Miles Davis Japan Mini

Miles Davis - Miles in Tokyo (1964) (Japan Mini LP 2006 Remaster)
EAC rip | FLAC + CUE + LOG -> 344Mb | MP3 @320 -> 127Mb
Sony Music Japan / SICP-1213
(2006 DSD master)

After George Coleman left the Miles Davis Quintet, tenor-saxophonist Sam Rivers took his place for a short period including a tour of Japan. Davis did not care for Rivers's avant-garde style (they failed to develop any chemistry) and soon replaced him, but this live LP (originally only issued in Japan) survived to document this brief association. The music (five lengthy versions of standards) is actually of high quality with both Davis and Rivers in fine form and the young rhythm section (pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Tony Williams) pushing the trumpeter/leader to open up his style.

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue (1959) {2006 DSD Japan Mini LP Edition Analog Collection SICP 1206}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 284 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 118 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 232 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1959, 2006 Sony Music Japan / Columbia | SICP 1206 | DSD | HQD High Quality Disc
Jazz / Hard Bop / Modal Music / Trumpet

What can we say? This is the ultimate Miles Davis album – the one that includes so many songs that we've heard way too much in Starbucks, in retail stores, or at a friend's house who claims to be a "jazz expert", but is really a yuppie dilettante. Yet somehow, over all the years, and all those playings, the record manages to still sound fantastic – a truly inspirational piece of music that's long deserved all the attention it gets! The legendary group on the album includes John Coltrane on tenor, Cannonball Adderley on alto, Bill Evans on piano, and Paul Chambers on bass – working with Miles in a relatively modal style, with brilliant rhythm changes and a wonderful sense of space.

Miles Davis - My Funny Valentine (1964) {2006 DSD Japan Mini LP Edition Analog Collection SICP 1211}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 365 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 154 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 158 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1964, 2006 Sony Music Japan / Columbia | SICP 1211 | DSD | HQD High Quality Disc
Jazz / Hard Bop / Modal Music / Trumpet

One of the finest live albums in the history of jazz, My Funny Valentine presents the Miles Davis Quintet live at the Lincoln Centre's Philharmonic Hall in 1964. Surrounded by the vibrant and youthful rhythm section of Herbie Hancock (piano), Ron Carter (bass) and Tony Williams (drums), Davis was enjoying a strong new surge of creativity, and played with a stunning level of invention and passion throughout. The resonance of the long title track - one of those flawless performances that happens only very occasionally - dominates the record. Front-line partner George Coleman (tenor saxophone) chose a good evening to play some of the most beautiful solos of his life.

Miles Davis - Get Up With It (1974) [2CD] {2006 DSD Japan Mini LP Edition, SICP-1228/29}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 794 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 281 Mb | Artwork (web)
© 2006 Sony Music Japan / Columbia | SICP 1228/29
Jazz / Fusion / Jazz Rock / Jazz Funk

By 1974, Miles Davis had become not only a music legend in general and a jazz legend in particular, but also a reclusive and confounding character. Davis' music had excited many and exasperated others, including many of his older fans, with its forays into space-age free-form meta-funk. Released in 1974 but unavailable on CD in the US until 2000, GET UP WITH IT is a compendium of several of Miles's early-to-mid-'70s studio adventures, and one of the most challenging albums in his catalog.

Miles Davis - Miles Smiles (1966) {2006 DSD Japan Mini LP Edition Analog Collection SICP 1216}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 284 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 100 Mb | Full Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 1966, 2006 Sony Music Japan / Columbia | SICP 1216 | DSD | HQD High Quality Disc
Jazz / Hard Bop / Modal Music / Trumpet

Its greatest triumph is that it masks this adventurousness within music that is warm and accessible – it just never acts that way. No matter how accessible this is, what's so utterly brilliant about it is that the group never brings it forth to the audience. They're playing for each other, pushing and prodding each other in an effort to discover new territory. As such, this crackles with vitality, sounding fresh decades after its release. And, like its predecessor, ESP, this freshness informs the writing as well, as the originals are memorable, yet open-ended and nervy, setting (and creating) standards for modern bop that were emulated well into the new century. Arguably, this quintet was never better than they are here, when all their strengths are in full bloom.

