TopTenREVIEWS presents the music career and reviews of Miles Davis
Miles Davis
CAREER SPAN:
Decade
Album Score
# Albums
Ratings and rankings are based on all available critic reviews for each album.
Overall Band Score:
2.7034
Miles Davis Album Rankings
Band Pages
4
3.6827
This album is perhaps most significant for the process it set in motion -- the collaboration betweenGil Evansand Miles Davis that would producePorgy and BessandSketches of Spain, two of Davis' best al
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5
3.6481
Listening to Miles Davis' originally released version ofIn a Silent Wayin light of the complete sessions released by Sony in 2001 (Columbia Legacy 65362) reveals just how strategic and dramatic a stud
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6
3.5637
Thought by many to be the most revolutionary album in jazz history, having virtually created the genre known as jazz-rock fusion (for better or worse) and being the jazz album to most influence rock a
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7
3.5510
With their second album,Miles Smiles, the secondMiles Davis Quintetreally began to hit their stride, delving deeper into the more adventurous, exploratory side of their signature sound.
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8
3.5504
Nefertiti, the fourth album by Miles Davis' second classic quintet, continues the forward motion ofSorcerer, as the group settles into a low-key, exploratory groove, offering music with recognizable t
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9
3.3950
So dubbed because these three sessions -- two from early 1949, one from March 1950 -- are where the sound known as cool jazz essentially formed,The Birth of the Coolremains one of the defining, pivota
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10
3.3590
Could there be any more confrontational sound in Miles Davis' vast catalog than the distorted guitars and tinny double-timing drums reacting to a two-note bass riff funking it up on the first track fr
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11
3.3341
Cookin'is the first of four albums derived from the Miles Davis quintet's fabled extended recording session on October 26, 1956.
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12
3.3341
Workin'is the third in a series of four featuring the classicMiles Davis Quintet: Davis (trumpet),John Coltrane(tenor sax),Red Garland(piano), andPhilly Joe Jones(drums).
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13
3.3233
The undeniable strength and conviction present in Miles Davis' performance onWalkin', underscores the urgency and passion with which he would rightfully reclaim his status as a primary architect of bo
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14
3.2442
This four-CD set is actually just a repackaging of four CDs that are available separately: the classicBirth of the Coolsessions,Cannonball Adderley's 1958 date with Miles Davis as a sideman (Somethin'
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15
3.2358
All the music that trumpeter Miles Davis and his second classic quintet (with tenor saxophonistWayne Shorter, pianistHerbie Hancock, bassistRon Carter, and drummerTony Williams) played at the Plugged
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16
3.2232
Capitol'sThe Complete Birth of the Coolis a double-disc set that's separated into two halves. The first contains all 12 tracks Davis cut in the studio in January 1949 withGil Evans.
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17
3.2153
Firing like a machine gun over a heavily armored and equipped outfit of young, brawny assassins, Miles Davis ruled the world at the end of 1970.
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18
3.2143
ESPmarks the beginning of a revitalization for Miles Davis, as his second classic quintet -- saxophonistWayne Shorter, pianistHerbie Hancock, bassistRon Carter, and drummerTony Williams-- gels, establ
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19
3.2136
Since it's billed as "Directions in Music By Miles Davis," it should come as little surprise thatFilles de Kilimanjarois the beginning of a new phase for Miles, the place that he begins to dive headfi
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20
3.2056
When it was released in April 1970 Davis' double LP "Bitches Brew" outraged jazz's old guard with its jagged rhythms and unprecedented electric sprawl.
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21
3.1940
Miles Davis' concert of February 12, 1964, was originally divided into two LPs, with all of the ballads put onMy Funny Valentine.
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22
3.1932
Sorcerer, the third album by the second Miles Davis Quintet, is in a sense a transitional album, a quiet, subdued affair that rarely blows hot, choosing to explore cerebral tonal colorings.
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23
3.1667
Columbia's continuing summation of the career of Miles Davis through lavish box-set reissues resumed in 1998 withThe Complete Bitches Brew Sessions, a four-disc set including all the music from the or
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24
3.0159
None of Miles Davis' recordings has been more shrouded in mystery thanJack Johnson, yet none has better fulfilled Miles Davis' promise that he could form the "greatest rock band you ever heard.
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25
3.0146
Along with its sister recording,Pangaea,Aghartawas recorded live in February of 1975 at the Osaka Festival Hall in Japan.
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26
3.0034
Live-Evilis one of Miles Davis' most confusing and illuminating documents. As a double album, it features very different settings of his band -- and indeed two very different bands.
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27
3.0034
This is the second of two performances from February 1975 at the Osaka Festival Hall in Japan. This is the evening show; the Columbia releaseAghartawas the afternoon show.
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28
2.9288
Of all the recording sessions completed by Miles Davis with his various bands, the sessions surroundingIn a Silent Way Sessionsin 1968 and 1969 are easily the most mysterious and enigmatic.
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29
2.8572
After bothJohn ColtraneandCannonball Adderleyleft Miles Davis' quintet, he was caught in the web of seeking suitable replacements.
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30
2.7234
Undeniably both the most famous and influential of Miles Davis' 120+ releases between his debut release, 1945's First Miles , and his death in the late summer of 1991, Kind of Blue remains the landmar
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31
2.6621
Miles Davis' recordings of 1951-1954 tend to be overlooked because of his erratic lifestyle of the period and because they predated his first classic quintet.
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32
2.6621
This CD contains all of the music recorded by a particularly strong sextet in 1953, six selections and five alternate takes. With trumpeter Miles Davis, trombonistJ.J.
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33
2.5336
Recorded in April 1961 at San Francisco's Blackhawk club, these albums were the first purpose-designed live recordings Miles Davis made.
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34
2.3439
A month after losingWayne Shorterto the beginnings ofWeather Report, Miles Davis added young saxophonistSteve Grossmanto the fold that included drummerJack DeJohnette, bassistDave Holland, electric pi
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35
2.2544
Would you know greatness if you saw it? This is the eternal question for people like me, posting their supposedly well thought-out pontifications for anyone with a computer and an Internet connection
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36
2.2253
In the spring of 1970, Miles Davis was fresh off his trailblazing, artistic watermarks In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew , and focusing on the development of his live show.
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37
2.0822
AfterGeorge Colemanleft the Miles Davis Quintet, tenor-saxophonistSam Riverstook his place for a short period including a tour of Japan.
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38
2.0430
Okay, so this might sound like a contradiction of the last Panthalassa review I wrote, but let's make a clarification: assuming there's any one dude in music history that doesn't need to be remixed, i
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39
1.8563
Toronto's Hayden (nee paul Hayden Dresser) made quite the splash in 1995 withEverything I Long For, a collection of spare, deeply personal songs that he recorded on a four-track in his bedroom at his
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40
0.4064
The Art Ensemble of Chicago (AEOC) may be the most exciting performance group in jazz today, and the four live sides ofUrban Bushmencapture much of the band's startling virtuosity and playful, control
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41
0.4034
Nine examples of Miles Davis caressing a ballad at a slow tempo are included on this 1999 CD.
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42
0.3992
No review available
43
0.3349
No review available
44
0.3342
Miles's longtime audience will without doubt find this a bizarre set.
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45
0.3319
No review available
46
0.3255
Another great hard bop session, with Milt (Bags) Jackson , Thelonious Monk , Sonny Rollins and Horace Silver .
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47
0.3236
Seven Steps: The Complete Columbia Recordings of Miles Davis 1963-1964 is an anomaly among the retrospective sets that have been issued from the late artist's catalog.
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48
0.3235
With the 1968 album Miles in the Sky, Miles Davis explicitly pushed his second great quintet away from conventional jazz, pushing them toward the jazz-rock hybrid that would later become known as fus
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49
0.3235
Recorded live in Germany at the Berlin Philharmonic, Miles in Berlin represents the first recording of trumpeter Miles Davis with tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter.
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50
0.3234
Despite the presence of classic tracks like Joe Zawinul's "Great Expectations," Big Fun feels like the compendium of sources it is.
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