Will O The Wisp

This set features most of Davis' earliest albums for Columbia (some still recorded when he was with Prestige, but with their permission.) The sound quality is very good, and the albums selected for inclusion are nearly all essential in my opinion.

Miles Davis - Sketches Of Spain (1960) {2000 Japan MiniLP, DSD, SRCS 9705}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 392 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 145 Mb
Full Artwork @ 400 dpi (jpg) -> 81 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2000 SME Records / Sony Music Japan | SRCS 9705 | Super Bit Mapping
Jazz / Cool / Trumpet

The crown jewel of the epic Evans/Davis triptych that began with MILES AHEAD and PORGY AND BESS, SKETCHES OF SPAIN is as emotionally compelling as any performance in the trumpeter's remarkable body of works. Combining as it does the emotional gravity of two cultures–the deep song of flamenco music and the rich lament of the blues–SKETCHES OF SPAIN is a musical hybrid of enormous power and beauty. Gil Evans' immense canvas of orchestral colors inspires some of Davis' most deeply felt solo flights. He paints vast vistas of velvety, shimmering night sounds, and through it all runs the mountainous backbone of Spain's native rhythms and chants.

Pet Shop Boys resume their exceptional late-period run with Hotspot, their third in a series of high quality collaborations with producer/engineer Stuart Price. Recorded at Berlin's legendary Hansa Studios, the acclaimed duo's 14th album finds them firmly in their element, delivering crisp electro-pop invocations, wry dance bangers, and melodic gems both sunny and stormy…

Miles Davis - Sketches Of Spain (1960) {2006 DSD Japan Mini LP Edition, Analog Collection, SICP 1207}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 255 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 100 Mb | Full Artwork
© 1960, 2006 Sony Music Japan / Columbia | SICP 1207 | DSD | HQD High Quality Disc
Jazz / Cool / Third Stream / Orchestral Jazz / Trumpet

A beautiful collaboration between Miles Davis and the great Gil Evans – and perhaps the most perfectly realized of all their projects! The album's got a wonderfully unified feel – as it begins with long compositions that have a distinct Spanish-tinge (and not a Latin-tinge, which is an important distinction to the way the album progresses.) Evans' arrangements have a majesty that takes the songs to the next level – working them as lush, lively backings for Davis' equally majestic trumpet solos, some of the finest he ever recorded with large group backing. Wonderful all the way through – and with the tracks "Concierto De Aranjuez", "Saeta", "The Pan Piper", and "Solea".

You can get quite an argument going about what Passport really is – rock fans hear a very accessible jazz outfit, and jazz fans hear a progressive rock band with real chops. Cross-Collateral is the album that shows how well this jazz band can rock and how well this rock band can play jazz.

Along with Kind of Blue, In a Silent Way, and Round About Midnight, Sketches of Spain is one of Miles Davis' most enduring and innovative achievements.