Miles Davis
1959
Brie: I may be biased, as Miles Davis is my favorite jazz musician of all time. This album is probably the most cutting-edge, ingenious albums of all time. Also, John Coltrane plays on this album, so obviously that makes it even better (if that was possible to begin with). This album was recorded in only nine hours. And according to the book Davis didn't show the other musicians the music before beginning to record, because he thought that would make them focus more. So spontaneity is the key. Miles Davis is other-worldly. (Do I hyphenate that?)
RATING:
Amanda: First of all, I am sorry our posts are off (not that anyone reads our posts). I think 19 is like after 14 and then 18 jumps to 20. We do not suffer from number dyslexia, but I have no idea how to fix it so deal with it. Moving on...
Ah, jazz. I really don't like you.
I started doing a movie blog that tracks the 1001 movies awhile ago. I had to start at like 1902, so of course that meant around fifty silent films. At first, I hated silent movies, citing reasons such as "dialogue makes a movie" and "slapstick isn't my thing". Now, after watching so many, I have a huge appreciation for their subtle art. I keep expecting a love of jazz to kick in at any moment after listening to so many tracks but it hasn't happened yet. I am forced to conclude that me and jazz will never like each other, and I should open myself up to better relationships with other genres in the future. We gave it a shot.
As for this album, it was rather enjoyable as far as jazz albums go. Don't really get what is so special but I will give in to peer pressure and give it a high rating.
RATING:
P.S. I did, however, think the track "Flameco Sketches" was pretty beautiful.
This is some very adventurous music, it's all over the place. There seems to be a fair amount of improvisation going on (now confirmed by reading this review). Track 2 sounds like an extended jam session that seems to go on forever until finally returning to the main melody near the end. This is the kind of jazz I like. I found this album very great, and I think I could hear it many times without getting tired of it because it doesn't rely so much on a set of melodies as pop music does.
ReplyDeleteStandout track: "Freddie Freeloader"