Best Ever Albums

Re: Album of the day (#4328): Milestones by Miles Davis

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Oct 2022 09:45:04 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 10/29/2022 13:45

Okay, thanks for posting. I am sure you didn’t intend this but there is an offensive word related to children with learning disabilities in the review. The degree to which the r word is considered offensive probably varies from place to place. It has probably been considered offensive in the UK for longer than the US, for example. Though, at this point, I’d say it is widely unacceptable and in the review it is used in a derogatory way as well. I think you should consider removing or editing the post to avoid causing offence.

Re: Album of the day (#4328): Milestones by Miles Davis

mianfei — Sat, 29 Oct 2022 07:56:27 GMT

Author: mianfei

Posted: 10/29/2022 11:56

Although I have long loved Miles’ fusion work like In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, and Dark Magus, I have never taken the time to listen to his pre-fusion albums.

Joe S. Harrington had this at #50 on his Top 100 Albums in the early 2000s. I will quote his review:

Joe S. Harrington wrote:

50. Milestones—Miles Davis (Columbia, 1958): Gotta hate Sony for the way they’ve repackaged vintage Miles—f’ rinstance, while the selections on the 6-CD Miles Davis & John Coltrane are generally excellent throughout, the botched-up programming is a disgrace: wouldn’t it ‘ve been better to just have each alb[um] stand on its own instead o’ breakin’ ‘em up according to session date etc.? Add to that the completely incomprehensible packaging, and the fact that none of the disks are even numbered, and what you have is a monument to total confusion more than anything else. I know Sony think they’re slickboys with this kind of approach, but I find it incredibly irksome and have ever since they began their “current” Miles Davis reissues program in ’98. There’s also no concrete delineation of which tracks actually came from which albs, unless y’ want to read the fine print, which, since my memory on this stuff fails me, makes it practically impossible to make a conclusive judgment as to which alb[um] was actually the “best” one o’ this whole fruitful period of Davisology. Since I don’t have another copy of Milestones in the house apparently I’ll have to use the harder-‘n-hell-to-read “key” in the appendix... Tells me that Milestones was the alb[um] that directly preceded Kind of Blue (‘less y’ count the French-film-soundtrack Jazz Track and the live-at-Newport-with-Monk thing which wasn’t even issued til ’64)—the personnel is the same as the one on that much-more-widely-heralded opus, ‘cept the piano seat is occupied by Red Garland instead o’ Bill Evans. The modal stuff hadn’t come out as much yet, and in points you can still hear the band clinging to the past, such as in the hard-bop arrangement o’ Monk’s “Straight No Chaser”—but literally within seconds, Adderley’s off on an absolutely smokin’ solo that is so totally THERE it’s prophetic. Coltrane reeds like a devil on this one too, altho’ in a much more circular way that occurs about 4 minutes into the tune. Interesting to note that Miles was already setting up the formula for Kind of Blue, having each soloist do his thing in succession with tonal overlap. “Milestones” itself is completely entrancing in its lilting estimation of war and sex (we’re speaking figuratively of course). This is the Norman Mailer fifties. As Miles once said: “Sheee-it! Norman Mailer! Norman Podheretz! They’s all named Norman!” Once again, another knock to Sony for the version I have, which actually SPLITS UP the alb[um] over the course of two CDs, making it impossible to enjoy the masterpiece in the seamless state it was conceived. But even in this butchered and mutilated state, Milestones is still one of the best jazz alb[um]s ever made. A lot of times with jazz, one can sense the greatness without actually feeling the palpable pulp…but this was one occasion where the heart, lungs and yes the soul were in complete unison. Jazz-as-music as opposed to jazz-as-a-learning-experience…who woulda thought it could ever be done?

Re: Album of the day (#4328): Milestones by Miles Davis

Fischman — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 10:02:00 GMT

Author: Fischman

Posted: 10/27/2022 14:02

theblueboy wrote:

Love this. The same guys who made Kind of Blue, making an album that shows the hard bopping side of what they did. It’s a lot more energising and feels more adventurous than the preceding Round About Midnight and the title track seems like a big step forward.

Yep. Nice summary (although I love 'Round About Midnight' about as much).

Re: Album of the day (#4328): Milestones by Miles Davis

Anonymous — Wed, 26 Oct 2022 06:14:36 GMT

Author: Anonymous

Posted: 10/26/2022 10:14

Love this. The same guys who made Kind of Blue, making an album that shows the hard bopping side of what they did. It’s a lot more energising and feels more adventurous than the preceding Round About Midnight and the title track seems like a big step forward.

Album of the day (#4328): Milestones by Miles Davis

BestEverAlbums — Tue, 25 Oct 2022 16:00:27 GMT

Author: BestEverAlbums

Posted: 10/25/2022 20:00

Today's album of the day

Milestones by Miles Davis (View album | Buy this album)

Year: 1958.
Country:
Overall rank: 1,202
Average rating: 81/100 (from 210 votes).

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Tracks:
1. Dr. Jackle
2. Sid's Ahead
3. Two Bass Hit
4. Milestones
5. Billy Boy
6. Straight, No Chaser

About album of the day: The BestEverAlbums.com album of the day is the album appearing most prominently in member charts in the previous 24 hours. If an album, or artist, has previously been selected within a x day period, the next highest album is picked instead (and so on) to ensure a bit of variety. A full history of album of the day can be viewed here.