Miles Davis – The Last Word: The Warner Bros. Years (2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Miles Davis – The Last Word: The Warner Bros. Years (2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 06:56:39 minutes | 4,68 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rhino – Warner Records

8 disc set from Miles’ work in the 1980-1990s plus live performances. Newly remastered in 2015.

Disc 1 – Tutu
Disc 2 – Music From Siesta (With Marcus Miller)
Disc 3 – Amandla
Disc 4 – Dingo Original Soundtrack (With Michele Legrand)
Disc 5 – Doo Bop
Disc 6 – Miles & Quincy Live At Montreux
Disc 7 – Live Around The World
Disc 8 – Live Performance from Nice Festival, France

In 1985, Miles Davis shocked the music world by moving from Columbia to Warner Bros.. He immediately started working on an album called Perfect Way after a tune by Scritti Politti, later renamed Tutu by producer Tommy LiPuma. When Tutu (a tribute to Desmond Tutu) was released in 1986, it re-ignited Miles Davis’ career, crossing over into the rock and pop markets and winning him two Grammy Awards. A definitive collection of the later part of Miles Davis’ work, fully remastered, from the Warner Bros studio albums Tutu, Amandla and Doo-Bop, the Dingo and Siesta soundtracks, live recordings with Quincy Jones, and the likes of Kenny Garrett, Foley and Adam Holzman.

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Miles Davis – The Complete Prestige 10-Inch LP Collection (2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Miles Davis – The Complete Prestige 10-Inch LP Collection (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 03:56:50 minutes | 3,16 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Prestige

In advance of what would have been Miles Davis’ 90th birthday, Prestige Records, a division of Concord Bicycle Music, will celebrate this milestone with The Complete Prestige 10-Inch LP Collection — a lavish, 11-LP box set which commemorates the legendary trumpeter’s appearances as a young leader for Prestige Records during the 10-inch LP era, from 1951 – 1954.

The Complete Prestige 10-Inch LP Collection, available May 13th, presents all ten 10-inch LPs on which Miles Davis appeared as a leader for Prestige Records, plus a bonus record featuring Davis as a guest artist with Lee Konitz, all remastered from the original analog master tapes and faithfully reproduced on 10-inch vinyl, including the original cover artwork and liner notes. Also in the box is a 16-page booklet featuring rare photographs and insightful new notes by GRAMMY® Award-winning author Ashley Kahn, as well as a collectible print of a painting by Davis. The complete list of 10-inch albums includes: Modern Jazz Trumpets (featuring Dizzy Gillespie, Kenny Dorham and Fats Navarro); The New Sounds; Blue Period; Miles Davis Plays the Compositions of Al Cohn; Miles Davis Quartet; Miles Davis All Star Sextet; Miles Davis Quintet; Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins; Miles Davis All Stars, Vol. 1; Miles Davis All Stars, Vol. 2 and, as a bonus, Lee Konitz’s The New Sounds, featuring Davis as a guest artist. These records offer an incredible lineup of talent, including performances by Art Blakey, Al Cohn, Roy Haynes, Percy Heath, Milt Jackson, Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk, Max Roach, Sonny Rollins, Horace Silver and Zoot Sims, among many other legends of the genre.

Nick Phillips, the producer of the box set, remarks, “This collection presents an exciting and important period in Miles Davis’ development as an artist; one in which he is clearly distinguishing himself from the other bop stylists of the era and is rapidly developing the uniquely lyrical and powerful voice that remains so instantly recognizable and influential to this day.”

In addition to the vinyl box set, Concord is in the process of making Davis’ entire Prestige catalog of 12-inch albums available as 24-bit digital editions. Each title has been meticulously restored from the original analog tapes by GRAMMY® Award-winning mastering engineer Paul Blakemore. The campaign, which has been ongoing since February 2016, includes such albums as Dig, Walkin’, Cookin’, Relaxin’, Workin’, and Steamin’, among others. The rollout is expected to be completed by May, 2016.

