949, when he joined Gene Krupa’s Orchestra along with fellow trombonist Frank Rosolino...
– Trombones - Jimmy ClevelandJimmy ClevelandJimmy Cleveland was an American jazz trombone born in Wartrace, Tennessee.Cleveland worked with many well-known jazz musicians, including Lionel Hampton, Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughan, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Quincy Jones, Lucky Thompson, Gigi Gryce, Oscar Peterson, Oscar Pettiford and James Brown...
– Trombones - Joe BennettJoe BennettJoe Bennett may refer to:* Joe Bennett , British musician* Joe Bennett , Brazilian comic book penciller* Joe Bennett , New Zealand writer* Joe Bennett , American Major League player...
– Trombones - Tom MitchellTom MitchellThomas James Mitchell is an Irish republican. He was active in the IRA and took part in a raid on Omagh barracks in 1954, being captured and imprisoned...
– Bass trombone - Willie RuffWillie RuffWillie Ruff is the hornist and bassist of the Mitchell-Ruff Duo and one of the founders of the W. C. Handy Music Festival. He was born in Florence, Alabama. The duo regularly performs and lectures all over the United States, Asia, Africa and Europe...
– Horns - Tony Miranda – Horns
- Bill BarberBill Barber (musician)John William Barber, known as Bill Barber or Billy Barber is considered by many to be the first person to play tuba in modern jazz. He is best known for his work with Miles Davis on albums such as Birth of the Cool, Sketches of Spain and Miles Ahead...
– Tuba - Lee KonitzLee KonitzLee Konitz is an American jazz composer and alto saxophonist born in Chicago, Illinois.Generally considered one of the driving forces of Cool Jazz, Konitz has also performed successfully in bebop and avant-garde settings...
– Alto sax - Danny BankDanny BankDaniel Bernard "Danny" Bank was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and flautist. He is credited on some releases as Danny Banks....
– Bass clarinet - Romeo Penque – Flute and clarinet
- Sid Cooper – Flute and clarinet
- Paul ChambersPaul ChambersPaul Laurence Dunbar Chambers, Jr. was a jazz bassist. A fixture of rhythm sections during the 1950s and 1960s, his importance in the development of jazz bass can be measured not only by the length and breadth of his work in this short period but also his impeccable time, intonation, and virtuosic...
– Bass - Art TaylorArt TaylorArthur S. Taylor, Jr. was an American jazz drummer of the hard bop school.After playing in the bands of Howard McGhee, Coleman Hawkins, Buddy DeFranco, Bud Powell, and George Wallington from 1948 to 1957, he formed his own group, the Wailers...
– Drums