An (almost) ideal free intro to the genius of Miles Davis

Any reader not yet sharing this site’s passion for the music of Miles Davis can hear what the fuss is all about by accessing the magnificent 5 x 1 hour Composer Of The Week programmes being broadcast by BBC Radio 3 this week. They’re repeated at midnight from Sunday, for five nights; they’re also available on the web for 7 days after broadcast:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3

The playlist has 35 unmissable tracks from across most of the Davis catalogue, plus a first-rate script read by the estimable Donald Macleod. The survey stops at the 1983 release, Decoy, ignoring the late-career jazzpop on Warner - which many despise, but others (fr’instance me, babe) believe to be among Miles’ most telling work. Mistake, but we’ll forgive ‘em. No apologies for listing the entire playlist – this is one of the radio highlights of this or any other year.


Miles Davis (1926-1991)
Part One
Monday 23 October 2006 12:00-13:00 (Radio 3)
Repeated: Monday 30 October 2006 0:00-1:00 (Radio 3)

Donald Macleod explores the compositions of the most influential jazz musician of the 20th century. He looks at Davis's earliest works, written for his collaborations with Charlie Parker, and his partnership with Gil Evans, which led to the groundbreaking Birth of the Cool.
Duration: 1 hour

Playlist

All Blues,
Miles Davis
Album: Miles Davis with John Coltrane:Complete Columbia
Columbia/Legacy AC6K65833
CD4 t9

Donna Lee,
Charlie Parker,
Album: Miles Davis: Young Miles
Proper - Properbox 17
CD1 t8

Milestones,
Miles DavisAlbum: Miles Davis: Young Miles
Proper - Properbox 17
CD1 t12

Half Nelson
Miles Davis
Album: Miles Davis: Young Miles
Proper - Properbox 17
CD2 t17

Boplicity
Miles Davis
Album: Birth of the Cool
Capitol 24353 01172
CD1 t8

Budo
Miles Davis
Album: Birth of the Cool
Capitol 24353 01172
CD1 t5

Down
Miles Davis
Album: Complete All Star Studio Sessions
Definitive DRCD 11237
CD1 t2

The Serpent's Tooth
Miles Davis
Album: Complete All Star Studio Sessions
Definitive: DRCD 11237
CD2 t2

The Leap
Miles Davis
Album: Volume 1
Blue Note 7 81501 2
CD1 t12

Weirdo
Miles Davis
Album Volume 1
Blue Note 7 81501 2, CD1 t14



Part Two
Tuesday 24 October 2006 12:00-13:00 (Radio 3)

Repeated: Tuesday 31 October 2006 0:00-1:00 (Radio 3)

Donald Macleod explores the compositions of the most influential jazz musician of the 20th century, Miles Davis.

By the early 1950s Davis was in the grip of a heroin addiction that threatened to destroy him. But in a supreme act of will he rid himself of the drug and relaunched his career with a new quintet which featured saxophone colossus John Coltrane

Duration:
1 hour

Playlist

Take Off
Miles Davis
Album: Miles Davis Vol. 1
Blue Note CDP 7 851501 2
cd1 T10

Swing Spring
Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants
Album: Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants
Prestige
OJCCD 20 347-2
CD1 t2

Budo
Miles Davis
Album: Miles Davis and John Contrane, Complete Columbia
Columbia AC6K 65833
CD1 t8

The Theme
Miles Davis
Album: Prestige Profiles
Prestige 02498 77024
CD1 t9

Miles Ahead
Miles Davis
Album: My Old Flame
Chant Du Monde (Harmonia Mundi)
274 1347.48
CD2 t4

Miles Ahead
Miles Davis
Album: Miles Ahead
Columbia 67397
CD1 t5

Song No. 1
Miles Davis
Album: Quiet Nights
Columbia 67397
CD4 t4

So What
Miles Davis/Gil Evans
Album: Miles Davis at Carnegie Hall
Columbia C2K 65027
cd1 T1



Part Three
Wednesday 25 October 2006 12:00-13:00 (Radio 3)

Repeated: Wednesday 1 November 2006 0:00-1:00 (Radio 3)

Donald Macleod explores the compositions of the most influential jazz musician of the 20th century, Miles Davis.

