The Ten Greatest MILES DAVIS Albums | Ranked
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
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Andy is a drummer, producer and educator. He has toured the world with rock legend Robert Plant and played on classic prog albums by Frost and IQ.
As a drum clinician he has played with Terry Bozzio, Kenny Aronoff, Thomas Lang, Marco Minneman and Mike Portnoy.
He also teaches drums privately and at Kidderminster College
Came for the Miles Davis list, stayed for the correct pronunciation of John McLoffln… McGlockn… McLack… McL… Johnny Mac!!
Friggin' hilarious! My BF in the 3rd Grade was John McLaughlin (not the guitarist). In the US, in the '60s, it was Mc-Glock-lin.
I like the way 'Laugh' is in his name.
He is the best.
John McLaughlin one of the greatest guitar players in history of music.
It's not easy, but i saw an interwiev on Croatian TV, he pronounced his name like (this is Croatian stile, read like it is written) Mek Lohlin
Clearly the most influential and important musician ever. Great job on the list
Thanks Paul
Beethoven. Bach.
so glad you included Aura! one of my favorites, and one of the most underappreciated.
This was so astute and so well spoken. Very intelligent. You know your stuff.
Happy 96th Birthday Miles - tomorrow
Miles Smiles might be my favorite. Shortly after Miles died, I saw the rest of the quintet, plus trumpeter Wallace Roney, play a tribute concert in Berkeley. It was awesome, one of the best concerts I ever saw. They played at least a few from that album.
Well done Andy. Can't argue with any of your choices.....a very difficult job done very well!!!
Miles has seven distinct periods. I just picked the best of each one
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer fair enough.....I love We Want Miles mainly because of Marcus and Stern. But my very favourites are the Cooking, Relaxin,Steaming albums etc.....musical perfection to my ears.....
Saw the title of the video and thought: he is going to talk most of all about the Fusion and Rock-Jazz albums. But no, along with "Kind of blue" of course you mentioned the work with Gill Evans too. For me maybe the most beautiful music ever whatever genre or kind of music we talk about. Solea on "Sketches of Spain" is heavenly.
This is a great video. Educational, interesting, and what a selection. Wouldn't disagree with the majority of these choices! Pleasure to have discovered this channel.
I think keyboard man Django Bates summed it up best when he was asked what were his favourite Miles Davis records he replied 'Those that he recorded between 1947 and 1992 '.
But then you would have to include Doo Bop....
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer Lets take the high road here Andy and never speak of Doo Bop again!
@@devereauxclandestine1272 I may mention it again....
After cool jazz Miles also spear-headed the hard bop movement with the LP "Walkin'" with Horace Silver.
1 - Bitches Brew
2 - Filles de Kilimanjaro
3 - Jack Johnson
4 - In a Silent Way
5 - Miles in the Sky
6 - Sketches of Spain
7 - A Kind of Blue
8 - Seven Steps to Heaven
9 - On the Corner
10 - Miles Smiles
On the corner is probably one of my favorites, as is Files de Kilamanjaro and Miles Smiles. It's tough to make these lists.
@@MrHobo71…exactly those two are the less great albums of him 😊 IMO. Tastes may differ
So glad you included Aura. Bought it when it came out and found it to be fascinating.
I wish Bill Laswell could remix/re-release the entire Miles Electric period.
I listened to Milestones a bunch of times when I had covid...I thought I was listening to music of the gods...on a level with any great classical music.
Thanks for mentioning Panthalassa, I forgot all about that in a previous vid of yours. So great! On a Bill Laswell note, I also listened to Lo-Def Pressure recently. That album is gold. Laswell is an absolute force of nature. I am probably only 30 albums into him, I need to step up my game and shoot for about 100 a year.
Have you got a link for that one?
Just yesterday picked up your channel….excellent. Thanks. There’s a good review of Miles’ band on the “Jaco” documentary. The ending with Marcus Miller and Miles playing “Mr. Pastorius”, worthy of a watch.
I am still to see the Jaco doc...read the book however
My respect for this review that is not afraid of not looking cool enough by ranking the best jazz album of all time where it belongs: #1. I’m tired of those jazz aficionados who want to look unique and sophisticated and choose an otherwise minor album as their favorite.
I am not a jazz fanatic, i love some, some i can't stand. Top 3 by MILES areee 1. JACK JOHNSON 2. ON THE CORNER 3. KIND OF BLUE (the next is DARK MAGUS)
1. Nefertiti
2. In A Silent Way
3. Kind Of Blue
4. Sketches Of Spain
Stunned that I didn’t have Aura. Thought I did but will pick it up. Nice job!
I don't have it, either (I think). Not sure I want it. Got to think! ;-)
Great video
Thank you
1.Kind Of Blue.
2.Sketches Of Spain.
3.Porgy And Bess.
4.Workin'
5.You're Under Arrest.
6.In A Silent Way.
7.Someday My Prince Will Come.
8.Steamin'
9.On The Corner.
10.Jack Johnson.
11.Round About Midnight.
12.Miles Davis: Vol. 3 (1954).
13.Walkin'.
14.Birth Of The Cool.
15.Relaxin'
16.Seven Steps To Heaven.
17.Ascenseur Pour l'echafaud.
18.E.S.P.
19.Milestones.
20.Tutu.
21.Miles Ahead.
22.Cookin'
23.Bitches Brew.
24. Miles Smiles.
25.Filles De Kilimanjaro.
26.Nefertiti.
27. Sorcerer.
Excellent video, Andy, and really appreciate your thoughts on the choices you made. Plenty for me to explore!
P.S. Can't believe John McLaughlin doesn't know how to pronounce his own surname (of Irish and Scottish origin, of course). Too much time away from these shores? Or he *does* know perfectly well, but has adopted the pronunciation that would cause the least amount of trouble for most people...perhaps out of his deep sense of compassion. ;)
I reckon he has watched my videos too much and even he has decided I pronounce it right...
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer Haha! That must be it...
P.S. Hope you can interview him one day, especially now that you and Narada have connected...and what a great interview *that* was.
DARK MAGUS wipes the floor with the rest.
Miles is the kind of guy who looks around and sees what's missing so obviously missing. In his mind he just fills in the spaces (and employs spaces) in the most obvious way. I saw him with the Bitches Brew lineup at U.C.L.A. The band would jam their crazy jams and he would step up to the mic every few minutes and play one, maybe two notes. The band would utilize those one or two notes as a direction and jam on that. It was breathtaking. No females in the band, oddly enough. Like 13 people at least. Two drummers and two percussionists. I would have added didgeridoo and kalimba, I can't believe nobody played kalimba. I can't remember if McJohn was there. It was like, what, 1970?
Looking forward to your take on this….. Found your channel recently through one of your appearances on SOT(thanks Pete)
I’ve been binge watching ever since. Enjoy your videos very much✌️🎶
Thanks for your support
58 sessions is my favorite miles, used to be titled jazz track.
The only other jazz record I like more is giant steps. Those are by far my top 2 jazz records of all time. I buy anything I can get with miles and coltrane or miles with parker. I still like the stuff that came out after 1960 but not as much.
I completely admire and respect how he changed over the years and continued to enjoy everything he did from the very beginning as a sideman to the very end especially considering my favorite kind of music isn't jazz - my favorite kind of music is fusion and most of the greatest fusion bands were formed by guys that used to play with miles.
I must missed the boat on AURA...
I'd love more videos getting deeper into Miles' albums. He's a musician I really want to get into, but it seems impossible without someone who explains the context of his albums. I feel that, if I listen to Agartha without knowing anything about what he wanted to do, I won't like the album at all. Maybe I'm wrong about this, I don't know. Anyway, it would be very interesting to hear your opinions about the other albums by Miles.
