{"id":3297,"date":"2021-09-28T20:31:19","date_gmt":"2021-09-29T01:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/?p=3297"},"modified":"2022-01-25T11:49:40","modified_gmt":"2022-01-25T17:49:40","slug":"miles-revisited-introduction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/miles-revisited-introduction\/","title":{"rendered":"Miles Davis: The Final Decade Revisited, Introduction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On September 28, 1991, the world lost a musical giant. An artist who, by his own estimation, changed the face of music five or six times. Miles Davis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the mid-1940s, Miles was a sideman for one of history\u2019s great compositional innovators, Charlie Parker. He would follow it up by playing a significant role in developing a relaxed and lighter-sounding style with Birth of the Cool<\/em> (Columbia, 1950). With the First Great Quintet, the trumpeter explored modality while leading other legendary artists, including John Coltrane. Collaborations with Gil Evans brought an interplay between rich orchestral colorings and impassioned horn playing. And, of course, there is one of the most well-received albums of all time, Kind of Blue<\/em> (Columbia, 1959). With the Second Great Quintet, Miles began pushing the outer edges of chordal structures, particularly on compositions penned by Wayne Shorter. By the late 1960s, Davis set his sights towards narrowing any gap between rock and jazz. From minor flirtations with electric sounds on Filles de Kilimanjaro<\/em> (Columbia, 1969) to the psychedelic jazz-rock masterwork of Bitches Brew<\/em> (Columbia, 1970) and then \u201cthe most hated album,\u201d<\/a> the bandleader continued to push his sound further and further out. And, in the process, he planted the seeds for countless other music to come, including ambient, techno, hip hop, post-punk, and electronica. While listeners may prefer a particular era over another, very few have questioned the importance of Miles\u2019\u2019 work up until 1975. But the time before his retirement is only part of the story. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By 1981, the maestro returned to music-making after a five-year hiatus. And, as has been the case throughout his chameleonic career, Miles pulled the music in new directions using younger colleagues. Far too often, critics disliked his new paths. Some have used words and phrases like \u201csellout,\u201d \u201ca shadow of his former self,\u201d and \u201cpurely commercial\u201d to describe Miles\u2019 work from the era. In the decades since, several critics have begun to re-examine their aversion to his output from the period. But, to some degree, many still view the music from the last ten years of his life – with the possible exception of Tutu<\/em> (Warner, 1985) – as some sort of footnote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thirtieth anniversary of Miles\u2019 death and the fortieth of his return to music seems like an opportune time to questions this mindset. With this ongoing series, we will provide more thorough analyses of Miles\u2019 albums during the final decade of his life and various interviews with those who worked on them. It is hoped these discussions will spur listeners to question their preconceptions about the period. Instead, one will find sounds not made for primarily commercial appeal but to forward new ideas.  Ensembles that helped launch the careers of some of today\u2019s most significant artists. Music with a legacy that is still, to some degree, being developed and explored.

Painting by Fikay Marie based on the cover photo by Annie Liebowitz of “Doo-Bop.”

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On September 28, 1991, the world lost a musical giant. An artist who, by his own estimation, changed the face of music five or six times. Miles Davis.  During the mid-1940s, Miles was a sideman for one of history\u2019s great compositional innovators, Charlie Parker. He would follow it up by playing a significant role in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3298,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"iawp_total_views":37,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1223],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-miles-davis-final-decade-revisited"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/0mM5IegQ.png?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/peRkRR-Rb","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":98,"url":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/miles-davis-rubberband-album-reviewed\/","url_meta":{"origin":3297,"position":0},"title":"Review: Miles Davis\u2019 \u2018Rubberband\u2019","author":"Rob Shepherd","date":"November 8, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Recorded mostly in 1985, the height of Miles Davis\u2019 most critically maligned era, Rubberband is unlikely to be appreciated by one who generally disfavors the artist\u2019s 1980s oeuvre. However, for a listener open to Davis\u2019 music from that period, there is much to enjoy. 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Or, as Stan Getz described it, \u201c[t]hat music is worthless. It means nothing; there is no\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hall of Fame"","block_context":{"text":"Hall of Fame","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/category\/hall-of-fame\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/On-the-Corner.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/On-the-Corner.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/On-the-Corner.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/On-the-Corner.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":255,"url":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/bitches-brew-50th-compositions\/","url_meta":{"origin":3297,"position":2},"title":"Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew 50th Anniversary Celebration- Part One: The Compositions","author":"Rob Shepherd","date":"March 23, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"On March 30, 1970, Miles Davis shocked the world with his groundbreaking Bitches Brew (Columbia Records, 1970). Although the trumpeter had been increasingly trending towards merging jazz with rock since at least Miles in The Sky (Columbia Records, 1968), Brew destroyed any divide between the two. At the time, some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bitches Brew 50th Anniversary"","block_context":{"text":"Bitches Brew 50th Anniversary","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/category\/special-series\/bitches-brew-50th-anniversary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Bitches Brew I: Composition","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/BB_mainart_compositions.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/BB_mainart_compositions.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/BB_mainart_compositions.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/BB_mainart_compositions.jpg?fit=750%2C500&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1210,"url":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/newport-jazz-history-chapter-i\/","url_meta":{"origin":3297,"position":3},"title":"A History of the Newport Jazz Festival – Chapter I: A New Tradition, 1954-1955","author":"Rob Shepherd","date":"July 23, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"By 9:18 PM on the evening of July 17, 1954, Eddie Condon\u2019s tribute to Dixieland finally began its delayed performance. 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Columbia Records, perhaps hoping to catch lightning in a bottle, sent a crew and two eight-track tape machines to record the ten sets. https:\/\/youtu.be\/d4dtGbrYKLs?si=uaLubwdtr11eKZ4P Edited versions of material from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Special Series"","block_context":{"text":"Special Series","link":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/category\/special-series\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Cellar-Door-Cover.png?fit=972%2C828&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Cellar-Door-Cover.png?fit=972%2C828&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Cellar-Door-Cover.png?fit=972%2C828&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Cellar-Door-Cover.png?fit=972%2C828&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":11848,"url":"https:\/\/postgenre.org\/staging\/4567\/cellar-door-sessions-at-fifty-five-night-four\/","url_meta":{"origin":3297,"position":5},"title":"The Cellar Door Sessions at Fifty-Five: December 19, 1970","author":"John Chacona","date":"December 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Saturday, December 19, 1970 For first-time listeners to The Cellar Door Sessions 1970 (Columbia, 1970), the first four discs can be like a side trip to unfamiliar neighborhoods of a well-known place. 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