All Topics  
Miles Ahead

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Miles Ahead
 
 
  Topics Miles Ahead Topic Home

Miles Ahead is a jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
 album by Miles Davis
Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an United States jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Davis was at the forefront of almost every major development in jazz from World War II to the 1990s: he played on various early bebop records and recorded one of the first cool jaz...
 released in 1957. This was the first album after Birth of the Cool
Birth of the Cool

Birth of the Cool is an LP album which compiles twelve songs recorded by the Miles Davis nonet for Capitol Records in 1949 and 1950. Featuring unusual instrumentation and several notable musicians, the music consisted of innovative arrangements strongly inspired by classical music, and marked a major development in post-bebop jazz....
 that Davis recorded with Gil Evans
Gil Evans

Gil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer, and bandleader, active in the United States. He played a seminal role in the development of cool jazz, modal jazz, free jazz and jazz-rock, and collaborated extensively with Miles Davis....
, with whom he would go on to release albums such as Porgy and Bess
Porgy and Bess

Porgy and Bess is an opera, first performed in 1935, with music by George Gershwin, libretto by DuBose Heyward, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward....
 and Sketches of Spain
Sketches of Spain

Sketches of Spain is an album by Miles Davis, recorded between November 1959 and March 1960. The album pairs Davis with arranger and composer Gil Evans, with whom he had collaborated on several other projects, on a program of compositions largely derived from the Spanish folk tradition....
. 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 ....
, each following the preceding one without interruption. Davis is the only soloist on Miles Ahead, which also features a prominent horn section
Horn section

In music, a horn section refers to two separate groups of musicians. In can refer to the musicians in a symphony orchestra who play Horn . In modern music, it can also refer to a small group of wind instrumentalists who augment a band....
.

A fifth recording date involved Davis alone (re-)recording material to cover/patch mistakes/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.Tracking of the rhythm section to a song, then following with overdubs , has been the standard technique for recording popular music since the early 1960s....
.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Miles Ahead'
Start a new discussion about 'Miles Ahead'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Miles Ahead is a jazz
Jazz

Jazz is a primarily American musical art form which originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions....
 album by Miles Davis
Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an United States jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer.Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Davis was at the forefront of almost every major development in jazz from World War II to the 1990s: he played on various early bebop records and recorded one of the first cool jaz...
 released in 1957. This was the first album after Birth of the Cool
Birth of the Cool

Birth of the Cool is an LP album which compiles twelve songs recorded by the Miles Davis nonet for Capitol Records in 1949 and 1950. Featuring unusual instrumentation and several notable musicians, the music consisted of innovative arrangements strongly inspired by classical music, and marked a major development in post-bebop jazz....
 that Davis recorded with Gil Evans
Gil Evans

Gil Evans was a jazz pianist, arranger, composer, and bandleader, active in the United States. He played a seminal role in the development of cool jazz, modal jazz, free jazz and jazz-rock, and collaborated extensively with Miles Davis....
, with whom he would go on to release albums such as Porgy and Bess
Porgy and Bess

Porgy and Bess is an opera, first performed in 1935, with music by George Gershwin, libretto by DuBose Heyward, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward....
 and Sketches of Spain
Sketches of Spain

Sketches of Spain is an album by Miles Davis, recorded between November 1959 and March 1960. The album pairs Davis with arranger and composer Gil Evans, with whom he had collaborated on several other projects, on a program of compositions largely derived from the Spanish folk tradition....
. 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 ....
, each following the preceding one without interruption. Davis is the only soloist on Miles Ahead, which also features a prominent horn section
Horn section

In music, a horn section refers to two separate groups of musicians. In can refer to the musicians in a symphony orchestra who play Horn . In modern music, it can also refer to a small group of wind instrumentalists who augment a band....
.

A fifth recording date involved Davis alone (re-)recording material to cover/patch mistakes/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.Tracking of the rhythm section to a song, then following with overdubs , has been the standard technique for recording popular music since the early 1960s....
. The fact that this album was originally produced in mono makes these inserted overdubbings rather obvious in the new stereo setting.

Reception

The Penguin Guide to Jazz
The Penguin Guide to Jazz

The Penguin Guide to Jazz is a non-fiction book that is an encyclopedic referencing of jazz recordings on compact disc 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
Cadence Magazine

Cadence Magazine is a quarterly review of jazz, blues and Musical improvisation published in Redwood, New York by critic/historian Bob Rusch....
 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 was reportedly unhappy about the album's original cover, which featured a photo of a young white woman aboard a sailboat
Sailboat

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 size are not strictly defined and what constitutes a sailing ship, sailboat, or a smaller vessel varies by region and culture....
. He made his displeasure known to Columbia executive George Avakian
George Avakian

George Avakian is an United States 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, the original cover-photo has been substituted by a photo of Miles Davis.