As always, great video. Thank you! 😊
A wonderful starter for Miles could be "In a Silent Way - Box Set" It captures his classic quintet AND some of the first electric music he made. It is beautiful and dynamic. Some of my favorite music in the entire world. You cannot lose. His 70's electric got a bit lost and out of control, even with great players but they got too high and lost the plot at times. I think his best electric was captured on that box set (Silent Way). Bitches Brew lacks beauty often, sort of jammy. I am not a fan. Big Fun (live electric) has some nicer playing actually and yes, Jack Johnson rocks good too.. For his 60's Cool Jazz Quintet, all of those albums are good, ALL of them. ESP, Miles in the Sky, Filles de Kilimanjaro, Sorcerer etc. This quintet with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams and Ron Carter is often considered some of his best. They are also well captured on the Box Set. My favorite music of all time along with Kind of Blue.
@@teedee2689 In a Silent Way is one of the few Miles' albums that I listened to, and I love it. I'll try to listen to the other albums you mentioned. Thank you very much for your answer! 😊
@@simonfolgar4208 The box set has the original album (Silent) but you will realize hours of music were edited for a short album. There is much more there on the Box Set which comprised the entire sessions they did, plus. Kind of Blue and
Aura are also beautiful. Andy is correct. Cheers Brother!
just jump in anywhere. if you dont like one then try one from 5 years either side and stop on one you like. hes done a ridiculous amount of great albums
@@teedee2689 "In a silent way" was my introduction to Miles Davis - I swapped my Martin Stephenson and the Daintees' "Gladsome, humour and blue" cassette for it, with a friend. However, "Bitches brew" was the first Davis album I actually bought. I wouldn't entirely disagree with you that it sounds "ugly" at times but it's still a favourite of mine.
my favorite miles albums are a tie for first...kind of blue and miles ahead which is sublime
1. In a Silent Way
2. On the Corner
3. Kind of Blue
4. Bitches Brew
5. Round About Midnight
6. Miles Smiles
7. ESP
8. Nefertiti
9. Miles in the Sky
10. Seven Steps to Heaven
Agharta para mí debería estar en un Top 10 .Lo mejor del jazz es en vivo .Agharta y Pangea son algo fundamental en la discografia de Davis.
Miles is one of my top five heroes and I own all but two of the records listed. "Bitches Brew" is #1 on my list, and one of my top five records ever.
Excellent overview of the key albums in Miles' canon. All great choices. I would have put ON THE CORNER in place of Aura, but the latter is an important album as well.
On the corner definitely should be on the list, and I think it's better than Bitches Brew, another from a similar period.
@@MrHobo71 I like both of those a lot. For me, the best of Electric Miles period is the live "Pangaea" from 1975.
@@garyh.238 I haven't heard that or Agartha. I'm going to soon.
Bitches' Brew is great too.
@@MrHobo71 Yes, those 2 live albums are Miles and his band at their peak.
Great list 👍 so glad to see some love for Milestones. In fact I think the Milestones track is perhaps a modal exercise anticipating Kind of Blue. What I find magic about these two albums is the duel Coltrane Cannonball, because to my ears it was Cannonball who was winning (surprisingly). He kills it on Milestones (the song), then on the first day of recordings of Kind of Blue he do it again (So What, Freddy Freeloader) I don’t think Coltrane as very comfortable at that moment. But Miles picked Coltrane for Blue in Green and of course that was magical. Then suddenly on the second day Coltrane has changed, and in All Blues he’s got the modal thing for himself, All Blues is a premonition of where the jazz of the 60s would go with Coltrane: his modal thing. Flamenco Sketch is perhaps not the better composition of the album, but to me what every musician leaves there is just pure beauty, what a moment, what a way to accomplish this recording 👍🙏☺️❤️🌈
As it went on I kept thinking what about Aura? and then there it is at no. 3, love that album, and I think you just about got it right.
That was my risky choice....
