Search - Miles Davis :: Milestones (Mlps)

Forget Kind of Blue -- This One Is Miles's Best

Duncan MacLeod | Kingston, NH | 06/12/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I've never understood why Kind of Blue has been more highly rated or sold better than this one. If I could have only one Miles Davis album (thankfully, I'm not that limited), this would be it. As another reviewer has stated, the cut entitled "Miles" (aka "Milestones") alone is worth the price of the CD. On my vinyl copy, I played that one cut over and over, never tiring of it. There's just a quality about the way the three horns play this staccato riff together that makes a person feel like all's right with the world.



The band's treatment of Monk's "Straight, No Chaser" is for me the definitive version of this tune. Red Garland shows off his stuff on "Billy Boy," on which the horns do not play. Cannonball Adderley's playing made him a reputation that soon led to his going off on his own. He never played better than on this CD.



John Coltrane is arguably at his very best ever on this album. Miles (in his autobiography) said he didn't like much of what Coltrane did in his last few years; but on this CD, he shows why he was the most influential tenor player of the period.



If you've been lulled to sleep by Kind of Blue, let this album wake you up to what the classic Miles Davis ensemble was capable of."

My Favorite by Miles Davis - This Album is Pure Versatility

T. B. Vick | 02/09/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Beginning with the "runaway" song Dr. Jekyll, where Miles demonstrates his ability at the avant-garde, to the more swing style song "Straight, No Chase," Miles demonstrates just how versatile he can be. Each song on this CD takes on its own personality. "Sid's song" is a strutting song with a nice walking base line, and intermittent drum interruptions and a nice sax and trumpet line."Two Base Hit" has a more big band feel to it with a nice rhythm feel. Coltrane sounds quite nice on this cut doing his usual thing."Miles" is more of a staccato moving song with a nice sax and trumpet movement in it. This song will have you nodding your head as you listen."Billy Boy" is more of a Bassie or Ellington type song with an avant-garde feel. It has some great piano work in it. This song is moving and all over the place (especially the drums).All in all this CD, in my opinion, is Mile's best ever. It has a distinctive sound quality and diversity between each of the songs. Miles also has some of the best collaborators he has ever worked with on this CD including John Coltrane, Red Garland, Julian Adderly ("Cannonball"), Paul Chambers, and Joe Jones. Miles seems to pay tribute to many Jazz artists on this album who have either influenced him or influenced Jazz music."

Still good, but not in the same league as Miles' best

finulanu | Here, there, and everywhere | 08/20/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Now this is quite a good record: if I were to make a list of Miles' ten best studio albums, this would get the #8 slot. Still, it isn't as good as the Sextet's other album, Kind of Blue. A couple classics are on this album: the famous title track, which is a sort of modal bebop piece; and the band's extended, tremendous take on Straight, No Chaser. These two are easily the best songs on the album, and alone make it worthy of purchase. Not like the rest isn't, of course: Sid's Ahead ups the blues elements of the classic Walkin', and Dr. Jackie is an energetic cover of a bebop favorite.

I'm not too thrilled by the other two songs, though. Two Bass Hit is one of the album's more vaunted songs, but I prefer the version found as a bonus track on the 'Round About Midnight reissue: here it falls flat in spite of its energy. And I'm not too excited about the piano trio version of Billy Boy either. There's enough here to make this recommended to any fan of Miles', but I don't feel it's his best."