Customer Reviews

The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Miles Davis and Gil Evans: Complete Columbia Studio Recordings box set is a treasure trove for those who must have every recording. Less serious fans may want to start with less expensive issues of the individual albums.

Miles Davis has many box sets devoted to him, and this one is by far the most unique. After purchasing several of the Miles Davis box sets that have been re-released by Columbia, I have to say that I am very pleased. Eventually I will get them all, but my love of Gil Evans in addition to Miles is what made me pull the trigger on this set.

For starters, what comes through this set even with a casual listen is the incredible influence that Gil had on the arrangements and approach taken during their greatest collaborations. On many of the tracks, the horn arrangements and solos are pushed center stage, with Gil's play only providing a subtle backdrop. That's typical Gil, though I do wonder what the outcome might have been if he had allowed himself to step forward more in those early years.

Still, the tracks manage to be both incredibly traditional and daring at the same time, and this especially true of the alternate takes. Once you hear the alternate takes, rehearsal tracks, and overdubs it's clear that the sound has to be in large part to Gil's credit. In fact, the only way to describe the sound on some of these tracks is *large*. The encyclopedic inclusion of various alternate takes and rehearsal takes provides tremendous insight and could easily be used by students of this music and history who want to get inside the minds of these recording artists and compare against the final product.

That's another reason why this reissue is so worth getting. While I have no complaints about the original recordings, several of the tracks are so greatly improved by the remastering to almost make the listening experience completely new for me. I am slowly being converted to the remastering camp. If all the reissued box sets sound this good, I may start to purchase multiple copies of each of them. :)

I was somewhat confused by the *placement* of many of the tracks, especially the way certain retakes are split between different disks. At times they correspond to the original albums and at other times they don't. I don't know why Mr. Schaap chose to do it this way, but I am pretty certain there were very good reasons. It does make you wonder, but it doesn't change the fact that these are very listenable disks.

Now because this is a set of the complete studio recordings, there are some tracks here that I am not particularly crazy about. Among them are "Blue Xmas" and "Nothing Like You." Those tracks made me glad that not every song on here has alternate and rehearsal takes included.

The box is certainly attractive, though understated. It is certainly more durable and functional than other recent boxes I have purchased.

As with all Miles Davis sessions under Columbia, these recordings showcase fantastic musicians. Miles Ahead and Porgy and Bess are clearly the most highly regarded albums that resulted from Gil's work with Miles, but Sketches of Spain will probably always be my personal favorite of the group. I am also a fond of Quiet Nights, which has probably been over-criticized IMHO. Yet the extra takes means that even if you own those albums you still have a very good reason to purchase this set.

If you haven't yet purchased this set, take this opportunity to add it to your collection.

Enjoy!

A great collection. Miles Ahead, Porgy and Bess and Sketches of Spain are three of Miles' greatest works, meaning three of the greatest jazz albums, and Porgy and Bess may be the finest recording of that music ever.

The collaboration with Gil Evans was an odd one if you consider the two personalities, but a wonderful one musically. Both were always curious and restless about what could be done, and Evans created this beautiful sound [heavily indebted to Stravinsky] as a bed for Miles' lyricism.

What the set collections is every bit of recording behind the original albums; not just alternate takes but false starts. It's interesting to hear how these extras show that the ensemble flaws in Porgy and Bess are probably attributable to Evans conducting. There are plenty of other curiousities, especially the 'Quiet Nights' session, which, although Miles vehemently objected to its release, is not a bad record, just not up to the previous standards. Another thoughtful bit is the bit of empty space that can be programmed in to break up the constant flow of one tune to the next on Miles Ahead.

I think the previous reviewers complaints about the transfer are unfounded. I've gone through the original vinyl, the first CD reissues and now this set, and while this set is superior to the first CDs, it is also no inferior to the vinyl. The CD sound is brighter and more transparent, and while the bass has less presence than on the LPs, it also has a clearer tone and timbre, where it is often just a thud. It's a matter of taste, and this set is the sweetest of all.

The old addage goes that opposites attract, and in the world of music, this is, in many cases, a recipe for absolute disaster or absolute inspiration. In the case of Miles Davis and Gil Evans, only inspiration came from this.

The works that comprise the lps "Miles Ahead," "Porgy and Bess," "Sketches of Spain," and "Quiet Nights," are meshing jazz with orchestral sensibilities, with Miles' lyricism not dissimilar to Nat King Cole singing standards behind an orchestra. More than many of his jazz lps, the depth of Miles Davis is found in his ensemble playing on these recordings. The works were no easy task for him to play- demanding parts, to be sure- but Miles rose to the occasion again and again, with Evans' parts coaxing pure magic from the Man With the Horn.

The heretofore bootlegged unreleased tracks from Miles X-Mas songs to a session from 1968(!) are even more valuable additions to your collection and again show the breadth and depth of Miles as both a loyal friend to Evans, and as a player.