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer You surprised me on that one! Good Choice actually. Aura is beautiful. Got into it recently again from Spotify. I made a custom list and grabbed a bunch of Aura on it.
Great video Andy! I also love Milestones and Jack Johnson but would have included We Want Miles.
It was nearly in there BD...I love that way more than In A Silent Way, but I decided to go with influence.
As for tunes written by Miles Davis
I've always wanted to do a fusion version of "four" and a spacey/atmospheric version of "solar", sort of a sun ra meets frisell/ambercrombie style and lots of synthesizers. I also think "half nelson" I think is probably the best thing he ever wrote.
He didn't play or write "miles mode" but it is an obvious tribute to him. This appears on the 1962 self titled Coltrane recording and there's also a live recording of Coltrane with Eric Dolphy - another obvious choice to convert as a fusion interpretation. It supposedly was written by Coltrane but some say Dolphy wrote it.
The 62 self titled "Coltrane" recording and the double live "Afro Blue impressions" are probably by 3rd and 4th favorite jazz recordings of all time (after Giant Steps and Miles 58 Sessions)
That live recording of Miles Mode...Dolphy is off the chart on that
I've said this before Eric Dolphy and Anthony Braxton are the 2 main voices to play the out / free jazz thing convincingly.
There are many great modal tunes to improvise over like milestones, so what, impressions, maiden voyage - but for me miles mode is the ultimate choice.
it goes without saying the live coltrane recordings after 1960 in general are other worldly, elvin jones is my favorite jazz drummer and sounds almost like he is playing 3 rhythms at the same time.
McCoy Tyner is my favorite jazz pianist often sounds like lightening is coming out of the thing. With a band like that why wouldn't you get all the live stuff you can? I certainly did.
My coltrane collection is around 200 cds including live recordings, studio albums and stuff he did with miles, monk, red garland, hank mobley, sonny rollins, paul chambers and other side project records I have no regrets about owning any of them. Not surprising considering Coltrane and Holdsworth are my favorite musical artists of all time, #1 and #2.
It's uncanny when I watch your videos it's clear to me we like the same music, speak the same language. It's cool to find a place where you can talk to people who like the same things you do and often learn about new things I was not aware of and how interesting to get other people's perspective and opinions from people that are interested in the same things I am.
Sketches of Spain for me.
I call him McJohn. "Hey McJohn!". Ten thousand British accents.
I feel peak miles was around 58 - with albums such as Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk
Live Evil for me because in less than 1h30 I will see Hermeto Pascoal live in concert...
He is 85 and still going strong! Incredible musician. I love his stuff and if I knew it better he would be featured here...
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer the concert at the New Morning was incredible
Like seeing FZ in a jazz club
The only one of these I would have in my top 10 is kind of blue and sketches of spain. But this is still a great list and it demonstrates how great he was. I would still give all these records 8/10 minimum. Miles Davis may have made more great albums than anybody
That's two!
I love Tutu
Hey what's the albums behind you? Sick album cover art both of them.
Miles Live Evil
Cromwell is advising John on how to pronounce his name. Brits are nuts. So are Japanese. Yet...the music. Traditional Japanese music was doing Weather Report a hundred years ago.
Outstanding review! Miles was and still is I N CR E D I B LE !
McLofflin? Yes yes. You’ve had it right all this time. That’s how I’ve always heard him pronounce it, either in videos or in concert. Who knows where the McLocklin came from…?!!
I knew this all along Robert.
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer I’m watching Beato’s video about Hendrix. He mentions Mahavishnu’s name and pronounced it, ‘McLockin.’ That gave me a chuckle!
@@syn707 I'm often puzzled why JM is not covered on his channel more too...
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer Andy, I can’t even recall him ever mentioning him or MO. Not that I’ve watched every video, but it sure seems he has no interest in Johnny Mac….but a pop tune that has a Dsus chord in it, WOW!!!
@@syn707 Ha Ha...yes...his brain has been rotted by too much Steely Dan...
