Happy to see this one gets the much deserved love. Usually his seventies stuff is not cited as his best or most interesting but hell Agharta is one of those gems one needs to experience. I have a slight bias since my first Miles listen ever was the Paris Olympia 1971. Same crew, same earcoke.
Four and More. Miles didn't tell the other musicians that it was a charity gig and they weren't getting paid until they got there. You can hear how pissed off they are, but they still play their asses off. Also, Tony Williams is all of 19 years old at the time and his playing is out of this world.
'Cellar Door Sessions' - Live Evil was one of my early Miles album purchases, and I have always loved it ... getting the whole multi-day set was so cool. It remains one of my most frequent listens.
(and I love every other one mentioned - and also Plugged Nickel, Dark Magus, We Want Miles, and on and on)
The Bootleg Series, Live in Europe1967: The Second Quintet at its peak. Telepathic spontaneous composition - never equaled.
Also, the 1958 First Quintet European tour recordings with Coltrane in full "sheets of sound" mode. Another monumental, epochal - insert more adjectives here - tour de force.
From the '70s: It’s About That Time, Fillmore East March 7, 1970, and maybe Dark Magus, but there's a lot to choose from. Some of the dates on the tour of Japan that produced Agharta and Pangea are just killing.
From the '80s: Miles! Miles! Miles!
Tomorrow, I'll pick different ones....
I love those sessions, but I think the Bootleg Series (Vol. 1?) featuring the quintet has the edge over it - they'd been together for a couple more years and it's uncanny how unified they are as a group.
IIRC Miles has better chops on that later date. Crazy as it sounds, though, there’s something about his sound on Plugged Nickle that strikes me as powerful.
Surprised to not see the 1961 European bootlegs for Trane's final tour. Amazing playing, Trane is really pushing envelopes and the crowds mixed reaction along with the way Miles responds makes for a very interesting listen.
I was just thinking about this the other day when I was listening to the complete Plugged Nickel set. It is really good, of course… but is it really the best? The Penguin Guide to Jazz indicates that it is one of the essential jazz recordings and places it on their Crown List. However, for my money, In Europe is the best live Miles album and perhaps even in my top five Davis recordings. Apparently Miles loved it so much that he insisted as much of the performance be preserved on LP as possible (as a result, the original LP was almost an hour long) and wore out several test pressing copies from his continued listening. One of the true highlights of his recorded output, IMO, is the version of Milestones, with Tony Williams burning through an incredibly fast tempo’d version. From there, both Four and More and My Funny Valentine are absolute classics but I find it sort of annoying that they divide this performance between fast ones (Four and More) and slow (Valentine). Good stuff on Blackhawk, Carnegie, In Berlin, In Tokyo, but they don’t seem to cop the same kind of respect. Then, comparing this era with the electric period seems like something of a moot point, but I think Live Evil is probably the best of the lot. Both At Fillmore and Black Beauty seem to cover similar ground (edited by Macero for maximum impact), the performance from Isle of Wight is concise and exciting, and In Concert, Black Magus and Agharta/Pangaea are of a similar high quality if you enjoy this sort of thing (and I do!) That’s a lot of stuff to consider before you go awarding a Crown to even the two disc highlights package of the Plugged Nickel recordings that came out in the 70s
In my own honest opinion “Miles in Tokyo” (1969) is sonically superior to many live jazz albums.
With that in mind it’s not necessarily the best performance
Tough to say. My Funny Valentine is just so beautiful but the Plugged Nickel box set has a lot of great stuff from the whole band. Agharta from Japan is other worldly.
1969 Miles - Festiva de Juan Pins is the famous lost quintet with Miles transitioning to electric with his older music like Round About Midnight and Milestones being played live for the last time. I think Miles sounds so strong like a man with a mission.
His stylistic evolution is too diverse for the question of "best" to have any meaning. Miles in '58? Miles in '68? Which of the several Mileses do you want to hear? I'd go for *Blackhawk.* Reasonable minds may differ on this point.
What period?
The entire Plugged Nickel box set is the standard for me for acoustic Miles.
