Musings of Miles

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When Miles Davis cut this quartet session, he was nearing the formation of his first great quintet, the one with John Coltrane that would go into a recording frenzy in 1956 and create five amazing LP releases before Davis signed with Columbia Records. Without a second horn in his group, Davis found plenty of room here to stretch out, seldom straying from his middle-register wooziness. Bassist Oscar Pettiford, schooled in Ellingtonian and bebop complexities, keeps the music active and agile, making this a contrast-filled session. The quartet's "Night in Tunisia" is a great take on Dizzy Gillespie's warhorse. --Andrew Bartlett --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Product Description
This was a forerunner of the Miles Davis Quintet as it was his first session with Red Garland and Philly Joe Jones. By the fall, John Coltrane and Paul Chambers would come aboard to help form the first of a continuum of great Davis working groups. On 'A Night in Tunisia' Philly Joe used special sticks with little cymbals riveted to the shaft. OJC/Fantasy Records. --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

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Average customer rating: Good but uninspiring tribute album Totally pleasant reworking of stuff Miles made his own... Not just another tribute album One of the great tribute albums A fitting tribute

So Near, So Far (Musings for Miles) Joe Henderson Manufacturer: Polygram Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Modern Postbebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Bebop & Post-Bop | Compilations | Jazz | Styles | Music Similar Items: Lush Life: The Music of Billy Strayhorn Double Rainbow: The Music of Antonio Carlos Jobim Inner Urge The State of the Tenor, Vols. 1 & 2 Joe Henderson in Japan ASIN: B0000046P4 Release Date: 1993-02-23

Tracks:

1. Miles Ahead
2. Joshua
3. Pfrancing (No Blues)
4. Flamenco Sketches
5. Milestones
6. Teo
7. Swing Spring
8. Circle
9. Side Car
10. So Near, So Far

Amazon.com

One of the most effective tributes ever recorded, this session matches Joe Henderson's tenor with three brilliant former Miles Davis sidemen--guitarist John Scofield, bassist Dave Holland, and drummer Al Foster. While these musicians were associated with Davis during his later electronic years, the session's inspiration is clearly from the trumpeter's great acoustic career. It includes little-heard pieces like "Swing Spring," from 1954, and "Circle," from 1966, as well as masterworks such as "Miles Ahead", "Milestones," and "Flamenco Sketches" from the intervening classic period. Heard at his best here, Henderson is a stunning improviser, combining a relaxed, almost offhand flow with frequently surprising melodic and rhythmic turns, developing an intriguing multidirectionality in his solos. While Davis has been one of the most imitated of musicians, there's nothing derivative about this tribute, which garnered 1993 Grammy Awards as both Best Jazz Instrumental (individual or group) and Best Jazz Solo (instrumental) for Henderson's serene work on "Miles Ahead." The CD is unquestionably a group accomplishment, though, with intense yet restrained work from Scofield (his comping here sometimes suggests the master, Jim Hall) and bristling interplay in the rhythm section. --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews:

Good but uninspiring tribute album.......2006-01-17

It's hard listening to tribute albums in between listening to the real albums. This album is good, takes no risks, is easy on the ear, but isn't inspired. Al Foster is excellent. Dave Holland is great. John Scofield has a few good licks in almost every piece. The leader, however, plays a few good bars here and there but otherwise plays a quiet, smooth rendition of the melody or a snippet of some other piece.

Totally pleasant reworking of stuff Miles made his own..........2003-04-20

I'm not familiar with Joe Henderson's other work, but I have long been interested in exactly what this disc delivers: Miles Davis sensibilities and talent but with the sax instead of the trumpet taking the lead. I found this offered at a bargain price which took away any risk, and after hearing just the first four songs, I realized it would also have been worth the standard price tag. Not only is Henderson great on tenor sax, but John Schofield's guitar work is more interesting here than on the two albums I used to own in which he was the leader. Al Foster's drumming and Dave Holland's bass playing are both wonderful. The songs picked, for the most part, are not the most frequently heard Davis tunes, and that was wise. This is very much a creation of the early 90's and of these four guys, using some Miles Davis charts as much as starting points as they are tributes. The booklet is informative. Most of the songs are gentle, but complex. It's a romantic album, but not just background sound. Even if you don't like Miles Davis (and I find a lot of his stuff I don't care for, along with many treasures) you will most likely love "So Near, So Far." The overall tone of this CD is quiet but never boring. Never assaulting the ears, it still can't qualify as "easy listening" or "smooth jazz". Highly recommended for the thoughtful fan of improvised instrumental music.