Track listing


  1. "Springsville" (John Carisi
    John Carisi

    John E. Carisi was an United States trumpet and composer.Carisi was member of Herbie Fields's Orchestra and Glen Miller's Airforce Band....
    ) – 3:27
  2. "The Maids of Cadiz" (Léo Delibes
    Léo Delibes

    Cl?ment Philibert L?o Delibes was a French composer of ballets, French opera, and other works for the stage....
    ) – 3:53
  3. "The Duke" (Dave Brubeck
    Dave Brubeck

    David Warren Brubeck , better known as Dave Brubeck, is an United States Jazz piano. Regarded as a jazz icon, he has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke"....
    ) – 3:35
  4. "My Ship
    My 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"....
    " (Ira Gershwin
    Ira Gershwin

    Ira 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....
    /Kurt Weill
    Kurt Weill

    Kurt Julian Weill , was a Germany, and in his later years American, composer active from the 1920s until his death. He was a leading composer for the theatre....
    ) – 4:28
  5. "Miles Ahead" (Davis/Evans) – 3:29
  6. "Blues for Pablo" (Evans) – 5:18
  7. "New Rhumba" (Ahmad Jamal
    Ahmad Jamal

    Ahmad Jamal on July 2, 1930, is a noted United States jazz pianist. Jamal was one of Miles Davis's favorite pianists and was a key influence on the trumpeter's "First Great Quintet" ....
    ) – 4:37
  8. "The Meaning of the Blues" (Bobby Troup
    Bobby Troup

    Robert 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....
    /Worth) – 2:48
  9. "Lament" (J. J. Johnson) – 2:14
  10. "I Don't Wanna Be Kissed (By Anyone But You)" (Jack Elliott
    Jack Elliott

    Jack Elliott was an United States television and Film score, Conducting, Arrangement, and television producer....
    /Harold Spina
    Harold Spina

    Harold 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" , "Shadows on the Swanee", "The Beat of My H...
    ) – 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 – flugelhorn
    Flugelhorn

    The 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 keyed bugle designed by Michael Saurle , Munich 1832 , thus predating Adolphe Sax's innovative work....
  • Bernie Glow
    Bernie Glow

    Bernie Glow was a trumpet player who specialized in jazz and commercial lead trumpet from the 1940s to 1970s.His early career was on the road with Artie Shaw, Woody Herman and others during the last years of the big-band era....
     – Lead trumpet
  • Ernie Royal
    Ernie Royal

    Ernest Andrew Royal was a jazz trumpeter associated with Big Band, Swing music and Bebop. 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 ....
     – Trumpets
  • Louis Mucci – Trumpets
  • Taft Jordan
    Taft Jordan

    Taft Jordan was an American jazz trumpeter, heavily influenced by Louis Armstrong.Jordan played early in his career with the Washboard Rhythm Kings before joining Chick Webb's orchestra from 1933 to 1942, remaining there after Ella Fitzgerald became its frontwoman....
     – Trumpets
  • John Carisi
    John Carisi

    John E. Carisi was an United States trumpet and composer.Carisi was member of Herbie Fields's Orchestra and Glen Miller's Airforce Band....
     – Trumpets
  • Frank Rehak
    Frank Rehak

    Frank 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 first joined Gene Krupa?s Orchestra along with fellow trombonist Frank Rosolino....
     – Trombones
  • Jimmy Cleveland
    Jimmy Cleveland

    Jimmy Cleveland was an United States jazz trombone virtuoso 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 Bennett
    Joe Bennett

    Joe Bennett may refer to:* Joe Bennett , British musician* Joe Bennett , Brazilian comic book penciller* Joe Bennett , New Zealand writer*Joe Bennett , Major League player...
     – Trombones
  • Tom Mitchell
    Tom Mitchell

    Tom Mitchell is an Ireland Irish Republicanism.Thomas J. Mitchell was born in Dublin in 1931. In the United Kingdom general election, 1955, he was elected as Member of Parliament for the Mid Ulster constituency on an abstentionism Sinn F?in ticket, winning 29,737 votes....
     – Bass trombone
  • Willie Ruff
    Willie Ruff

    Willie Ruff is the French horn and double bass of the Mitchell-Ruff Duo and one of the founders of the W. C. Handy Music Festival. He was born in Florence, Alabama....
     – Horns
  • Tony Miranda – Horns
  • Bill Barber
    Bill 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....
     – Tuba
  • Lee Konitz
    Lee Konitz

    Lee Konitz is an United States jazz composer and alto saxophone 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 Bank
    Danny Bank

    Daniel Bernard "Danny" Bank is 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 Chambers
    Paul Chambers

    Paul Laurence Dunbar Chambers, Jr. was one of the most influential jazz double basss of the 20th century. A prominent figure in many 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, int...
     – Bass
  • Art Taylor
    Art Taylor

    Arthur S. Taylor, Jr. was an United States jazz drummer of the hard bop school....
     – Drums