Miles Davis
An absolute legend in jazz and beyond. Besides maybe his later period when hard drugs and animosity would overshadow his sense of creativity, his groundbreaking albums have stood the test of time, decade after decade and are still as hot and relevant today as they were the day they were first released. I am no Davis expert, but I don't believe you need to be to enjoy this man's music. There are certainly many levels on which you may appreciate it, but even on the surface, as a non-scholar music enthusiast, there is something universal about the grooves and melodies which speaks to all.
I was quite young when I heard Miles Davis' music for the first time. I had heard of him before and, to me, jazz was supposed to be "adult" music, something that could not be understood by younger listeners as it was too complex and cryptic in it's language; if you were an outsider, you could just forget it. Well, there I was, maybe fifteen or sixteen years old at a loft party in Montreal with some of the city's art-fringe population. I didn't really belong there, I only knew two or three persons there and was often left alone with my alcohol buzz on some sofa as a couple were in the process of heavy petting right besides me. The music came out of large speakers connected to an old turntable and, after loads of electro-lounge music (the night was nearing it's end), one of the hosts had put on a new record which was much more jazzy. I remember being stunned, the music was obviously jazz, but it did not sound at all as cheesy as I expected it to be. It was a revelation, this cold also be jazz. It was complex, smooth, but a far cry from the easy-listening I thought it would be.
I remember asking the host what this was and he handed me the cover. On it was the face of an african-american women superimposed three times with blurry, psychedelic surroundings. Filles De Kilimanjaro, Miles Davis. This was Miles Davis? This was no where as close to the jazz standards I was expecting. It was pleasant, but there was something odd and exciting about it. I was still working at a Montreal music store back then and I bought the album the next day (I remember being happy it was not very expensive!). I have bought many more albums by Davis since then and there were some that actually sounded like the more standard jazz I always had in mind, but I really enjoy hearing the progression in his work from more academic efforts to the more experimental releases. Filles is something in between and, even though Bitches Brew and the other fusion albums became my favorites, this album still holds a special place as it is basically the jazz album that opened my eyes to the genre. I had about a dozen of his albums which I have sold when I moved to Sweden; but I am planning on getting them back (well at least my favorite period - from Kind Of Blue to Get Up With It).
Bitches BrewLabel: Columbia Records/Legacy Recordings Release: 1970 Format: 2CD Cat. no: C2K 65774 |
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