During the 1950s Miles was changing the nature of jazz composition. For Louis Malle's French film Lift to the Scaffold, he improvised the score to his soundtrack, using small fragments of melodic ideas to construct entire pieces. He also pioneered modal jazz with Milestones, a stepping stone towards the seminal album Kind of Blue.

Duration:
1 hour

Playlist

3/5. During the 1950s Miles was changing the nature of jazz composition. For Louis Malle's French film Lift to the Scaffold, he improvised the score to his soundtrack, using small fragments of melodic ideas to construct entire pieces. He also pioneered modal jazz with Milestones, a stepping stone towards the seminal album Kind of Blue.

Milestones
Miles Davis
Album: Miles Davis with John Contrane.
Columbia AC6K65833
CD3 t3

Sid's Ahead
Miles Davis
Album: Miles Davis with John Contrane
Columbia AC6K 65833
CD3 t4

Sur L'Autoroute
Miles Davis
Album: L'Ascenseur Pour L'echafaud
LP : Philips 6444 507
S1 t3

Chez Le Photographe du motel
Miles Davis
Album: L'Ascenseur Pour L'echafaud
LP: Philips 6444 507
S2 t5

Fran Dance
Miles Davis
Album: Miles Davis with John Contrane
Columbia
AC6k 65833
CD5 t6

Blue in Green
Miles Davis
Album: Miles Davis with John Contrane
Columbia AC6K 65833
CD4 t5

Freddie Freeloader
Miles Davis
Miles Davis with John Contrane
ColumbiaAC6K 65833
CD3 t3



Part Four
Thursday 26 October 2006 12:00-13:00 (Radio 3)

Repeated: Thursday 2 November 2006 0:00-1:00 (Radio 3)

Donald Macleod explores the compositions of the most influential jazz musician of the 20th century, Miles Davis.

Duration:
1 hour

Playlist

Teo
Miles Davis
Album: Miles Davis with John Contrane
Columbia AC6K65833
CD5 t2

Seven Steps to Heaven
Miles Davis
Album: The Columbia Years 1955-1985
Columbia 5055082000
CD2 t8

Eighty One
Miles Davis
Album: ESP
Columbia 467899 2
CD1 t2

Agitation
Miles Davis
Album: ESP
Columbia 467899 2
CD1 t5

Stuff
Miles Davis
Album: Miles Smiles
Columbia CSK 4353
CD1 t8


Part Five
Friday 27 October 2006 12:00-13:00 (Radio 3)

Repeated: Friday 3 November 2006 0:00-1:00 (Radio 3)

Donald Macleod explores the compositions of the most influential jazz musician of the 20th century, Miles Davis.

Miles's later years were plagued by ill health, yet his experiments with fusion, which began with the 1969 Bitches Brew album, once again changed the direction of jazz and pointed the way for a new generation.

Duration:
1 hour

Playlist

5.5 Despite a prolonged period of illness and withdrawal from public life, Miles Davis's last years saw him once again change the face of jazz composition, as he explored rock-fusion and funk.Donald Macleod looks at how Davis's irascible temper accelerated his death, and considers how Kind of Blue in particular changed the way that jazz has been written and performed for almost half a century.

Frelon Brun
Miles Davis:
Album Filles De Kilimanjaro
Columbia. 467088 2
CD 1 t1

It's About that time
Miles Davis
Album: In A Silent Way
Columbia CK 86556
CD1 t2

Miles Runs The Voodoo Down
Miles Davis
Album: Bitches Brew
Columbia 504508-2
CD4 t8

Star on Cicely
Miles Davis
Album: Star People
Columbia 504508-2
CD4 t6

What It Is
Miles Davis
Album: Decoy
Columbia 504508 2
CD4 t2

Flamenco Sketches,
Album: Miles Davis with John ColtraneColumbia AC6K 65833



Five whole hours of pure magic, then.

And absolutely free.




Gerry Smith