Highlights From Plugged Nickel [Live]

Miles Davis | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 21, 1995)
• Original Release Date: November 14, 1995
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Label: Sony
• ASIN: B000002BCO
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #200,763 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still growing on me, February 2, 2003

By 

Peter Wiebe (WINDSOR, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Highlights From Plugged Nickel (Audio CD)

I have about 15 of Miles' albums, and this is one of the ones I play most often. I am a classically trained musician and composer, and have developed a passion for jazz in the past 5 years. While I have for the most part quickly developed an understanding of jazz forms, rhythms and harmonies, this album has been my greatest listening challenge! For many listenings, I found myself unable to follow the structure and melodic ideas in several of these songs - in particular Stella and Yesterdays. However, after repeated listenings, I am understanding and appreciating what I hear in this so-called "free form" jazz. The tonal centres, metric shifts and group interplay grew more discernible. Also, I have become increasingly aware of each band member's genius.

I am amazed by the transformations in Miles Davis style during his career. (Too bad there wasn't more personality transformation in step with that, but I digress!) The stylistic changes were largely determined by his choice of new bandmates over the years, but also by his own restless quest for originality. To me however, this album represents his greatest work. It isn't the most immediately accessible, and will never be popular like Kind of Blue, or the fusion stage (which seems simplistic in comparison), but it is jazz created by a combination of great intellects who evidently felt their music together as close as a group can. Is is also music that pushes the boundaries of experimentation and creativity, without delving into foolish extremes.

If there's anything lacking in this great live recording, perhaps it's a sense of fun. Nor do these songs move me on an emotional level. I do find these qualites in Kind of Blue and in other of Davis's earlier material. Having said that, perhaps I'll discover these qualities as I continue to listen to this outstanding highlights disc, and as it's depth and complexity continue to grow on me.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cant have enough listens, September 12, 2002

By 

Blues Bro "bluesbro" (Lakewood, Colorado USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Highlights From Plugged Nickel (Audio CD)

This is a major work by Miles Davis and band. Actually, this is one of the albums I play the most of him. Every time I listen to it, I just get something new. The music is kind of 'free form', so probably not recommended for someone new to jazz or new to miles. I'd suggest trying Kind of Blue, Miles Ahead, In a silent way, before getting to this one. The remastering is very, very good, and so the sequence of the CD, which takes the best from all performances from Miles at the Plugged Nickel.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not for Everyone, March 22, 2007

By 

Tom "tomintoronto" (Toronto,, Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Highlights From Plugged Nickel (Audio CD)

The Plugged Nickel sets seem to bring out very strong reactions in people. Some believe the music to be among the most complex and creative of Davis' career; others find it poorly executed and often meandering. Few reviewers note that when Davis recorded this material, he was still recovering from a grueling eight month lay off due to having his hip replaced in the spring. He was still a long, long way away from anything approaching top form technically when he played the Plugged Nickel sets, but he made a virtue out of necessity. To me, lacking resources that he probably once took for granted, he finds another way to play that does not shy away from his limitations but transforms them into fresh ideas and challenging experimentations, reconfiguring his music into a kind of abstract painting in the process. Davis' statements of theme and solos are all angles and fragments and shards, with familiar shapes and patterns often only barely discernible, if at all. Not easy listening by any means, but fascinating and compelling in its own way nonetheless. This is not Miles Davis for everybody, but it is still remarkably acute and probing music.