MILES DAVIS — Jazz Track (review)

MILES DAVIS — Jazz Track album cover Boxset / Compilation · 1959 · Jazz Related Soundtracks Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
js
Jazz Track is basically two EPs combined on one album. Side two is three songs by the famous sextet that would go on to record Kind of Blue, and side one is incidental music for the French film L' Ascenseur Pour I' Echafaud, featuring a French jazz trio augmented by Miles and US drummer Kenny Clarke. The music on side two is as elegant and beautiful as one would expect from possibly the best jazz group of all time, but the understated jazz atmospheres on side one tell a lot more about where jazz will be heading in the next five decades. The film music on side one marks the first time that Miles will depart from playing jazz per se and instead finds him using the style as something to objectively manipulate and shape into something more original and personal. In formulating the music for this film Miles eschewed actual songs and instead wrote bare riffs and repeating chord sequences for him to solo over and build atmosphere. Not all is pure jazz here as some of the repeating motifs recall Satie and Ravel, as well as almost Indian style drones. Miles' playing over these drones and stark chord sequences is amplified with reverb and given that classic film noir 'jazz man in the back alley' sound that is almost humorous in it's cliché. Likewise the chord changes Miles uses for the jazz sequences are classic cliché jazz sounds taken from a Disney film with beatnik characters, it's Miles tongue-in-cheek way of cleverly delivering the classic jazz goods that non-jazz fans want from a soundtrack..

This is an excellent album, timeless and beautifully retro like a classic noir film. Side two has elegant versions of Stella by Starlight and Green Dolphin Street featuring the pianistic genius of Bill Evans, and side two is the beginning of a world of innovations that will eventually blossom into cool jazz, fusion, acid jazz, trip-hop and nu jazz.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Jazz Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

JMA TOP 5 Jazz ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
A Love Supreme Post Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
Kind of Blue Cool Jazz
MILES DAVIS
Buy this album from our partners
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Progressive Big Band
CHARLES MINGUS
Buy this album from our partners
Blue Train Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners
My Favorite Things Hard Bop
JOHN COLTRANE
Buy this album from our partners

New Jazz Artists

New Jazz Releases

Mikolaj Trzaska, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, Paal Nilssen-Love : The Last Temple vol.3 Avant-Garde Jazz
MIKOŁAJ TRZASKA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Mikolaj Trzaska, Ingebrigt Haker Flaten, Paal Nilssen-Love : The Last Temple, Vol.1 Avant-Garde Jazz
MIKOŁAJ TRZASKA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Mikołaj Trzaska / Ingebrigt Håker Flaten / Paal Nilssen-Love : The Last Temple Vol.2 Avant-Garde Jazz
MIKOŁAJ TRZASKA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Sustain Avant-Garde Jazz
AALY TRIO
Buy this album from MMA partners
Sunset Park Post Bop
TOBIAS MEINHART
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Jazz Online Videos

FASCINATING RHYTHM - The Amazing Keystone Big Band feat. Neima Naouri
THE AMAZING KEYSTONE BIG BAND
snobb· 1 day ago
Alicante
RENAUD GARCIA-FONS
js· 1 day ago
She's Forty with Me
WILTON CRAWLEY
js· 1 day ago
Tall Tillie's Too Tight
WILTON CRAWLEY
js· 1 day ago
Rhoda Scott Ladies and Gentlemen - special guest : David Linx
RHODA SCOTT
snobb· 1 day ago
More videos

New JMA Jazz Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Jazz News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed