http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lhNvOkAJEcHey ! This is the second post of my very own TRILOGY !! There ! Now you know how many parts of this journey I intend to write !
Anways, back to JAZZ and specifically back to MILES DAVIS.
I attended the next Jazz Workshop at Planet M. I had become a REGULAR !! Jayanto Sengupta unfolded the most awesome intro to JAZZ I had ever gotten.
There were 3 workshops on Miles to be conducted by Jayanto. That's one workshop every month ( first sunday). So, I would be exposed to 3 months of Miles.
I think by the third workshop, I pretty much knew loads and loads about Miles and had by then most of his key albums !!!
What Inspired me about MILES
Miles Davis was a very talented man. More than his individual talent, he had the knack of attracting the BEST TALENT. He has probably created more super stars than any jazz musician.
He was the GATEWAY. He was also the CREATIVE MAESTRO composing tunes that would be super hits. He knew how to get the best out of these other creative geniuses.
He also never settled for his own laurels and achievements. He always wanted to outdo himself. He would never go back to a formula - even if it was his most successful one !
The Giants who have graced the MILES Factory have been John Coltrane , Bill Evans , Wynton Kelly, Herbie Hancock, Red Garland, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Paul Chambers, etc. etc.
Miles was supposedly not very EASY to get along with as a person - he was moody, self centred, unpredictable - but aren't al creative geniuses ?!
Miles' approach to Jazz inspired me greatly - not just his music, but his amazing ability to keep spotting and attracting talent and forever re-inventing !
Miles recorded many landmark albums from the 1950's all the way to the 1990's just before he died. But I'd like to talk about one of his seminal albums which influenced not just jazz - but even Rock - the album was called KIND OF BLUE.
This is a review on the net :
Kind of Blue is a jazz album that has transcended the genre of jazz and become one of a handful of recordings whose very existence changes everything. That Miles Davis acheived this more than once in his career serves as evidence to even the most casual observer of jazz that he was one of its mystics, its visionaries. As pointed out by Ashley Kahn in the excellent book Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece, "Copies of the album are passed to friends and given to lovers. The album has sold millions of copies around the world, making it the best-selling recording in Miles Davis's catalog and the best-selling classic jazz album ever. Significantly, a large number of those copies were purchased in the past five years, and undoubtedly not just by old-timers replacing worn vinyl: Kind of Blue is even casting its spell on a younger audience more accustomed to the loud-and-fast esthetic of rock and rap." The album is perenially hip, listened to by cool, brooding Clint Eastwood characters in both Play Misty for Me and Line of Fire. It also casts a kind of Zen calmness, perhaps due in part to its one-take mythology and the enigmatic liner notes written by pianist Bill Evans
Kind of Blue influenced and still influences many including Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers' band !
This was a Giant album with giant performances from Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans and a very fresh Pianist ( whom I just fell in love with !) - Wynton Kelly ! More on him later !
Even if you are not into jazz, this album is worth a listen !!
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