Amazing tracks, and an amazing collection.

This is a great box set. Miles made some of his best music working along Gil Evans. 3 of their original albums are in this set: Miles ahead, Porgy and Bess, Sketches of Spain. each of these three is a jazz classic. The set also includes the album Quiet Nights. These 4 discs are essential in any jazz collection. The remaining 2 CDs have outtakes, alternative cuts and miscellaneous studio recordings. The mainfault with this box isits price(budget conscious buyers would do well buying the individual remastered albums). The othe flaw if that the packaging is rather cumbersome with each CD placed in a cardboard sleeve replica of the album and everything is bound togetherwith a book in a thick metallic spine.

Overall - 5stars because the music is brilliant but some might prefer to buy the original albums ( now that columbia records has remastered them)

I bought this awhile back, and I wish I hadn't. The music, of course, cannot be over-praised -- five stars just aren't enough. I am infinitely grateful that this music graces our planet, and my life. Thank you, Miles and Gil and company!

So what's the problem? This package (Columbia 67397, $110 at this writing) is awful. It's at least sixty percent alternate takes, rehearsal fragments, and studio chatter. If that stuff interests you, great -- I just want the core music. The physical package stinks, too. The discs are in cardboard sleeves, difficult to extract, and the book can't be read at all unless it's removed from the binding (and, in my opinion, there's very little of interest in the book).

All four original discs, with the same remastering and all the significant alternate takes, can be purchased right here at Amazon for $45. The only new (previously unreleased) material, "Time of the Barracudas" is included on "Quiet Nights," so you're not missing out on anything. Spend the $65 difference on more music, not pretty packaging and filler.

I already own three other Miles Davis Box Sets; the one with John Coltrane, the "In A Silent Way" Box Set and the "Live At The Plugged Nickel 1965" set. Of course, these three box sets are far more exciting than this one. With Coltrane you get "Kind of Blue", the first real 'Modal Jazz' album, the "Plugged Nickel" is really exciting and furiously loose hard bop and "In A Silent Way" is the beginnings of fusion. With all these things stacked up against it, what would a Hard Bop loving cat like myself find appealing in this collection of cool toned orchestrated music?

Well this is really GOOD cool jazz, not the lousy stuff you get on radio. Every album (even the not-so-good Quiet Nights) is really good. My favourite is the material that makes up Sketches of Spain. This album is just amazing. It is not really jazz or classical music, but is really great.

All in all a great box set; not just for the people who are into cool jazz but for hard boppers looking for a little distraction.

Shame you can barely find this is in the metal encased box as it was originally released. Glad I snatched it up when it came out in 1997. This is the first RELEASED Columbia boxes that took from 1997 until 2007 to complete. Chronologically , it would be the 2nd box. Fabulous sound on this reissue. The people who put this entire series together did so with extreme care and meticulous detail.The music ? C'mon , it's MILES...put it in your shopping cart !

I consider myself only a mild collector of Miles Davis since I only have 55 discs or so, but the Miles and Gil Evans have always been my favorite Miles recordings, particularly Sketches of Spain and Porgy and Bess. I had these original titles already and was not certain whether I needed to have the box set. Fortunately, I did not delay for more than a month or so before purchasing it. With all of the outtakes and additional tracks and what I feel is wonderful packaging with a gold spine book/folder volume type of thing going on that I just love... (BTW, it's not cumbersome to me). When you love these recordings so much as I do and have been so familiar with them, to have all of this additional music, its like they are all born again. There's nothing else like it in jazz. Do yourself another favor and get the Siesta soundtrack which is like a new take on Sketches of Spain (the movie is good too).

Somewhat difficult to get into the groove of listening, because the set is more of an academic study of the recording sessions with these two giants of the jazz world.

I will edit the set to separate the listenable from the historic; some charts stop in the middle in order to begin another take.

This set also includes several takes of the same chart, as well as different solo break overdubs.

If you're looking for a set to immediately have for an evening's playlist, you'll need to spend some time picking and choosing. You may prefer to purchase their studio CDs individually. However, it's well worth the journey.

At the end of the day, it's Miles Davis during a very introspective yet lyrical point of his journey, and for me, while I could still understand what he was trying to achieve.

Amen to a lot of what other reviewers have said here. Here's my two cents: I enjoy listening to these albums very much (Sketches of Spain is my favorite in this collection because it's so damn beautiful and creative). But I also enjoy listening to the outtakes.

Yes, most of these outtakes deserve to be on the cutting room floor. But it is neat to listen to Miles and Gil work out those phrases that we all know and love so very much. It's sort of like looking over Picasso's shoulder as he paints or Hemingway's as he writes. The outtakes let you hear a little bit on how these masterpieces were put together.