Avid Jazz continues with its Three Classic Albums plus series with a re-mastered 2CD release from Miles Davis complete with original artwork, liner notes and personnel details. "'Round About Midnight", "Milestones", "Kind Of Blue" and plus two live versions of "So What".
Kind of Blue was trumpeter Miles Davis’ all-time best seller and one of the most (if not the very most) revered albums in jazz history. In this book, renowned Penguin Guide to Jazz and BBC writer Brian Morton explores the making of this iconic jazz masterpiece.
The book is fully illustrated with classic, rare and never before published photos by such important jazz photographers as Jean-Pierre Leloir, Dennis Stock, Robert W. Kelley, Herb Snitzer, Marvin Koner, and David Redfern, among others.
Also included inside is the CD Kind of Blue in its entirety, plus 4 bonus tracks.
Given that 'Round About Midnight was Miles Davis' debut Columbia recording, it was both a beginning and an ending. Certainly the beginning of his recording career with the label that issued most if not all of his important recordings; and the recording debut of an exciting new band that had within its ranks Philly Joe Jones, Paul Chambers, pianist Red Garland, and an all but unknown tenor player named John Coltrane. The title track was chosen because of its unique rendition with a muted trumpet, and debuted at the Newport Jazz Festival the summer before to a thunderous reception. The date was also an ending of sorts because by the time of the album's release, Davis had already broken up the band, which re-formed with Cannonball Adderley a year later as a sextet, but it was a tense year…
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of musical directions in a five-decade career that kept him at the forefront of many major stylistic developments in jazz.
A monumental innovator, icon, and maverick, trumpeter Miles Davis helped define the course of jazz as well as popular culture in the 20th century, bridging the gap between bebop, modal music, funk, and fusion. Throughout most of his 50-year career, Davis played the trumpet in a lyrical, introspective style, often employing a stemless Harmon mute to make his sound more personal and intimate. It was a style that, along with his brooding stage persona, earned him the nickname "Prince of Darkness." However, Davis proved to be a dazzlingly protean artist, moving into fiery modal jazz in the '60s and electrified funk and fusion in the '70s, drenching his trumpet in wah-wah pedal effects along the way.