Miles Davis - Milestones

This 1958 date finds Davis with his first super group: alto and tenor saxophonists Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane, drummer Philly Joe Jones, bassist Paul Chambers, and pianist Red Garland. It looks to the past with the bebop and blues likes of Jackie McLean's "Dr. Jackle," John Lewis and Dizzy Gillespie's "Two Bass Hit," and Thelonious Monk's "Straight No Chaser." The band points solidly to the future with the modal masterpiece "Milestones," which set the stage for the historic Kind of Blue. Davis's own tune, "Sid's Ahead" has a melodic line like Benny Golson's "Killer Joe," and "Billy Boy" features Garland, Chambers, and Jones and is a stylistic shout to Ahmad Jamal. This superbly remastered edition of Milestones contains three alternate takes. "Two Bass Hit" snaps, crackles, and pops with Jones's rope-a-dope rhythms. The title track rings with an even more lyrical statement by Davis, and on "Straight, No Chaser" Coltrane delivers an even more harmonically daring solo, while Adderley takes on Trane's supersonic scalar style, capped by Chambers's grooving solo. A classic recording from a classic group. --Eugene Holley Jr. Amazon.com

The bridge between "round about midnight" and "kind of blue"

To start, I am not very addicted to jazz, but I love this record ..could not provide valuable information to justify buying this record,but I say something.. is great!!!!! the fluidity of the notes, silences ... .... only what happens to me is that I can not stop listening ... I was also thinking ... this is the bridge between "round about midnight" and "kind of blue" ...we can not mistake the way!!!!!!!!!!!!! July 30, 2008

Good Solid Miles....

I bought this album because it was the album before his ground breaking "Kind of Blue." I wanted to listed to the contrast and progression of his musical thinking. Its good, but I'm glad Miles Davis reinvented his narcissistic self - musically any way. June 1, 2008

A Good Period For Miles Davis

"Milestones" was released on Columbia Records in 1958, Miles was starting to find his sound in modal jazz. The title track is a perfect example of Miles approach to composition: simple melodies, complex improvisations. This compositional approach would carry on with him through the rest of the 50s to mid-60s.

I thought this album overall compared to some of his earlier recordings was considerably weaker. I don't think that John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley particularly blended well together on this session. The piano of Red Garland was outstanding as usual, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones are solid.

The overall song selection was very weak for Miles. Many of the tunes don't really go anywhere and the improvisations aren't particularly cohesive. Again, the title track is the best tune on the record.

Miles would go on to do great things after "Milestones." In my opinion, I thought that "Seven Steps To Heaven" was Miles' best record. Many people didn't like that it, but I think the compositions were alot better, three of them being, the title track, "So Near, So Far," and "Joshua."

"Milestones" isn't a record I go back and listen to very much, but does have some very memorable moments. Definitely worth acquiring if you're a fan of Miles or jazz in general. March 22, 2008

Kind of Wild- Jazz doesn't get much more exciting

Hot Jazz; If you are looking for a second "Kind of Blue" album , then "Milestones" will disappoint. Also, if you are looking for some nice background jazz music while you have your dinner party this is probably not the album for you. On the other hand, if you are looking for an album that features five of the most talented musicians ever to play jazz, cooking on some really great tunes and playing together like they've been doing this all their life then this might be the album for you. This one does not contain (as one reviewer stated) the same lineup as "Kind of Blue". Milestones has Philly Jo Jones on drums and Red Garland on piano. This is an album you really need to listen to closely to appreciate. Contains some seriously virtuosic playing; A Jazz Tour de Force January 28, 2008

The Master in Transition

MILESTONES was both the musical and chronological bridge between trumpeter Miles Davis' great mid-fifties quintet (John Coltrane on tenor saxophone, Red Garland on piano, Paul Chambers on bass and Philly Joe Jones on drums), with its postbop sensibilities and emphasis on fresh interpretations of standard material, and the more personalized and transcendent vision Davis would realize so brilliantly on his next album, KIND OF BLUE. By augmenting the quintet with Cannonball Adderley's matchless alto saxophone chops, Miles added tonal variety to a signature sound which, for all its beauty, had started to grow a bit predictable; and by redirecting his own compositional bent from harmonic to modal centers he literally wrote an entire new chapter in jazz history. All of this is excitingly evident on this crucial 1958 recording.
Taking numbers by Thelonious Monk ("Straight No Chaser"), Jackie McLean ("Dr. Jekyll") and John Lewis ("Two Bass Hit") on rides which even the composers themselves could never have envisioned, Davis and Company here set a new standard for small group improvisation. If anyone still had any doubts, MILESTONES certainly announced that the bebop era was over. Further leavening the proceedings, a hornless workout on "Billy Boy" allows Davis' excellent rhythm section (often obscured by the playing and reputations of this legendary front line) to sing and shine on its own while the leader takes a breather. But it's the two original compositions herein - "Sid's Ahead" and even more so the title track - which really point the way forward. The former is an epic-length jam balancing control and freedom in a manner almost unprecedented, with improvisational statements of consummate logic effectively becoming the structure of the piece over its thirteen minutes and change. "Milestones" itself is a sort of first stab at KIND OF BLUE, and could easily have fit on that album were it a bit lengthier - as it would subsequently become in concert. Miles' lightheartedly reflective melody is now a classic, and the permutations through which he and his band take it proclaim the advent of a powerful new approach to the genre. Great stuff, and a definite must-have for any serious jazz enthusiast!
July 8, 2006

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