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Miles Davis – The Complete Birth Of The Cool (Studio And Live, 1948-1950) (2021) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Miles Davis – The Complete Birth Of The Cool (Studio And Live, 1948-1950) (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:19:08 minutes | 1,11 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © RevOla

Birth of the Cool is a compilation album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released in February or March 1957 on Capitol Records. It compiles eleven tracks recorded by Davis’s nonet for the label over the course of three sessions during 1949 and 1950.

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Miles Davis – Take Off: The Complete Blue Note Albums (2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Miles Davis – Take Off: The Complete Blue Note Albums (2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:37:58 minutes | 870 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Blue Note Records

Blue Note is proudly releasing the Blue Note Select collections for Miles Davis, with original recordings sequenced as they were first released on 10-inch or 78 RPM singles (a departure from previous reissues, which have used recording chronology or later 12-inch versions of the albums for their sequences).

Take Off: The Complete Blue Note Albums is the flagship of this series – a new, Miles Davis Estate-approved collection of Davis’ three Blue Note 10-inch albums plus all alternate takes issued on subsequent 12-inch albums and CD reissues: a total of 26 tracks recorded for Blue Note Records on three dates in 1952, ’53 and ’54.

This is the first time Davis’ 10-inch albums – Young Man With A Horn, Miles Davis Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 – have been issued in their original sequence since the early 1950s.

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Miles Davis – Sorcerer (1967/2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Miles Davis – Sorcerer (1967/2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 40:36 minutes | 1,68 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Columbia – Legacy

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. Even when the tempo picks up, as it does on the title track, there’s little of the dense, manic energy on Miles Smiles this is about subtle shadings, even when the compositions are as memorable as Tony Williams’ “Pee Wee” or Herbie Hancock’s “Sorcerer.” As such, it’s a little elusive, since it represents the deepening of the band’s music as they choose to explore different territory. The emphasis is as much on complex, interweaving chords and a coolly relaxed sound as it is on sheer improvisation, though each member tears off thoroughly compelling solos. Still, the individual flights aren’t placed at the forefront the way they were on the two predecessors it all merges together, pointing toward the dense soundscapes of Miles’ later ’60s work. It’s such a layered, intriguing work that the final cut, recorded in 1962 with Bob Dorough on vocals, is an utterly jarring, inappropriate way to end the record, even if it’s intended as a tribute to Miles’ then-girlfriend (later, his wife), Cicely Tyson (whose image graces the cover).

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Miles Davis – Rubberband (Remastered) (2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Miles Davis – Rubberband (Remastered) (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:01:46 minutes | 1,28 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Rhino – Warner Records

Previously unreleased albums from Miles Davis are few and far between. So this record, released by Warner Bros. and Rhino in September 2019, is exciting to say the least. Recorded in 1985, these pieces were not strictly written during the trumpeter’s heyday. That year, Miles shocked everybody by leaving Columbia, his record label for over 30 years, to join Warner. The move was all the more surprising given that over the preceding few years he had enjoyed commercial success thanks to The Man With the Horn (1981), Star People (1983), Decoy (1984) and the rather commercialised You’re Under Arrest (1985). In October, at the age of 59, he began recording a new album entitled Rubberband in Los Angeles with producers Randy Hall and Zane Giles. During the sessions the trumpeter took his playing in a radically new direction, incorporating funk and soul grooves into his music. He even planned on recruiting Al Jarreau and Chaka Khan for the vocals. However, the album was never released and instead Miles Davis turned his attention to working on his famous Tutu with Marcus Miller, leaving Rubberband’s tracks unreleased for over three decades. But now, the treasure chest has been finally opened. The album was completed by its original producers – Hall and Giles – along with Vince Wilburn Jr., Miles Davis’ nephew who played the drums in the original sessions. The eighties synth-drenched sound features a funk/disco rhythm section. In fact, some tracks, on which Miles is rather discreet, do not sound jazzy at all (especially those featuring vocals by Ledisi and Lalah Hathaway). In any case, it is impossible to listen to Rubberband, which was conceived with keyboardists Adam Holzman, Neil Larsen and Wayne Linsey, percussionist Steve Reid, saxophonist Glen Burris and drummer Vince Wilburn, Jr., without thinking about that very distinct musical period. Nevertheless, on themes such as See I See, Miles’ distinctive phrases are still as impressive as ever. And throughout the album he unleashes a few soaring solos. More than enough to satisfy his fans anyway. – Max Dembo

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Miles Davis – ‘Round About Midnight (1957/2014) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Miles Davis – ‘Round About Midnight (1957/2014)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 39:24 minutes | 396 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Columbia – Legacy

‘Round About Midnight is an album by jazz musician Miles Davis. It was his debut on Columbia Records, and was originally released in March 1957 (CL 949). The album took its name from the Thelonious Monk song “‘Round Midnight”. Recording sessions took place at Columbia Studio D on October 26, 1955, and at Columbia’s 30th Street Studio on June 5 and September 10, 1956.

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Miles Davis – Music From and Inspired by The Film Birth Of The Cool (Remastered) (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/48kHz]

Miles Davis – Music From and Inspired by The Film Birth Of The Cool (Remastered) (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/48 kHz | Time – 01:19:45 minutes | 880 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Columbia – Legacy

The definitive audio companion to the critically-acclaimed new documentary directed and produced by Stanley Nelson, the soundtrack is an essential Miles Davis playlist for seasoned fans and new listeners alike, lovingly curated by the director and paired with short audio excerpts from the film for a unique listening experience. It brings together recordings and performances spanning labels and the artist’s musical evolution–from “Donna Lee” (a 1947 Savoy master take with legendary alto saxophonist Charlie Parker) to “Moon Dreams” from the groundbreaking 1949 Capitol sessions that were ultimately collected on the album Birth Of The Cool, through the seminal 1950s pieces for Columbia that revolutionized the worlds of jazz and popular music (including “Generique,” Miles’ improvised soundtrack to Louis Malle’s “Elevator to the Gallows” as well as tracks from Miles Ahead and, of course the most popular jazz album of all time, Kind of Blue). The album also highlights Miles’s evolution in the 1960s with tracks from Sketches of Spain and Someday My Prince Will Come to his iconoclastic invention of electric jazz/fusion (exemplified in a 45rpm single edit of “Miles Runs the Voodoo Down” from Bitches Brew). Finally it documents his triumphant mid 1980s comeback (1986 s “Tutu”), while premiering a brand-new track, “Hail To The Real Chief.” The new track features unreleased Miles Davis studio trumpet performances combined with music written by Lenny White, produced by White and Vince Wilburn, Jr and featuring an all-star collection of Miles band alumni and acolytes including White, Wilburn, Marcus Miller, Emilio Modeste, Jeremy Pelt, Antoine Roney, John Scofield, Bernard Wright, and Quinton Zoto.

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Miles Davis – Miles in the Sky (1968/2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Miles Davis – Miles in the Sky (1968/2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 51:05 minutes | 2,24 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Columbia – Legacy

Miles Davis’ second great quintet was one of the most innovative bands in jazz history. Alongside pianist Herbie Hancock, saxophonist Wayne Shorter, double-bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams, the trumpeter recorded seven major albums between 1965 and 1968: E.S.P., Miles Smiles, Sorcerer, Nefertiti, Miles in the Sky, Filles de Kilimanjaro and Water Babies. In his 1989 autobiography, he wrote: “If I was the inspiration and wisdom and the link for this band, Tony was the fire, the creative spark; Wayne was the idea person, the conceptualizer of a whole lot of musical ideas we did; and Ron and Herbie were the anchors. I was just the leader who put us all together. Those were all young guys and although they were learning from me, I was learning from them too, about the new thing, the free thing [..] I was learning something new every night with that group”.

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Miles Davis – Miles in the Sky (Remastered) (1968/2019) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Miles Davis – Miles in the Sky (Remastered) (1968/2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 51:05 minutes | 1,13 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Columbia – Legacy

An electrifying experience as Davis moves away from his traditional quintet sound toward a more jazz/rock feel later to be known as fusion. Illuminated by Herbie Hancock’s Fender Rhodes, along with a guest appearance by George Benson on Paraphernalia.

Clive Davis, the new head of Columbia, understood the implications of the rise of pop, rock, and folk music. He strongly urged the jazzmen in his catalogue to evolve or to leave. Both intrigued and scornful of the white man’s music, Miles was inspired to take up the challenge and leave the ghetto of popular black music—soul and funk—to which he felt rock music was indebted. Beginning in December 1967, he experimented in the studio, much like the Beatles, letting the tapes turn continuously and leaving the editing to his producer Teo Macero. He imposed an electrical keyboard on Herbie Hancock and frequently called in a guitarist. Taking the initiative again, he wrote two titles: “Country Son,” with its contrasting moods, and “Stuff,” unabashedly funk, with Ron Carter on the electric bass guitar. On “Paraphernalia,” Wayne Shorter continued to explore his imaginary constructions which George Benson’s guitar (à la Wes Montgomery) coarsened, while Tony Williams invented paranormal computations in “Black Comedy.” The album was entitled Miles In The Sky, with a nod to the Beatles’ song “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.”

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Miles Davis – Miles Davis Volume 1 & 2 (1985/2013) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Miles Davis – Miles Davis Volume 1 & 2 (1985/2013)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 01:27:06 minutes | 2,75 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Blue Note Records

Miles Davis’ recordings from the years of 1951-1954 are often overlooked for a number of reasons. Davis had a somewhat erratic lifestyle at the time, and these recordings do not feature the first ‘classic’ quintet. Even though Davis did not record nearly as often as in later years, what was recorded is quite outstanding.

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Miles Davis – Miles Davis And Horns (1956/2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/192kHz]

Miles Davis – Miles Davis And Horns (1956/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/192 kHz | Time – 33:40 minutes | 826 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Prestige

Miles Davis is backed up by two different groups on these songs taken from various 10-inch vinyl releases, recorded in 1951 and 1953 and released in 1956. The earlier session features Sonny Rollins on saxophone, Bennie Green on trombone, John Lewis on piano, bassist Percy Heath and drummer Roy Haynes. The 1953 session also features Lewis, with Zoot Sims, Al Cohn and Sonny Truitt joining Davis on the front line, backed by the rhythm section of bassist Leonard Gaskin and drummer Kenny Clarke.

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Miles Davis – Miles at The Fillmore: Miles Davis 1970: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 3 (1970/2015) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Miles Davis – Miles at The Fillmore: Miles Davis 1970: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 3 (1970/2015)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 04:10:20 minutes | 4,91 GB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Columbia – Legacy

Until now, the official recordings of Miles Davis’ performances at the Fillmore East between June 17 and 20, 1970 have been limited to the double album Miles at the Fillmore. That set’s producer Teo Macero, edited the recordings to create medleys of each night’s music to four roughly 20-minute selections. This four-disc set contains all four concerts. There are 100 minutes of previously unreleased music from Wednesday through Saturday; an additional 35 minutes of unreleased music comes from a previous gig at the Fillmore West. On the FE shows,Davis’ band opened for Laura Nyro. Bill Graham regularly booked jazz artists to play with rock and pop acts. At the time, Davis was actively courting the younger audience — aided not only by Graham, but by FM DJs playing the just-released Bitches Brew. The band — saxophonist Steve Grossman, Dave Holland on electric bass, drummer Jack DeJohnette, percussionist Airto Moreira, Chick Corea on electric piano, and Keith Jarrett on organ — was loud and driving, its sound was drenched in wah-wah pedals; distortion was employed often. These dates are also historically significant because both keyboardists played in the group simultaneously for only three months. The program for each evening was basically the same: “Directions,” “The Mask,” “It’s About That Time,” “Bitches Brew,” and “The Theme.” But each disc offers a different bonus: an encore, an unexpected performance, or the added tracks from the Fillmore West gig. The charts are loose but focused, and the group’s improvisational dynamic is breathtaking, entirely different each night. Davis is exceptionally strong. His playing is inventive, full of questions and muscular statements. Some notable solos occur on Wednesday’s “It’s About That Time,” the Fillmore West’s “Footprints” and “Paraphernalia,” and the searing intensity displayed on “Directions,” from Friday. Grossman’s soprano playing is stunning on each version of “Bitches Brew”; his bluesy tenor playing is at its best on Thursday’s “Spanish Key.” Individually and collectively, DeJohnette and Holland add an extreme funkiness to the band’s bottom. Their interplay is canny, full of nasty grooves — check Thursday’s “The Mask,” or the throbbing pulse and roiling breaks on Friday’s “Directions.” Jarrett’s colors, textures and stabs, add an entirely different dimension to the band’s attack. Check the sinister vamping and spooky soloing on “Miles Runs the Voodoo Down” from the Fillmore West. Corea is alternately knotty and atmospheric. He can push the horns hard –as on Thursday’s “Directions” — or paint through Jarrett’s wah-wah organ with an expressionist brush — evidenced by Saturday’s “Willie Nelson.” Throughout his solos are risky and exploratory. Airto’s vocal and percussion arsenal is wildly different, not only from tune to tune, but night to night. The sound on this box is fantastic: balanced and detailed. The set includes a 28-page booklet with an essay by Michael Cuscuna and producer’s notes with Richard Seidel, along with rare photographs and a poster. Miles at the Fillmore – Miles Davis 1970: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 3 is an essential addition to the Davis canon. ~ Thom Jurek