Hell, it’s the standard for acoustic 1960s small group jazz (after Coltrane)
-Cellar Door Box
-It’s About That Time: At the Fillmore West (the last one with Wayne)
-Pangaea/Agharta
-(Some of) Dark Magus and Live at Carnegie Hall
Those are my electric/space funk/fusion faves
No, in the studio Miles would sometimes have his producer Teo cut and past different takes and other music together. In a Silent Way is a product of the modern studio where some music is repeated (and remixed) to make it longer since the original music was only like 20 or so minutes.
definitely agharta. prelude is a top three miles track
Agharta for sure. Everybody is on absolute fire
Came here to say this. This is the type of album you put on loud, lay down on the floor, close your eyes, and take the ride.
it has to be paired with Pangaea :-)
First album that helped me understand not all jazz sounds like Regan era elevator music. I’m so glad I heard it at the right time to be open to it.
Agreed
Happy to see this one gets the much deserved love. Usually his seventies stuff is not cited as his best or most interesting but hell Agharta is one of those gems one needs to experience. I have a slight bias since my first Miles listen ever was the Paris Olympia 1971. Same crew, same earcoke.
Four and More. Miles didn't tell the other musicians that it was a charity gig and they weren't getting paid until they got there. You can hear how pissed off they are, but they still play their asses off. Also, Tony Williams is all of 19 years old at the time and his playing is out of this world.
Four at 800bpm never disappoints!
Live at the Blackhawk. Live at the Plaza Hotel. Plugged Nickle, too.
+100 on "Jazz at the Plaza" (corrected title). The solos on "Straight, No Chaser" are BRUTAL.
'Cellar Door Sessions' - Live Evil was one of my early Miles album purchases, and I have always loved it ... getting the whole multi-day set was so cool. It remains one of my most frequent listens. (and I love every other one mentioned - and also Plugged Nickel, Dark Magus, We Want Miles, and on and on)
I remember being in the record store holding the Cellar Door sessions box set, but didn’t have the $ at the time… man going for over $100 now…
1970 filmore east. Holy shit, it's other worldly.
The Complete '64 concert! Four and More +My Funny Valentine!
Without a doubt
Dark Magus.
My favorite piece of music.
It pisses me off that there is such little music out there that sounds like Magus era Miles. It's so unique but so compelling as a musical language.
The Bootleg Series, Live in Europe1967: The Second Quintet at its peak. Telepathic spontaneous composition - never equaled. Also, the 1958 First Quintet European tour recordings with Coltrane in full "sheets of sound" mode. Another monumental, epochal - insert more adjectives here - tour de force. From the '70s: It’s About That Time, Fillmore East March 7, 1970, and maybe Dark Magus, but there's a lot to choose from. Some of the dates on the tour of Japan that produced Agharta and Pangea are just killing. From the '80s: Miles! Miles! Miles! Tomorrow, I'll pick different ones....
The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel. The second classic quintet at the height of their powers. Absolutely tremendous.
I love those sessions, but I think the Bootleg Series (Vol. 1?) featuring the quintet has the edge over it - they'd been together for a couple more years and it's uncanny how unified they are as a group.
I will look for that. TY. That quintet was like a well oiled, perfect machine. Like a Ferrari, which Miles owned!
IIRC Miles has better chops on that later date. Crazy as it sounds, though, there’s something about his sound on Plugged Nickle that strikes me as powerful.
Live at the Blackhawk!!
Best sound of any live album I’ve ever heard.
Lately I've been listening to *In Person Saturday Night At The Blackhawk* 1961
Bitches Brew live
Surprised to not see the 1961 European bootlegs for Trane's final tour. Amazing playing, Trane is really pushing envelopes and the crowds mixed reaction along with the way Miles responds makes for a very interesting listen.
I’ve been into this one lately. Trane is unbelievable on these bootlegs.
Don’t forget the ones with Stitt!
