Miles Davis - Miles Smiles

Except for the taping of a live performance at the Portland Festival, Miles Davis' discography for 1966 only lists the recordings made for the LP Miles Smiles. How strange when on considers the usual large output of Miles and his ensembles for Columbia Records in the Sixties. The bass player Ron Carter was best suited for the complicated rhythm part and remained Miles' "number one" in a quintet which gave a new interpretation to compositions by Wayne Shorter and jazz hits such as "Freedom Jazz Dance" by Eddie Harris and Jimmy Heath's "Gingerbread Boy." Every second of the nine-minute-long "Footprints" by Shorter is an absolute highlight, while the drumming of the young Tony Williams in "Freedom Jazz Dance" is full of vitality, with a quick pulse and even described as "threatening" in the liner notes. This music is neither "new stream" nor "old guard" but good modern jazz according to Anthony Tuttle. That's exactly what Miles Smiles was upon its release 40 years ago – and that's what it is to this day!

1. Orbits

2. Circle

3. Footprints

4. Dolores

5. Freedom Jazz Dance

6. Gingerbread Boy

Customer Reviews (4.33 Stars) 3 person(s) rated this product.

Nice, however posted on 08/11/2022 4 Stars Reviewer: Reviewer Side one, lovely. Side two is a bit muffled. Overall enjoyable

I'm smiling posted on 05/26/2013 5 Stars Reviewer: Emmanuel This is one my favorite records from the 2nd great Miles Davis Quintet, but all my life I've only heard it on CD. Imagine my delight when I played it for the first time on a decent record player, all smiles I tell you. For me the greatest joy of listening to this record any day is the song "circle" which is a reworking of the song "Drag-Dog" from Miles Davis' Some Day My Prince Will Come. If you have both albums I recommend playing the songs side by side. It's genius how these Maestros took one song and completely changed it into something beautiful with a slight resemblance to the original. Herbie Hancock's piano solo on Circle is a thing to behold.

This is the pressing to get posted on 03/05/2012 4 Stars Reviewer: CT0wens

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