Miles Davis - Seven Steps To Heaven (1963) {2006 DSD Japan Mini LP Edition, SICP 1209}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 277 Mb| MP3 @320 -> 110 Mb | Artwork (web)
© 2006 Sony Music Japan / Columbia | SICP 1209
Jazz / Hard Bop / Trumpet

SEVEN STEPS TO HEAVEN finds Miles Davis standing yet again on the fault line between stylistic epochs. In early 1963 pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb left to form their own trio, and Miles was forced to form a new band, which included Memphis tenor player George Coleman and bassist Ron Carter. When Miles next entered the studio in Hollywood, he added local drummer Frank Butler and British studio ace Victor Feldman, who ultimately decided not to go on the road with Davis.

Miles Davis - Water Babies (1997) {Sony Records Japan Mini LP, SRCS 9307 rec 1967-1968}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 347 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 126 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 11 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1997 Sony Records Japan | SRCS 9307
Jazz / Post Bop / Fusion / Trumpet

A much different album than you might expect from the cover – hardly the funky 70s set implied by the Big Fun-styled cover – and instead a lost slice of work from his groundbreaking late 60s years! The set was recorded in 1967, but unissued until Miles late 70s time away from the studio – hence the cover, which attempts to contemporanize the record – and the music is very much in the dark moods and sharp tones of Filles De Kilimanjaro, and features a somewhat similar group!

Miles Davis - On The Corner (1972) {2006 DSD Japan Mini LP Edition, SICP-1227}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 385 Mb | Artwork (web)
© 2006 Sony Music Japan / Columbia | SICP 1227
Jazz / Fusion / Jazz Rock / Trumpet

ON THE CORNER enjoys a special cult status among musicians, anticipating as it does the punk funk/acid jazz movements. For Miles Davis, ON THE CORNER was another seismic shift. Miles was particularly fond of the lyric sweep of Hendrixian electric guitar, the James Brown-like rhythmic thump of Fender bass, and the bell-like timbre and chordal possibilities of the Fender/Rhodes electric piano. Now the trumpeter sought to incorporate the feel of street rhythms from around the world and to reflect the influence of modern electronic composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen.

Miles Davis - Live-Evil (1971) [2CD] {2006 DSD Japan Mini LP Edition, SICP 1225/26}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 661 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 232 Mb | Artwork (web)
© 2006 Sony Music Japan / Columbia | SICP 1225/26
Jazz / Fusion / Jazz Rock

Live-Evil is one of Miles Davis' most confusing and illuminating documents. As a double album, it features very different settings of his band – and indeed two very different bands. The double-LP CD package is an amalgam of a December 19, 1970, gig at the Cellar Door, which featured a band comprised of Miles, bassist Michael Henderson, drummer Jack DeJohnette, guitarist John McLaughlin, saxophonist Gary Bartz, Keith Jarrett on organ, and percussionist Airto.

Miles Davis - We Want Miles (1982) [2CD] {2006 DSD Japan Mini LP Edition, SICP-1235/36}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 546 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 174 Mb | Artwork (web)
© 2006 Sony Music Japan / Columbia | SICP 1235/36
Jazz / Fusion / Jazz Rock

Davis's second recording since ending his six-year retirement was one of his best of the 1980s. Unlike his bands from the 1970s, this particular unit leaves plenty of space and plays much more melodically. Guitarist Mike Stern lets loose some fury, but electric bassist Marcus Miller is not reluctant to walk now and then in a straight-ahead fashion, drummer Al Foster and percussionist Mino Cinelu are tasteful, and Bill Evans gets in a few good spots on soprano. As for Davis, he was gradually regaining his earlier form. This double LP is highlighted by "Back Seat Betty," a side-long investigation of "My Man's Gone Now" and two versions of Davis's childlike "Jean Pierre."