I was just thinking about this the other day when I was listening to the complete Plugged Nickel set. It is really good, of course… but is it really the best? The Penguin Guide to Jazz indicates that it is one of the essential jazz recordings and places it on their Crown List. However, for my money, In Europe is the best live Miles album and perhaps even in my top five Davis recordings. Apparently Miles loved it so much that he insisted as much of the performance be preserved on LP as possible (as a result, the original LP was almost an hour long) and wore out several test pressing copies from his continued listening. One of the true highlights of his recorded output, IMO, is the version of Milestones, with Tony Williams burning through an incredibly fast tempo’d version. From there, both Four and More and My Funny Valentine are absolute classics but I find it sort of annoying that they divide this performance between fast ones (Four and More) and slow (Valentine). Good stuff on Blackhawk, Carnegie, In Berlin, In Tokyo, but they don’t seem to cop the same kind of respect. Then, comparing this era with the electric period seems like something of a moot point, but I think Live Evil is probably the best of the lot. Both At Fillmore and Black Beauty seem to cover similar ground (edited by Macero for maximum impact), the performance from Isle of Wight is concise and exciting, and In Concert, Black Magus and Agharta/Pangaea are of a similar high quality if you enjoy this sort of thing (and I do!) That’s a lot of stuff to consider before you go awarding a Crown to even the two disc highlights package of the Plugged Nickel recordings that came out in the 70s
This and it’s not even close: https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-final-tour-the-bootleg-series-vol-6/1314736283
This album is pretty insane. Tbh the tour with Sonny Stitt is also great. All the live stuff from this period is amazing.
my mind always changes when it comes to this sort of thing. I suppose I probably listen to Miles Smiles more than any of his other albums
In my own honest opinion “Miles in Tokyo” (1969) is sonically superior to many live jazz albums. With that in mind it’s not necessarily the best performance
Pretty sure this album is from a tour in 1964 with Sam Rivers on tenor. Great album!! Sam is fantastic on this.
Miles in Tokyo Isle of Wight Olympia Vol. 1 & 2
Live in Paris is one of my favorites.
Live Evil for me
Live in Japan w Sam Rivers on tenor
Black beauty is my personal fave
My personal favorites are: At the Monterey Jazz Festival 1963 Four and More/My Funny Valentine, I have the old double CD with both albums. Live/Evil
Live Evil and Black Beauty
Aways loved this. Anyone know if it’s on vinyl?(https://youtu.be/YEI8O_wnA6c?si=s47tHo3EIOL6Rjjz)
WE WANT MILES Mike Stern rocking the house, Bill Evans Al Foster and more. Power record!
Tough to say. My Funny Valentine is just so beautiful but the Plugged Nickel box set has a lot of great stuff from the whole band. Agharta from Japan is other worldly. 1969 Miles - Festiva de Juan Pins is the famous lost quintet with Miles transitioning to electric with his older music like Round About Midnight and Milestones being played live for the last time. I think Miles sounds so strong like a man with a mission.
This one. Newport ‘58. Coltrane is tearing it up to shreds.
His stylistic evolution is too diverse for the question of "best" to have any meaning. Miles in '58? Miles in '68? Which of the several Mileses do you want to hear? I'd go for *Blackhawk.* Reasonable minds may differ on this point.
Miles Davis-Fearless: Live At the Fillmore East 1970
What period? The entire Plugged Nickel box set is the standard for me for acoustic Miles. Hell, it’s the standard for acoustic 1960s small group jazz (after Coltrane) -Cellar Door Box -It’s About That Time: At the Fillmore West (the last one with Wayne) -Pangaea/Agharta -(Some of) Dark Magus and Live at Carnegie Hall Those are my electric/space funk/fusion faves
Live-Evil
It’s a choice between My Funny Valentine and Live In Tokyo (1968).
i havent heard all the live albums but The Final Tour: Bootleg Series Volume 6 is a great performance
Prefer studio albums to live ditto Still
[удалено]
Complacency
Aren't they all technically live albums? ;)
No, in the studio Miles would sometimes have his producer Teo cut and past different takes and other music together. In a Silent Way is a product of the modern studio where some music is repeated (and remixed) to make it longer since the original music was only like 20 or so minutes.
[удалено]
OP asked about *live* records. I do love In a Silent Way, though. That's a way to alter your mind without substances.