MILES DAVIS — The Genius of Miles Davis (review)

MILES DAVIS — The Genius of Miles Davis album cover

Boxset / Compilation · 2009 · Post Bop

5/5 · 2011-12-30
darkprinceofjazz

I thought it imperative that I review my Christmas Present to myself this year, The Genius of Miles Davis, a ridiculously unnecessary addition to the Miles Davis discography, Yet some how I could not resist this admittedly high quality limited box set. When this set was released in 2009 it had a price tag befitting a connoisseur jazz box set of this caliber, an eye popping $1,199, a price so outrageous, that I actually laughed out loud, especially when I found out it was essentially a repackaging of all the metal spine box sets that I already owned, and the Cellar Door and Plugged Nickel session boxes aren't even in this trumpet set.

I purchased this from a black Friday sale for $269 with free shipping, even at that price, I was leery about repurchasing all these sets, But I knew I could make all the money back selling my used sets, so how could I pass it up? This set is top notch all the way, great extremes were used to pack this properly for shipment as well, the Trumpet case, a custom built Martin Miles Davis replica Trumpet Case, the quality is astounding, well built and detailed, a replica "Gustat" Heim mouthpiece, a fine art lithograph of one of Miles's paintings, and a very high quality designer T-shirt, The inside of the box, "as you can see from the photo" is a velvet style lined photo reproduction of the 'Round about Midnight Cover from the mid 50's, truly classy in every sense of the word.

If you have just discovered Miles Davis, and you are hooked, and think you would like most of the important music of the Davis career, I think the $550 asking price is reasonable, especially when you consider those metal spine box sets are all out of print, and some of them are fetching as much or more than they originally sold for, the On the Corner set has never been released in the cheaper made "long" box format, The music is so good and ground breaking, I really can't add much more, From the hard bop 'Round about Midnight, to the modal Kind of Blue and Milestones, through the second great quintet's recordings, all the way up through the fusion music of In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson, On the Corner, Get up with it and Big Fun, all those sessions are touched upon in great detail, the award winning liner notes are some of the most detailed and interesting I have ever read.

At the price I paid it is hard to have a complaint, but of course I do have one, It would have been nice if a hard bound book would have been provided, maybe to briefly touch on each box set and possibly a new essay or two, a minor quibble really, they do give a 2 page insert with a brief description of the box contents.

OK, in the end, did I really need this set? you better believe it! as a Davis fan boy, I had been drooling over this set for 2 years, constantly checking out the set and wishing it was cheaper, when the distributor made me an offer I couldn't refuse, I pounced on it, probably not worth the original $1,199, But the $550 is I think, and if you can get it on sale like I did, get it fast, only 1955 of these sets were made, and I love it.