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Miles Davis – Miles Ahead: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

Miles Davis – Miles Ahead: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:16:06 minutes | 840 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Columbia – Legacy

The release of the movie MILES AHEAD, Don Cheadle’s wildly entertaining and moving exploration of Miles Davis, will be accompanied by this new soundtrack featuring musical highlights from Miles’ career and new recordings overseen by Grammy Award-winning jazz/hip-hop artist Robert Glasper.

This is a perfect primer on Davis’ career for the new fan and a brilliant audio keepsake of the film for those who’ve studied his works inside and out. The album features 11 tracks from across Miles’ catalogue from 1956 to 1981, select dialogue from the film featuring Cheadle in character, and five original compositions written, co-written, produced or performed exclusively for MILES AHEAD by Robert Glasper. These cues include “What’s Wrong with That?” a jam that closes the movie imagining Cheadle as Miles playing in the present day with guest performers Glasper, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Gary Clark, Jr. and Esperanza Spalding; plus “Gone 2015,” an end-credits song featuring guest verses from rapper Pharoahe Monch. Cheadle also pens new liner notes for the album discussing the selection and creation of the songs on the soundtrack.

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Miles Davis – Miles Ahead (Mono Version) (1957/2016) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Miles Davis – Miles Ahead (Mono Version) (1957/2016)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 37:18 minutes | 459 MB | Genre: Jazz
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Columbia – Legacy

This album is perhaps most significant for the process it set in motion – the collaboration between Gil Evans and Miles Davis that would produce Porgy and Bess and Sketches of Spain, two of Davis’ best albums. That said, this album is a miracle in itself, the result of a big gamble on the part of Columbia Records, who put together Evans and Davis, who hadn’t worked together since recording the critically admired but commercially unsuccessful sides that would later be issued as The Birth of the Cool. Columbia also allowed Evans to assemble a 19-piece band for the recordings, at a time when big bands were far out of fashion and also at a time when the resulting recordings could not be released until two years in the future (because of Davis’ contractual obligations with Prestige). Davis was also expected to carry the album as its only soloist, and manage not to get lost among a cast of supporting musicians that included a huge horn section. To a large extent, he succeeds. Evans’ arrangements in particular are well-suited to the format, and he and Davis formed a deep and close partnership where ideas were swapped back and forth, nurtured, and developed long before they were expressed in the studio. Davis gets off to a great start, with the hyper-kinetic “Springsville,” which seems to almost perfectly embody Evans’ and Davis’ partnership with its light, flexible exchanges between soloist and orchestra. He is strongest on the ballads, though, where his subdued and wistful tone rises high above the hushed accompaniment, especially on “Miles Ahead” and “Blues for Pablo” (which foreshadows the bluesy, Latin-tinged sound of Sketches of Spain). The upbeat “I Don’t Want to Be Kissed (By Anyone but You)” is another strong song, but shows the weakness of the format as Davis intersperses a charming, bright, technically challenging solo with a blasting horn section that occasionally buries him. It is a fine end, however, to an album that gave a hint of the greatness that would come as Evans and Davis fine-tuned their partnership over the course of the next several years.

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