Weekend Reading: The Blue Moment
“There have been many books about Miles Davis, one of the twentieth century’s most protean musical figures, but The Blue Moment is unlike any other work on the subject. Richard Williams takes as his starting point the making of Kind of Blue, Davis’s most celebrated album, and shows how movements in art, philosophy and music [...]
Big Big Big Miles Davis Box Set On The Way
71 discs! We’re at DEFCON 3 here at MDO headquarters. Via a report on Pitchfork, word is that on November 10, Columbia/Legacy will release The Complete Columbia Album Collection. The box will include 70 CDs and one DVD. My head hurts. During his tenure at Columbia Records, Miles Davis recorded an awe-inspiring 52 albums. Pretty [...]
Miles Davis, 1948
“Was any other revolution in jazz so suave? When Miles Davis led a two-week stand at New York’s fabled Royal Roost in 1948, the music—composed and arranged for a nonet by Gil Evans, John Lewis (later of the Modern Jazz Quartet), Gerry Mulligan, and others—changed jazz forever.” Click here to continue reading Playing Miles Davis [...]
Kind of Blue @ The Movies
Hats off to Slate for their great Miles Davis coverage. “In honor of the 50th anniversary of the landmark album, Slate has compiled five notable Kind of Blue moments from screen history.”
Kind of Blue: Why It’s So Great
Kind of Blue Why the best-selling jazz album of all time is so great. By Fred Kaplan Take it away Fred…. When Miles Davis came to New York in 1945, at the age of 19, he replaced Gillespie as Parker’s trumpeter for a few years and played very much in their style. A decade later, [...]
The Miles Davis Movie: What Are Your Expectations?
I’m re-posting this entry that I wrote just about one year ago for the Biopic Blog. It’s a year later and we’re no closer to cameras rolling on the Miles Davis Movie. Don Cheadle did mention the project recently while at Comic-Con, but this baby is on a slow burn. It’s frustrating on a purely [...]
Sons of Miles – All 41 Chapters
“The poetic sound of the name “MILES”, the way he looked, his lifestyle, his trademark rasp and his marriage of quality and commericality have entered the folklore. His combination of musical, visual, sexual, and financial chops is unequaled. The ghost of MILES hovers.” – Mike Zwerin Hard to add anything to that. I found this [...]
The Inevitable Miles Davis vs. Darius Miles Showdown
Excellent post from Tom Ziller at NBA Fanhouse. The Mirror Mirror feature that examines the connections between hoops stars and similarly-named figures of historical note finally points its gaze upon Darius Miles and Miles Davis. On the surface, little binds Miles Davis, a phenomenal musician who made an indeliable mark on American music by revolutionizing [...]
Miles Davis, Wynton Marsalis and the Big Showdown of ’86
I happened upon this post on Jazz Street Vancouver that recalls the famous/infamous showdown i n ’86 between Miles Davis & Wynton Marsalis at the Expo Theatre during the inaugural Vancouver International Jazz Festival. “While trumpeter Miles Davis was performing at the Expo Theatre during the inaugural Vancouver International Jazz Festival (1986), a young Wynton [...]
Anton Corbijn Spotlights Tom Waits in New Coffee Table Book
We link to this note about the new book because Tom Waits is one of my favorite artists besides Miles Davis. Not too mention photographer and filmmaker Anton Corbijn has taken some excellent Miles Davis photos. Iconic photographer and filmmaker Anton Corbijn has been involved with some pretty big names throughout his career, including the [...]
