Relaxin' With The Miles Davis Quintet (Rudy Van Gelder Remasters) - Miles Davis Quintet (The)

Advantages: Virtuoso trumpet at its best
Disadvantages: Only the re-released version has the sound quality it deserves

...The first time I heard this CD was with my Grandparents as a young child, I didn't understand and didn't appreciate the beauty of the music, I remember my granddad tapping his toes and sipping his whiskey, humming gently along with the trumpet solos, this fond memory was abruptly brought forward whilst browsing in a local alternative record shop. I spotted "A Kind Blue" and instantly withdrew my wallet and the CD was mine. As readers you will probably like to know about the music is like! Well simply it is divine, some find Miles Davis's music too intense and muddled, but it takes either an uninterested listener to ignore this or a fascinated listener to understand and appreciate it, I hope that the buyer will lean towards the latter of these two opposites.... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average somewhat helpful

Advantages: Outrageously good! Music, playing, production, booklet - everything is great!
Disadvantages: I honestly can't think of one thing.

...-style sax battle breaking out in the Dizzy Gillespie-composed tune. Neither comes off badly - both have outstanding speed - but I give the edge to Adderley, since Coltrane's solo is almost a little bit too out-of-control. 'Milestones', a Davis original, is phenomenal. The simple theme is picked out brilliantly by the horns, and Miles' solo is one of my personal favourites. It is so clear and relaxed, he picks out the space despite the fairly lively tempo, over the sax accompaniment. The saxes also aquit themselves well, with 'Trane showing off his wide range expertly and chipping in some nice blus licks, but it's Miles who is the star of this track. Despite a clunker on the recap of the theme, he finds the mood perfectly. The rhythm section become a trio of their own on 'Billy Boy', a traditional song, with all three flexing their soloing... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Reinvigorated Davis, awesomely funky, with a superb band.
Disadvantages: You're kidding right?

...Post 'Bitches Brew', amid the slow disintegration of the second great quintet, at a time when Columbia didn't know or even care how they marketed Miles, Davis produced this pearler. 'On the Corner' would follow, a series of mishandled live albums, and then ill health combined with his ongoing cocaine addiction would see Davis disappear for the greater part of the seventies. 'A Tribute to Jack Johnson' however is Davis at one with his material, interviews reveal this to be a project Davis dug, really dug. A longtime fan of boxing, and constant visitor to the ring to keep fit (relatively speaking for a cocaine addict with shot hips), in Jack Johnson Davis spotted a kindred spirit. The album was the soundtrack to a documentary about the legendary heavyweight. Johnson was THE great black hope in the early 20th century, an African American... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful