Greatest Full Length Album of All Time

love this album.

Can't really stand Miles, not because of his attitude, but because his attitude seemed to make him a bigger star. I was always more a Diz guy, Brownie, Fats. Miles is 4th. He's not that great a musician, he constantly screwed up. His initial fame was "the notes you aren't playing". Come on. Gil Evans was the mastermind behind some of his biggest albums (co-credit to Gerry Mulligan for Birth of the Cool), too many of Miles' compositions were just silly redesigns of catchy pop songs. His sidemen were fucking legendary, each of which shrewd hires (I mean, who has the luxury of Coltrane/Adderley going on to solo careers, so hey, here's Wayne Shorter? For Christ's sake, Wayne Shorter. No more Bill Evans? Chick Corea. No more Corea? OK, Herbie Hancock. It's easier for people to name pianists in his band than not in his band.)

But this album's easily his best and one of my favorites. He's good - for Coltrane's modality, it was Davis' idea to abandon hard bop completely. No Gil Evans on this one, and Davis took recording somewhat seriously for once. He lets his sidemen breathe and does just enough himself. It was modal bliss in a jazz world that couldn't decide if it was bop, cool, free, or swing.

 

the Beatles

 

brain salad surgery

 

six and a half of one, half a baker's dozen of the other

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq50MJYV0hQ&feature=related

 

You sound like me in my 20's "breaking it all down."

I have to totally disagree with your assessment of Miles. It is almost comical. "He's not that great a musician". WTF? That is just ridiculous. And he was right about "the notes you aren't playing." That concept is what heralded us into the slowed down, post-bop/post-swing age. It is a focus on introspection. "The Birth of the Cool".

But I do agree with your assessment of his ability to pick talent. It takes one to know one.

I think it is his ego that turns you off. It is understandable because it is unattractive, especially as he aged. He should have been able to reach a transcendant, wise-old-man stage, but was unfortunately not able to do that. Doesn't change the fact that this album, half improvised in a legendary day of recording, is still the greatest concept album of all time.

 

He wasn't that great a musician. He flubbed notes all the time and didn't play anything that complex. Diz could run through a line of 32nds and if you dropped a pencil in the middle, he could tell you what note it hit on. Miles was a famous and competent musician, in an era with a bunch of virtuosos.

Did you use the name of his first big album, ten years earlier, that he had little to really do with compositionally, to describe this album?

I don't care about his ego, it doesn't bother me if he didn't face the crowd. I never saw the man live.

 

Very nice and interesting collection .......I like it.Thanks to share .

 

Yes, I understand your point of view. It is not unusual.

Basically, your argument is called The Technician. It assumes technical skill is relevant to artistic, world-changing output.

As we used to say in Judo class, you have to learn the rules before you break them. Miles knew the rules, he just didn't care. Your focus is on the rules. Rules change. And that is why his contribution is timeless.

Finger speed is completely unnecessary when making "Kind of Blue."

That he had little to do with compositionally? I see your angle toward Gil Evans there, which I don't discount. But ultimately, it is irrelevant. Without Miles, there is no album called "Birth of the Cool." Composition is only a single component of American Jazz.

And yet, you have a like/dislike opinion. You fail the Vulcan code, Kemosabe. That is why you will never truly understand Fox's zen code "It is what it is."