The Bebop Shop Birth Of The Cool: Early Miles & with Gil Evans

The Bebop Shop : Miles Ahead: Miles Davis & John Coltrane : Birth Of The Cool: Early Miles & with Gil Evans


	Miles Davis: Early Milestones (CD: Naxos Jazz Legends) Price: £5.99


Miles Davis: Boplicity (CD: Naxos Jazz Legends) Price: £5.99


	Miles Davis: Young Miles (CD: Proper, 4 CDs) More than any other jazz musician Miles Davis personified the modern jazz artist during the last 35 years of his career. During the second half of the 50's, Miles Davis became the dominant figure in jazz. Miles set the tone in style and attitude for a couple of generations, an icon of the hip. The first five years of Miles' recording career are traced on the 82 sides on this set. From classic encounters with Charlie Parker, the immortal "Birth Of The Cool" sessions to spirited live dates & the lovely session with Sarah Vaughan. The 40 page booklet with archive photographs and discography tells the remarkable story of a man in his formative years as musician and performer. (Proper Records) Price: £15.49


Miles Davis: Early Miles (CD: Charly) Price: £9.99


	Miles Davis: Enigma (CD: Proper) Miles Davis' reputation precedes him. A giant of 20th century music, his influence has spread far beyond the world of jazz. The tracks on this Proper Introduction present the start of Miles's career - bebop sides made with Charlie Parker and tracks that later went on to become the Birth Of The Cool LP and spawn a whole new form of jazz - the first of many in Miles's incredible career. (Proper Records) Price: £6.99


Miles Davis: Complete Savoy & Dial Recordings (CD: Definitive, 2 CDs) Price: £16.99


	Miles Davis: Birdland 1951 (CD: Blue Note) Through the Miles Davis Estate, Blue Note Records is making available three Symphony Sid broadcasts from Birdland in 1951. Two sessions feature his regular all-stars with Sonny Rollins, J.J. Johnson and Art Blakey. The third is an unusual setting that brings Miles together with swing tenorman Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and Big Nick Nicholas. These broadcasts have been digitally remastered using great care to bring the music to the best available sonic level. The June 2 and September 29, 1951 broadcasts from Birdland have appeared over the years on a variety of bootlegs. The February 17, 1951 is made available for the first time anywhere. (Blue Note Records) Price: £8.99


Miles Davis: At The Royal Roost, 1948; At Birdland 1950, 1951, 1953 (CD: LeJazz/ Charly) Miles Davis is one of the most influential artists of the 20th century as well as being one of the finest jazz players of his generation. He is heard here on five separate occasions, playing at two of New York's most famous jazz clubs. These sessions also feature such jazz greats as Lee Konitz, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Tadd Dameron and Sonny Rollins interpreting such standards as 'Chasin' The Bird' and 'Night In Tunisia'. (Snapper Music) Price: £9.99


	Miles Davis: Complete Birdland Recordings (CD: Definitive) Definitive and complete edition of the airshots recorded in the unforgettable jazz club under the leadership of Miles Davis with modern jazzmen as Jackie McLean, J.J.Johnson, Sonny Rollins, Kenny Drew, Charles Mingus, Art Blakey, and others. (Definitive Records) Price: £10.99


Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool (CD: Capitol RVG) A landmark album that established the "cool" style for modern jazz in 1949. This famous nonet's distinctive sound is achieved with unusual ensemble patterns and instrumental combinations---conventional brass and reed, but augmented with tuba and French horn. This creates a full orchestral sound from a minimum number of instruments. Personnel includes Davis, Lee Konitz, Gerry Mulligan, J.J. Johnson, Kai Winding, John Barber, John Lewis, Max Roach, Kenny Clarke. Assured collective and solo work captures the essence of "cool"---urbane sound, subtle contrapuntal scoring, and calm, unhurried solos. A definitive sound from a classic jazz ensemble. Essential collector's item. (Andrew Clark, Editor, Riffs & Choruses: A New Jazz Anthology. Continuum Publishing.) Though a commercial disaster at the time, Davis's nonet from 1949-50 became legendary once all the (relatively brief) tracks, cut as 78s, were assembled as an album in 1957. Miles played with more confidence than he had previously with Charlie Parker and, harnessed to some fine arrangements from the likes of Gerry Mulligan and John Lewis, this is a classic. A BEBOP SHOP MILESTONE- An essential recording for your jazz CD shelf Price: £8.99


	Miles Davis: The Complete Birth Of The Cool (CD: Capitol) Price: £13.99


Miles Davis: Volume 1 (CD: Blue Note RVG) Davis's 1952 sextet date with J.J. Johnson and a very young Jackie McLean introduced "Dear Old Stockholm", "Donna" and the trumpeter's classic reading of "Yesterdays". His 1954 quartet date with Horace Silver, Percy Heath and Art Blakey is among the finest early Miles with hip originals and a breath-taking version of "It Never Entered My Mind". (Blue Note) First of 2-vol. remastered Blue Note sessions from early 1950s. Davis leads a 1952 sextet of Jay Jay Johnson (trombone), Jackie McLean (alto-sax), Gil Coggins (piano), Oscar Pettiford (bass) and Kenny Clarke (drums). Material is mostly re-worked bop compositions ("Chance It," "Donna," "Woody 'N' You"), with alternate takes, and ballads. Davis is in much sharper form in 1954, in a quartet with pianist Horace Silver, bassist Percy Heath and drummer Art Blakey. An interest in modal style and space previews Davis's late-50s recordings -- aspects suggested in titles like "Take Off," "The Leap," and the altered blues, "Weirdo." Interesting, interim period in Davis's development, between his "birth of the cool" phase and the later, innovative work with John Coltrane. (Andrew Clark, Editor, Riffs & Choruses: A New Jazz Anthology. Continuum Publishing.) Price: £8.99


