Best Miles Davis Album?

My favourite Miles albums tend to be the more straight ahead jazz albums of the late 1950s and early to mid 1960s. Such as: Kind of Blue

I was in your shoes once, not knowing much about Miles Davis and what to get first.  The Essential Miles Davis compilation helped me out.  I recommend it for you too.

ExittheLemming wrote: darkshade wrote: ExittheLemming wrote: A B Negative wrote: jammun wrote: Man all those Miles albums. So to help with some consensus, I think we'd all agree these are good:   Kind of Blue Jack Johnson On The Corner Agharta or Pangaea   It just never stops.     Kind of Blue is awesome! I've not heard Jack Johnson yet, need to sort that out. Couldn't get into On the Corner and Agharta and Pangaea are an unfocused mess.   In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew and Big Fun are my favourites. You took the words right out of my mouth. Agreed, casual listening is all that casual musicianship deserves. I enjoy most of Miles Blue Note albums but apart from On the Corner and some portions of Bitches Brew find his fusion material at best, noodley. He has covered so many different styles during a long and varied career that I think it would be unusual (nay, freakish) for a listener to enjoy every single album he has made. are you calling me a freak? i personally find some enjoyment in all his recordings. sure, some get a little boring after a while, but there's always something worthwhile in every album he's made That is simply testimony to your Olympian level stamina and eclectic tastes

why, thank you

Get Up With It

ExittheLemming wrote: A B Negative wrote: jammun wrote: Man all those Miles albums. So to help with some consensus, I think we'd all agree these are good:   Kind of Blue Jack Johnson On The Corner Agharta or Pangaea   It just never stops.     Kind of Blue is awesome! I've not heard Jack Johnson yet, need to sort that out. Couldn't get into On the Corner and Agharta and Pangaea are an unfocused mess.   In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew and Big Fun are my favourites. You took the words right out of my mouth. Agreed, casual listening is all that casual musicianship deserves. I enjoy most of Miles Blue Note albums but apart from On the Corner and some portions of Bitches Brew find his fusion material at best, noodley. He has covered so many different styles during a long and varied career that I think it would be unusual (nay, freakish) for a listener to enjoy every single album he has made.

are you calling me a freak?

i personally find some enjoyment in all his recordings. sure, some get a little boring after a while, but there's always something worthwhile in every album he's made

A B Negative wrote: jammun wrote: Man all those Miles albums. So to help with some consensus, I think we'd all agree these are good:   Kind of Blue Jack Johnson On The Corner Agharta or Pangaea   It just never stops.     Kind of Blue is awesome! I've not heard Jack Johnson yet, need to sort that out. Couldn't get into On the Corner and Agharta and Pangaea are an unfocused mess.   In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew and Big Fun are my favourites.

You took the words right out of my mouth. Agreed, casual listening is all that casual musicianship deserves. I enjoy most of Miles Blue Note albums but apart from On the Corner and some portions of Bitches Brew find his fusion material at best, noodley.

He has covered so many different styles during a long and varied career that I think it would be unusual (nay, freakish) for a listener to enjoy every single album he has made.

based on these posts, its obvious that there is no definitive album. it depends on your tastes and experience with Davis' music and jazz/jazz-fusion

he has no best album, some are essential though

Kind of Blue (obviously)

anything from the 60s (especially anything from the second great quintet (Hancock, Williams, Shorter and Carter))

i personally think all his late 60s/70s fusion albums are essential MD listening (except Live at the Philharmonic which is garbage)

that will take you some time to get into, theres something like 25 albums from '59-'76

from there you can check out his 80s stuff which is hit or miss IMO. or go backwards to his 50s stuff which is great jazz music, especially Relaxin'. Anything with John Coltrane on it is enjoyable

if you like large ensemble jazz music, check out Birth Of The Cool

and then there's the Sessions boxsets or post-humorous live albums (like "It's About That Time"!!!! With Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Dave Holland, Airto, and Jack DeJohnette! )


Edited by darkshade - April 05 2010 at 00:12

So if I have this right, the general consensus is as follows according to posts so far: 

''Kind Of Blue'' and ''A Tribute to Jack Johnson''

 

From his 70's Fusion period, my favorite studio album is Get Up With It (Big Fun is another fave of mine)and live, Dark Magus and Pangaea are terrific. 

Of earlier works, I love Sketches of Spain.  And from the latter part of the 60's, I love Nefertiti..

For some reason,uber-classics such as Bitches Brew and Kind of Blue don't appeal to me as much as those.

Psychedelic rock - Agharta, Pangea, Dark Magus
more experimental - Big Fun, Get Up With It, Live at the Fillmore

 

In a Silent Way is incredible, my favorite from his jazz-rock period. Bitches Brew, Get Up With It, A Tribute to Jack Johnson and Live-Evil are still incredible, but I would pick the former over any of these.  

 

Kind of Blue and Round About Midnight are fantastic, classic jazz albums

Miles Smiles

 I think we'd all agree these are good:

 

Kind of Blue

Jack Johnson

On The Corner

Agharta or Pangaea

Thanks for posts so far!!! Very Helpful indeed!

Man all those Miles albums.

WalterDigsTunes wrote: Jack Johnson, without a doubt. A perfectly spliced piece of sonic mayhem. Buy the box set to get a peek at the improvs that Teo Macero used as raw material for that album.