Miles Davis (May 26, 1926 — September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter with a recording career that spanned nearly five decades. In the late 1940s, Davis collaborated with Gil Evans and Gerry Mulligan on the nonet sessions that became the Birth of the Cool LP (1957). He later formed his first great quintet […]
John Coltrane (September 23, 1926 — July 17, 1967) was an American post-bop/jazz saxophonist and composer who released more than fifty studio and live albums between 1957 and his death in 1967 at age 40. Coltrane first recorded under his own name in 1957 after apprenticeships with Dizzy Gillespie, Johnny Hodges, and Miles Davis. That […]
Wayne Shorter (1933–2003) was an American saxophonist and composer who did stints with Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers (1959–64) and Miles Davis (1964–70). Between 1959 and 1970, he recorded fourteen bandleader albums for Blue Note. In 1971, he co-founded Weather Report, a jazz-funk supergroup with Austrian keyboardist Joe Zawinul. Background Wayne Shorter was born […]
Tony Williams (1945–1997) was an American jazz drummer who emerged in the second Miles Davis Quintet. As Anthony Williams, he cut the 1965/66 Blue Note albums Life Time and Spring. After Miles, Williams formed Lifetime, a pioneering jazz-rock band that cut the 1969–72 Polydor albums Emergency!, Turn It Over, Ego, and The Old Bum’s Rush. […]
Michael Henderson (July 7, 1951 – July 19, 2022) was an American R&B bassist, vocalist, songwriter, and producer who served as a backing player for Miles Davis during the early 1970s. As a solo artist, he released seven albums on Buddah between 1976 and 1983, followed by an eighth on EMI in 1986. Background Henderson […]
Bitches Brew is the second album from the electric phase of American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, released on March 30, 1970, on Columbia Records. The album fully realized the jazz-rock fusion direction Davis had been exploring, pushing it to its furthest, most abstract limits. It combined free-form jazz improvisation with a dense, electrified sound. The […]
In a Silent Way is the first album from the electric phase of American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, released on July 30, 1969, on Columbia Records. The album marked a dramatic change in Davis’s musical direction. Following the more acoustic, post-bop sound of his second quintet, In a Silent Way pioneered the genre of jazz […]
A Tribute to Jack Johnson is the third studio album from the electric phase of American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, released on February 24, 1971, on Columbia Records. The album is a fiery, muscular exploration of hard rock, funk, and jazz fusion. It was conceived as the soundtrack for the documentary film of the same […]
Get Up With It is an album from the electric phase of American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, released on November 22, 1974, on Columbia Records. The album is a sprawling, retrospective collection of previously unreleased material recorded between 1970 and 1974. It spans the entire sonic palette of Davis’s electric period, from the hard funk […]
Did the early back-to-back deaths of Charlie Parker and Clifford Brown open a power vacuum in jazz that allowed Miles, Coltrane, and Monk to emerges as the top three? Would Bird have been the dominant force, joined at the top by Brown, or would they have slid from prominence like Dizzy? This is a great […]
Miles Smiles is an album by American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, released on February 16, 1967 on Columbia Records. The album is a landmark of post-bop and avant-garde jazz, serving as a prime showcase for Davis’s renowned Second Great Quintet. With a loose, free-flowing rhythmic feel and a focus on abstract improvisation, the album marked […]
Miles in the Sky is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis, released on July 22, 1968, on Columbia Records. The album is a pivotal moment in Davis’s career, serving as a transitional bridge between the acoustic post-bop of his Second Great Quintet and the electric jazz fusion of his later work. It […]
Provision is the third full-length album by transatlantic art-pop project Scritti Politti, released in 1988 on Virgin/Warner Bros. Tracklist: 1. “Boom! There She Was” (4:59) 2. “Overnite” (4:44) 3. “First Boy in This Town (Lovesick)” (4:22) 4. “All That We Are” (3:31) 5. “Best Thing Ever” (3:51) 6. “Oh Patti (Don’t Feel Sorry for Loverboy)” (4:21) […]
