Day 0146 - In a Silent Way

Miles Davis "In a Silent Way" (1969)

 
This one has been on my 'to check out' list for a while. I tend to buy Miles' albums, er... sound unheard, so this is a rare case of doing some research first.

It's a nice bit of fusion-jazz with some great atmospheric moments, and lovely textures.  It totally lives up to its name much of the time with it's gentle minimalism, interspersed with flights of jazzy fun within, yet feels more focussed than his rambling fusion albums like 'bitches brew' and 'big fun'.

Day 0012 - Birth of the Cool

Miles Davis "Birth of the Cool" (1957) got it

Right out of the gate this is a vital and exciting album! I know that 'Kind of Blue' is seen as Miles' masterpiece, but my favourite of his oeuvre has always been "Birth of the Cool" (with an honourable mention going to "ESP").

Although this was released as an album in 1957, the 3 sessions that gave 'birth' to this material had actually taken place in 1949 and 1950. Miles had been playing in Charlie Parker's band, taking the place of Dizzy who'd gotten tired of Bird's unprofessionalism, alcoholism and drug use. Miles could never really match Diz for sheer technical proficiency and speed; his strengths lie more in melody and musical exploration... both of which feature here.
Miles got together with the arranger Gil Evans who was hosting musical meetings and sessions at his apartment.  With his growing reputation as a jazz arranger he was a great asset in Miles' search for a new sound.

What you get here is a nice mix with the speed and virtuosity displayed in bebop, but generally with a richer texture and a greater focus on melody.  Where bebop was frequently stripped down to allow room for the soloists to 'spread their wings' "Birth of the Cool has almost more of an almost orchestral feel in places, like the beautiful, slightly eerie harmonies of "moon dreams" which nicely offset the perky bebop of the opener "Jeru". The interplay between soloists and the rest of the band is brilliant, much more complimentary melodic interplay than in a standard bebop sound (it should be noted by the way that I love bebop, so I'm not looking to slag it off, only to highlight the differences between this music and what had come before).

As an initial solo artistic statement, this is pretty damned strong... too bad that it went generally unnoticed until Miles had earned greater fame, and the West Coast jazz movement had gained popularity.

Day 0006 - Ellington at Newport

Duke Ellington "Ellington at Newport"

The Duke had suffered the fate of most big jazz bandleaders in the second half of the 20th century a major drop in popularity despite the fact that he continued to tour solidly.

Despite swing's fall from grace, Duke's band's set at Newport ending up being a raging success.  The record company (as record companies are wont to do) rushed to capitalise on it and release this album... only to find that recordings of the show were pretty damaged.  Columbia dealt with this by getting Ellington into the studio to re-record the set.  The album was then patched together using the studio recordings, surviving pieces of the live recordings, and assorted canned applause.

Apparently there has since been a recording pieced together of the original show and it is something special... to be fair though, this version is great too; just a tight band playing some hot music!

Day 0004 - The Wildest

Louis Prima "The Wildest" (1956)

This is an album that I checked out the first time I had a read through the '1001 albums' book (2010 or so) and ended up buying up a greatest hits album that I found in a shop here.  This album is as good as his greatest hits and, at 10 tracks, much more concise a musical statement.

Dismissed as an Italian Louis Armstrong (not helped by covering 3 of Armstrong's tunes here) he is another artist whose career (like Sinatra's, as mentioned on day 0001) was floundering, but he married a young 22 year old singer and added her and a hot young sax player to revitalise his band.  That seemed to do the trick, with that new burst of energy being cut essentially live in the studio.  A great mix of tracks with some great vocal harmonies on the driving "Just a gigolo/I aint got nobody" and Prima and his wife Keely Smith trading lines on (the lyrically dated) "Just for You".

I just think it's an incredibly fun album, even the sweeter tracks like 'buonasera senorita' are performed with a twinkle in the eye.  The band is tight, the playing is hot and, as the book says: "this is irrepressible music that more than matches its glorious cover shot"

Fun fact, Louis also performed the voice of King Louie in the original 'Jungle Book' film.