Not just another tribute album.......2002-10-04

This was the kind of album I bought thinking, "No middle ground. This will either blow me away, or leave me incredibly annoyed and disappointed."

Turns out, it's the former: this is the best CD I've purchased all year.

The selection of songs, which come from Miles' acoustic period, are a good mix of his well known masterworks (Flamenco Sketches) and lesser known ones (Circle). Sure, it may have been nice to hear some of his later, electric stuff reworked, but I really can't complain there.

The playing is nothing short of phenominal. Henderson is playing at his best, with an incredibly laid back, melodic sound most of the time, while also building up to intense, energetic climaxes in his solos. Scofield's playing is as brilliant as we'd expect - a restrained, disciplined sound, brilliant comping, and fantastic solos (as he would do again w/ Joe Henderson on the "Porgy and Bess" album). Dave Holland and Al Foster had, as the liner notes said, played together not long prior to recording this album, and it shows. The two lock together and interact as though they were attached at the hip.

I can't say enough good things about this album. It's just incredible.

One of the great tribute albums.......2001-11-16

In jazz we're living in the age of the tribute album right now. I've come to have mixed feelings about this phenomenon--when Steve Lacy did a Monk tribute album in the late 1950s, that was exciting & innovative, but now that scores of homages to Monk, Coltrane, Miles, Evans, Gershwin, Parker, &c have been recorded it's hard to get very excited about such endeavours. Joe Henderson's later years were spent on one tribute album after another, which was welcome for the emphasis it placed on him as an elder statesman of the music, one of the real _interpreters_ in jazz; yet it risked making his music too easily confirm the 1980s neoconservative position that jazz's historical development basically stopped in the 1960s. The one album from Henderson's later years that actually had him playing his own music was _Shade of Jade_, his big-band disc....of which the repertoire was mostly rearranged versions of his best-known 1960s compositions, which meant it was in some ways just as much a backwards-looking retrospective.

Yet all of these misgivings fade away placed next to this album, which is one of the best of Henderson's career. In part that's because of its careful avoidance of the obvious. If one were to assemble a tribute to the pre-electric Miles (none of these compositions dates from later than 1968), it would hardly be obvious to pair Henderson (who was very briefly with Miles' band during 1967--in his liner notes Henderson says he played alongside Shorter for "four weekends") with three stalwarts of Miles's electric period--Dave Holland, John Scofield & Al Foster. The choice of compositions is also refreshingly unobvious; Miles is usually most closely identified with his interpretations of other composers' work ("My Funny Valentine", "Footprints", "Round Midnight", &c), & in any case the most popular Miles compositions are avoided here (only "Flamenco Sketches" from _Kind of Blue_; no "Tune Up", "Solar", "Four", "Nardis", "Milestones", &c.). (Henderson gently & ambivalently touches in the liner notes on the many accusations that have been levelled over the years at Miles concerning stealing the credits for some songs--"Four" for instance is apparently the work of Eddie Cleanhead Vinson, & Bill Evans should have received co-credits for _Kind of Blue_'s compositions.)

All the foregoing is by way of saying that tribute albums inevitably carry a lot of historical & cultural baggage with them, & often this can weigh heavily on the music. The delight here is that the album entirely succeeds in both paying homage & yet sounding very much of its moment--1992. Holland & Foster are an astonishingly fleet rhythm section, & with Scofield playing with an unexpectedly lucid, open tone, this album is at once transparent in texture & warm in feeling. The use of guitar instead of piano is a brilliant stroke, as it immediately removes any resemblance between these versions & the original Miles versions, & yet Scofield's fragile chording on "Flamenco Sketches" is straight out of Bill Evans. (It's worth comparing his work here with another tribute album from about the same time, Paul Motian's _Bill Evans_, with Bill Frisell a strikingly effective replacement for the original piano.)

