The Collection
Miles Davis
Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, John Coltrane, Wynton Kelly, Bill Evans, Paul Chambers, Jimmy Cobb, Elvin Jones, Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul, John McLaughlin, Dave Holland, Tony Williams
Engineer: Fred Plaut, Stan Tonkel, Russ Payne,
Producer: Irving Townsend, Teo Macero
Legacy Recordings, 2005
3 CD
Catalogue #: 96540
EAN: 0827969654026
UPC: 827969654026
You save: 20%
3 LPS on 3 CDs: SKETCHES OF SPAIN (1960)/KIND OF BLUE (1959)/IN A SILENT WAY (1969).
Personnel: Miles Davis (trumpet, flugelhorn); John McLaughlin (electric guitar); Wayne Shorter (soprano saxophone); Julian "Cannonball" Adderley (alto saxophone); John Coltrane (tenor saxophone); Wynton Kelly, Bill Evans (piano); Joe Zawinul (organ); Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock (electric keyboard); Dave Holland, Paul Chambers (bass instrument); Elvin Jones, Jimmy Cobb, Tony Williams (drums).
Liner Note Authors: Nat Hentoff; Phil Schaap.
Recording information: Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York (1959); Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York (1960); Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York (1969).
This box combines three of Miles Davis's best releases, but the comparisons end there. While SKETCHES OF SPAIN, KIND OF BLUE, and IN A SILENT WAY are masterpieces, three less similar records would be hard to find in Davis's prolific catalogue.
SKETCHES OF SPAIN is the last of Davis's collaborations with the great composer/arranger Gil Evans, and it is as much Evans's album as it is Davis's, as Evans composed three of the album's five tracks and selected the other two. The sound is pure Evans--rich and orchestral even when featuring comparatively few instruments--and features that peculiarly weightless feel of his best work. By comparison, the improvised KIND OF BLUE--featuring "So What," probably Davis's best-known composition--is Spartan where SKETCHES is lush. Even more different is the electric, rock-influenced IN A SILENT WAY, whose side-long "Ssh/Peaceful" became the blueprint for nearly all '70s fusion experiments.
Tracklist
Miles Davis
Few musicians have managed to change the course of music--trumpeter Miles Davis did it several times. An early disciple of Charlie Parker, Davis created an austere, understated approach that became the model for cool. His superb albums in the 1950s made him a star, and in the following decade, he brought small-group jazz to the limit before he unapologetically (and, for some, unforgivably) took on jazz-rock. After a break, he re-emerged in the '80s with a mixture of pop and dense, bristling funk. All the while, his refusal to follow anyone but his own muse made him both a hero and an enigma--either way, he was one of the most magnetic, influential figures in American music.
John Coltrane
Through both the force of his music and his personal character, saxophonist John Coltrane remains among the most influential jazz artists of all time. After a stint with the classic Miles Davis band of the late 1950s, the tenor titan embarked on a decade of staggering creativity. With the daunting GIANT STEPS, he exploded the possibilities of post-bop harmony; subsequently, he formed his "classic quartet" with McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones--the ideal group for Coltrane's ever-expanding sonic vocabulary. As the '60s progressed, he also added the soprano sax to the mix and explored the use of modes, before finally moving on to the inspired free playing on records such as ASCENSION and INTERSTELLAR SPACE in his last years.
Wynton Kelly
Jazz pianist Wynton Kelly's most high-profile engagement came as a member of the Miles Davis Sextet of the late '50s and early '60s. During this time he appeared briefly on the legendary KIND OF BLUE sessions with Davis. He later left the group, taking bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb to the Wynton Kelly Trio, which produced many fine recordings and also backed artists such as Wes Montgomery and George Coleman.
Bill Evans
One of the most original and influential pianists in jazz, Bill Evans possessed an intensely personal and lyrical approach. The release of his first records under his own name, as well as his appearance on Miles Davis's KIND OF BLUE, pushed Evans rapidly to the forefront of jazz piano. For much of his career--which began in the 1950s and spanned several decades--he worked exclusively with his own trios, which brought collective interplay to new heights and extended the vocabulary of post-bop jazz piano.
Elvin Jones
Many consider drummer Elvin Jones's contribution to the classic John Coltrane quartet of the 1960s nearly equal to that of the master. Jones's rolling polyrhythms balanced urgency and serenity to create a dynamic sense of texture and time, providing steady counterpoint to Coltrane's sonic explorations. Subsequently, Jones went on to collaborate with many distinguished peers and to pursue a long, fruitful solo career with his Jazz Machine. One of the key influences on jazz drumming in both bebop and post-bop, Jones continued playing, even in ill health, until his death in 2004 at the age of 76.
Wayne Shorter
Tenor man Wayne Shorter was one of the foremost figures in jazz saxophone in the latter half of the 20th century. A hugely influential figure, he combined classical-influenced lyricism, bop fire, post-bop viscerality, and free-jazz adventurism. Over the decades, he was in some of the most important groups in jazz history, including Miles Davis's famed '60s quintet and fusion pioneers Weather Report. On his own, he released landmark albums touching on everything from hard bop to the avant garde to world music. His latter-day recordings found him pursuing a more commercial sound, but his pioneering work will never be forgotten or diminished.
Chick Corea
Chick Corea took the piano in new directions following the monumental achievements of McCoy Tyner and Bill Evans. His pioneering electric piano playing with Miles Davis helped shape the sound of fusion in the late '60s. He then turned to acoustic, free-form improv with the group Circle before forming the seminal fusion band Return to Forever. Throughout his lengthy career, Corea has drawn on bebop, Latin, rock, and classical influences to make his mark as both a soloist and a composer.
Herbie Hancock
One of the most open-eared and forward-thinking jazz musicians of his day, Hancock has, more than just about anyone else, consistently tried to broaden the music's horizons by mixing it with the most interesting elements of contemporary pop. Hancock has consistently pushed the envelope, from his earliest days with Miles Davis to his jazz-rock fusion of the early '70s and his early embrace of synthesizers and electronic instruments, his early-'80s experiments with hip-hop and sampling, or more recently, his acoustic piano reinterpretations of songs--the new standards, in his parlance--by everyone from Don Henley to Nirvana.
John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin first made his mark in Tony Williams' Lifetime and on Miles Davis' landmark proto-fusion albums of the late '60s. He then went on to form the Mahavishnu Orchestra, which spearheaded the fusion movement of the '70s and made the guitarist an international star. Subsequent projects have found him exploring a multitude of musical avenues, from subdued acoustic settings to incendiary electric jazz, all of which express his intent to expand musical possibilities.