	Miles Davis: Volume 2 (CD: Blue Note RVG) Art Blakey's drums generate a lot of power on Miles Davis's 1953 sextet session with J. J. Johnson and Jimmy Heath. All but the ballad "I Waited For You" are heard in two takes. The enduring masterpieces of this set are "Tempus Fugit" and "C.T.A.". (Blue Note) Vol. 2 of 1950s mix of then current bop pieces and new compositions -- with alternate takes -- from trumpeter Davis. This 1953 session offers a fine sextet in Jimmy Heath (tenor-sax), Jay Jay Johnson (trombone), Gil Coggins (piano), Percy Heath (bass) and Art Blakey (drums). Older titles like "Ray's Idea" and "Tempus Fugit" are associated with bopsters Dizzy Gillespie and Bud Powell, while "Kelo," "Enigma" and "C.T.A." are newer contributions. Davis, in the throes of drug addiction, was yet to put his health and career in order, but this is nevertheless a very good session -- especially its tight ensemble work -- with emerging modernists Johnson and Blakey quite outstanding. (Andrew Clark, Editor, Riffs & Choruses: A New Jazz Anthology. Continuum Publishing.) Price: £8.99


Miles Davis & Jimmy Forrest: Complete Sessions (CD: Jazz Factory) Recorded at The Barrel Club, Delmar, St Louis in the Spring of 1952. Rare and inspired session of Davis with tenorman Jimmy Forrest (then at the peak of his popularity). Raging version of "Night In Tunisia". Meticulous Audio Restoration. (Jazz Factory) Price: £10.99


	Miles Davis: Hi-Hat All Stars (CD: Fresh Sound) Price: £11.99


Miles Davis (with orchestra under the direction of Gil Evans): Miles Ahead (CD: Columbia) The first collaborative album of trumpeter Miles Davis with arranger and director Gil Evans, this merging of featured soloist with orchestral score established a creative practice unique for its time. Davis plays flugelhorn throughout---an exquisite lyricism, offset by Evans' innovative arrangements for a band comprising no less than twelve brass, alto sax, three woodwinds, bass and drums. With playing running continuously, across bridged passages, the entire performance has the unified structure of a jazz suite. Miles ahead, indeed. (Andrew Clark, Editor, Riffs & Choruses: A New Jazz Anthology. Continuum Publishing.) A BEBOP SHOP MILESTONE- An essential recording for your jazz CD shelf Price: £9.99


	Miles Davis (with orchestra under the direction of Gil Evans): Porgy and Bess (CD: Columbia) George Gershwin's celebrated folk opera, as interpreted by Miles Davis and arranger/ director Gil Evans' orchestra in 1958. This marks a change from Davis' celebrated small groups of the period, and features him on trumpet and flugelhorn as solo voice against a large, mostly brass ensemble. Original scoring from Evans, with rich, dense sound and varied dynamics of structure. Davis' contributions are precise, haunting and solitary---the mark of an individual voice. Gershwin's vocal scores---e.g. "Summertime," "My Man's Gone Now," "It Ain't Necessarily So," "I Loves You, Bess"---are transformed here in one of jazz's most fertile collaborations. (Andrew Clark, Editor, Riffs & Choruses: A New Jazz Anthology. Continuum Publishing.) 'Gil Evans scored Gershwin's masterpiece in glowing terms, using flutes and horns in place of saxes to create a palette of delicacy as well as toughness. Davis rose to the occasion, sounding at his most majestic in the contemplative improvisations on 'Summertime.' (The Penguin Guide To Jazz) Price: £9.99


Miles Davis (with orchestra under the direction of Gil Evans): Sketches of Spain (CD: Columbia) The last collaborative album (1959) from Miles Davis and conductor/arranger Gil Evans. Davis' solo trumpet voice is always warmly evocative---this time of a brooding, dramatic Spanish sound and feeling. Again, Evans achieves a wide range of tone colours and voicings and an unusually full-bodied orchestral sound for jazz---from tuba and French horn to high register woodwinds and brass. Perhaps not as compelling as the earlier Davis/Evans "Miles Ahead" and "Porgy and Bess" albums, but another fine example of their combined powers. (Andrew Clark, Editor, Riffs & Choruses: A New Jazz Anthology. Continuum Publishing.) Price: £9.99


	Miles Davis (with orchestra under the direction of Gil Evans): Quiet Nights (CD: Columbia) Another---more subdued---example of trumpeter/ flugelhorn Miles Davis' collaboration with orchestra leader Gil Evans. Perhaps not quite as memorable as the "Porgy and Bess" and "Miles Ahead" albums (see above), but still a fine example of the integration of jazz soloist and large ensemble. Evans' chorded textural sounds and instrumental colours are as resonant as ever, and Davis brings a sense of the lone, plaintive voice to every piece. Atmosphere stuff, indeed, for those "quiet nights." (Andrew Clark, Editor, Riffs & Choruses: A New Jazz Anthology. Continuum Publishing.) Price: £9.99


Miles Davis: European Tour 1956 (CD: Definitive) Price: £10.99