Henderson's playing here is impeccable, but this is not a soloist-plus-rhythm-section date: it is four men collectively reconsidering Miles Davis's legacy, working in the closest mutual understanding. One of the essential albums of the 1990s.

A fitting tribute.......2000-03-02

Albums that purport to do honor to a musician are always a dicey proposition. The obvious question is, why do we want to hear the music redone? Why not just listen to the original? Joe Henderson's tribute to the artistry of Miles Davis, "So Near, So Far" answers the question by offering fresh takes on key tunes associated with Miles. Henderson's goal is not imitation; it's interpretation.

Henderson has been one of my favorite musicians for a long, long time, but he still managed to surprise me with this album. Discarding the aggressive attack he displayed in the Blue Note years, he plays a lot here in the middle to upper register, and his tone in the upper regions is bell-like, his control flawless.

As the best example, check out his work on "Flamenco Sketches," a key tune from Miles' "Kind of Blue" release. After John Scofield introduces the haunting melody on guitar, Henderson enters quietly, sketching the theme so delicately on his tenor that it sounds for a moment like a flute.

Another highlight is "Pfrancing (No Blues)," Miles' tribute to a dancer. Henderson's tenor dances on this one, as he builds a perfectly arced solo, pushed along by Scofield.

Al Foster on drums and Dave Holland on bass, both frequent collaborators with Miles, also make strong contributions throughout. This is a well-fused quartet, and all the members exhibit a genuine respect for the music without lapsing into a recycling of the tunes.

Scofield remarked in the liner notes that he thinks about Miles every time he plays jazz. The beauty of this album is that it captures the spirit that Miles imparted, and a good part of that spirit is the admonition that every jazz musician must take what he learns to find his own voice.

Average customer rating: The Miles Davis QUARTET All Miles, all of the time Why was the Trumpet invented? Part 9

The Musings of Miles Miles Davis Manufacturer: Ojc ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Hard Bop | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Similar Items: Blue Moods Blue Haze The New Miles Davis Quintet Miles Davis and Milt Jackson Quintet/Sextet Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants ASIN: B000000XZZ Release Date: 1991-07-01

Tracks:

1. Will You Still Be Mine?
2. I See Your Face Before Me
3. I Didn't
4. A Gal In Calico
5. A Night In Tunisia
6. Green Haze

Amazon.com

When Miles Davis cut this quartet session, he was nearing the formation of his first great quintet, the one with John Coltrane that would go into a recording frenzy in 1956 and create five amazing LP releases before Davis signed with Columbia Records. Without a second horn in his group, Davis found plenty of room here to stretch out, seldom straying from his middle-register wooziness. Bassist Oscar Pettiford, schooled in Ellingtonian and bebop complexities, keeps the music active and agile, making this a contrast-filled session. The quartet's "Night in Tunisia" is a great take on Dizzy Gillespie's warhorse. --Andrew Bartlett

Album Description

This was a forerunner of the Miles Davis Quintet as it was his first session with Red Garland and Philly Joe Jones. By the fall, John Coltrane and Paul Chambers would come aboard to help form the first of a continuum of great Davis working groups. On 'A Night in Tunisia' Philly Joe used special sticks with little cymbals riveted to the shaft. OJC/Fantasy Records.

Customer Reviews:

The Miles Davis QUARTET.......2005-10-15

The story goes that the night before this session took place the musicians attended a party in Harlem for Adam Clayton Powell. They played until dawn, only a few hours before the recording was to begin. Oscar Pettiford was totally smashed, so everything was recorded in one take only.

That being the case, there is little in the music performed here to indicate anything was amiss. In fact, it's a terrific date. There's a consistency to what's going down, no major highs and certainly no lows - just solid, right-on playing. Tempos are varied, from the slow blues BLUE HAZE to the wailing up-tempo WILL YOU STILL BE MINE.

Davis finally found the Ahmad Jamal-like piano player he was looking for - Red Garland (who would play like Jamal if Miles asked him to). A GAL IN CALICO is played in tribute to Jamal. This is a very relaxed, almost carefree (but not careless) session for Miles. It's a great session and a great CD. (It's only a couple of months after this date that John Coltrane enters the picture.)

