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He was no doubt the most prolific, the most revolutionary and the most individual musician in jazz. He was the figure behind at least three jazz revolutions: in 1949/1950 he recorded The Birth of the Cool, a turning-point in jazz history that introduced the new jazz played in downtown clubs, just when ballroom jazz went into decline; in 1959 Miles recorded Kind of Blue, the music's genuine entrance into the modern world, and it became the best-selling jazz album for decades to come, because it sounded avant-garde at the time and still sounds like contemporary jazz today; and then in 1969 he recorded Bitches Brew, a synthesis of music that was rock, funk and jazz all at once, and which has often been named fusion, because Miles was the first to succeed in synthesizing all forms of music as a work of art that was masterly and essential. It remains one of the ten masterpieces of the 20th century.
The Essential Works of Miles Davis brings to light the path that led from The Birth of the Cool to Kind of Blue, in other words, a decade of modernity whose advancement can be followed on every one of these four sides. |
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