Nefertiti is my fave. Abstract, free, yet not in the way like Ayler or Taylor
The last acoustic album of Miles
I agree with your list except for its latest albums which were solely made because of Miles' name. He was very ill towards that last years of his life.....some speculations had him dying of Aids. Miles Smiles, Jack Johnson and, some personal choices both live album from Japan Agharta and Pangea.
Aura definitely belongs in the top 3, In a silent way, Big Fun and Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson, Isle of wright ... Miles in the sky and Nefertitti are great .. oh and On the corner, Get up with it, Live Evil ... and Circle in a round and Directions are great samplers .... always a pleasure listening to your thoughts ... cheers Andy
Yes. I got Directions when it first came out. A lot of that is now on the Silent Way Box Set along with tons of other goodies. Nefertiti is classic as that whole 60's Quintet was. No bummer albums. As they say "All killer - No filler" I find Big Fun and the quiet tunes on Pangea'/Agharha to be better than Brew. Brew bores me outside of a couple tunes. Johnson jams, and more interesting for me. Man, I can go on forever about Miles..ha ha.
Is that a reissue of Sketches??
Yes...mine has a different cover....
If the head of the white ukulele gets caught on that cord there will be a mess.
great list, although I would've snuck My Funny Valentine in there . . .
No Walkin, Cookin, Bags' Groove, Relaxin, Workin, or Steamin? C'mon, have you really heard Miles' entire discography?? Great that you included Sketches of Spain (just need the original cover art).
What, the albums he dashed off to get out of his contract so he could make Milstones and Kind of Blue? Thos albums?
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer have you listened to them? They're great - at least 4 of them. Cookin', Relaxin', Workin', and Steamin' all ranked 4 stars by the Penguin Guide to Jazz. While several of the later ones you listed are rated at 3 stars. Not that Penguin Guide is god, just one piece of a consensus on that period. Of the mid 50s Prestige albums "They are uneven in inspiration and there is no single standout record, but the sense of spontaneity and of a combative group in brilliant creative flux is surpassed by no other jazz records." All Music calls out Walkin' as the best single Prestige date. And Bags Groove has Monk, Milt Jackson, Horace Silver, and Sonny Rollins. The giants of modern jazz. Coltrane is on Cookin' and Relaxin'.
@@eximusic I had the originakl 10" when I was young. Excellent hard bop
Wow, Miles Smiles is also my favorite of the 60's (although Yours is the greatest list not favorites).
shhh...its a favourite list really, but don't tell the algorithm
That TUTU cover is legendary. The music is ok, don't like the 80s innovations too much
It's a very long time since I last heard "Tutu" and although I'm not that familiar with it, I do remember not being overly fond of what I heard. Of course, there's a cover version of Scritti Politti's "Perfect way" on "Tutu". Returning the favour, Miles guested on Scritti's saccharine sweet and sickly (you'd never guess that I actually like the song!", "Oh Patti (don't feel sorry for loverboy)", playing a beautiful solo that entirely elevates the track. The extended version is absolutely worth a listen for Miles' extended trumpet solo.
ESP, Nefertiti, Round Midnight, Four and More and Bitches Brew would be my top five -- none of which made your list. So...there.
He made a lot of masterpieces...
"Bitches brew" was his number two choice.
Diminished two. Spanish style. In a Silent Way rules.
Miles Davis over and over again. What about Jon Hassel?
I have spoken about him on a video somewhere....
Its not GOFFLIN. It’s GLOFFLIN. Youve gotta hit that first L. I know its hard. Practise and you’ll get there. 😁
How do you know. People who know John have told me he pronounces it like I do...or is that just something I made up...
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer Ive been listening to folks talk about John for 50 years. Look at the spelling…McLaughlin. Hit that L. Try Saying this fast MUCK LOFF LINN. There you go you’ve got it.
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer In the video you say that he says McLofflin but you say McGofflin. So you aren't pronouncing it as he does.