All Miles, all of the time.......2002-11-22

This oft-overlooked Miles Davis outing features the master with most of his '56 Quintet, minus John Coltrane, and substituting Oscar Pettiford for Paul Chambers on bass. The lack of the additional lead instrument gives Miles tons of soloing space, which he uses to most excellent effect (isn't it always: Miles + space = golden music ? ). Pettiford's bass playing has lots of bounce and drive, and he's a quite adequate substitute here for the great virtuoso Paul Chambers. "Philly Joe" and Red Garland are impeccable as always, rounding out a most primo rhythm section for Miles to lay on. The result is all Miles, all of the time, and it's sweet, needless to say.

Highlights include some very nice choices of standards, a distinctive reading of "A Night In Tunisia" that this band makes all its own, and Miles's own compositions "I Didn't" (a quite humorous rejoinder to Thelonious Monk's "Well, You Needn't") and "Green Haze." Don't stop with the Quintet LPs--you'll be missing out.

Why was the Trumpet invented? Part 9.......2000-09-17

For my money, "Musings" is the purest of all '50s Miles Davis records. This is the only saxophone-less small group Davis ever led, his first meeting with Red Garland and Philly Joe Jones, right before Coltrane came on board. At this point in time Coltrane's concept was still sloppy and rough whereas Miles' playing was at its zenith, which is why Coltrane's not being on this record is more of a plus than a minus. Davis die-hards are provided the unique opportunity to hear Davis and more Davis, extended trumpet improvisations without anything else breaking up the sustained voodoo save the perfect foil of Garland's Ahmad-Jamalesque piano.

"Musings" is a consolidation and coming to fruition of everything Davis was trying to do on his inconsistent recordings of the early `50s--the first fully elaborated and definitive `small group' statement of the original Davis/Mulligan/Evans `Birth of the Cool' anti-bebop concept that had already had widespread influence.

Average customer rating: The Miles Davis QUARTET All Miles, all of the time Why was the Trumpet invented? Part 9

The Musings Of Miles Miles Davis Manufacturer: Dcc Compact Classics ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Hard Bop | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Similar Items: Blue Moods Blue Haze The New Miles Davis Quintet Miles Davis and Milt Jackson Quintet/Sextet Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants ASIN: B00000018O Release Date: 1997-01-21

Tracks:

1. Will You Still Be Mine
2. I See Your Face Before Me
3. I Didn't
4. A Gal In Calico
5. A Night In Tunisia
6. Green Haze

Amazon.com

When Miles Davis cut this quartet session, he was nearing the formation of his first great quintet, the one with John Coltrane that would go into a recording frenzy in 1956 and create five amazing LP releases before Davis signed with Columbia Records. Without a second horn in his group, Davis found plenty of room here to stretch out, seldom straying from his middle-register wooziness. Bassist Oscar Pettiford, schooled in Ellingtonian and bebop complexities, keeps the music active and agile, making this a contrast-filled session. The quartet's "Night in Tunisia" is a great take on Dizzy Gillespie's warhorse. --Andrew Bartlett

Album Description

This was a forerunner of the Miles Davis Quintet as it was his first session with Red Garland and Philly Joe Jones. By the fall, John Coltrane and Paul Chambers would come aboard to help form the first of a continuum of great Davis working groups. On 'A Night in Tunisia' Philly Joe used special sticks with little cymbals riveted to the shaft. OJC/Fantasy Records.

Customer Reviews:

The Miles Davis QUARTET.......2005-10-15

The story goes that the night before this session took place the musicians attended a party in Harlem for Adam Clayton Powell. They played until dawn, only a few hours before the recording was to begin. Oscar Pettiford was totally smashed, so everything was recorded in one take only.

That being the case, there is little in the music performed here to indicate anything was amiss. In fact, it's a terrific date. There's a consistency to what's going down, no major highs and certainly no lows - just solid, right-on playing. Tempos are varied, from the slow blues BLUE HAZE to the wailing up-tempo WILL YOU STILL BE MINE.

Davis finally found the Ahmad Jamal-like piano player he was looking for - Red Garland (who would play like Jamal if Miles asked him to). A GAL IN CALICO is played in tribute to Jamal. This is a very relaxed, almost carefree (but not careless) session for Miles. It's a great session and a great CD. (It's only a couple of months after this date that John Coltrane enters the picture.)

All Miles, all of the time.......2002-11-22

This oft-overlooked Miles Davis outing features the master with most of his '56 Quintet, minus John Coltrane, and substituting Oscar Pettiford for Paul Chambers on bass. The lack of the additional lead instrument gives Miles tons of soloing space, which he uses to most excellent effect (isn't it always: Miles + space = golden music ? ). Pettiford's bass playing has lots of bounce and drive, and he's a quite adequate substitute here for the great virtuoso Paul Chambers. "Philly Joe" and Red Garland are impeccable as always, rounding out a most primo rhythm section for Miles to lay on. The result is all Miles, all of the time, and it's sweet, needless to say.

Highlights include some very nice choices of standards, a distinctive reading of "A Night In Tunisia" that this band makes all its own, and Miles's own compositions "I Didn't" (a quite humorous rejoinder to Thelonious Monk's "Well, You Needn't") and "Green Haze." Don't stop with the Quintet LPs--you'll be missing out.

Why was the Trumpet invented? Part 9.......2000-09-17

For my money, "Musings" is the purest of all '50s Miles Davis records. This is the only saxophone-less small group Davis ever led, his first meeting with Red Garland and Philly Joe Jones, right before Coltrane came on board. At this point in time Coltrane's concept was still sloppy and rough whereas Miles' playing was at its zenith, which is why Coltrane's not being on this record is more of a plus than a minus. Davis die-hards are provided the unique opportunity to hear Davis and more Davis, extended trumpet improvisations without anything else breaking up the sustained voodoo save the perfect foil of Garland's Ahmad-Jamalesque piano.

"Musings" is a consolidation and coming to fruition of everything Davis was trying to do on his inconsistent recordings of the early `50s--the first fully elaborated and definitive `small group' statement of the original Davis/Mulligan/Evans `Birth of the Cool' anti-bebop concept that had already had widespread influence.

Average customer rating:

The Musings of Miles Miles Davis Manufacturer: Prestige ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Hard Bop | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music Jazz | Imports | Stores | Music ASIN: B000GIWMPW Release Date: 2006-09-04

Tracks:

1. Will You Still Be Mine?
2. I See Your Face Before Me
3. I Didn't
4. Gal in Calico
5. Night in Tunisia
6. Green Haze

Album Description

Limited Edition digitally remastered Japanese pressing of this album comes housed in a miniature LP sleeve. Prestige. 2006.

Album Details

Japanese Limited Edition Issue of the Album Classic in a Deluxe, Miniaturized LP Sleeve Replica of the Original Vinyl Album Artwork.

Average customer rating:

The Musings of Miles Miles Davis Manufacturer: Fantasy ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Hard Bop | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music ASIN: B00008F2LN Release Date: 1991-07-01

Tracks:

1. Will You Still Be Mine?
2. I See Your Face Before Me
3. I Didn't
4. Gal in Calico
5. Night in Tunisia
6. Green Haze

Average customer rating:

The Musings of Miles Miles Davis Manufacturer: Prestige ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Hard Bop | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music ASIN: B000058B97 Release Date: 2002-03-25

Tracks:

1. Will You Still Be Mine?
2. I See Your Face Before Me
3. I Didn't
4. Gal in Calico
5. Night in Tunisia
6. Green Haze

Average customer rating:

The Musings of Miles Miles Davis Manufacturer: Prestige ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD Bebop General | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music Hard Bop | Bebop | Jazz | Styles | Music General | Jazz | Styles | Music ASIN: B00002JX5M Release Date: 1999-09-22

Tracks:

1. Will You Still Be Mine?
2. I See Your Face Before Me
3. I Didn't
4. Gal in Calico
5. Night in Tunisia
6. Green Haze

Album Details

Japanese Version featuring a Limited Edition LP Style Slipcase for Initial Pressing Only.

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