HAPPY BIRTHDAY MILES DAVIS

Miles Davis (trumpet)
May 26, 1926 - September 28, 1991

May 26th is Miles Davis' birthday. Now I'm not going to go into a big long story about how great he is and the history. I believe you can get that from any site today.

I thought it would be good to give a short list of past pieces we've done on Miles Davis over the last few years.


It's not an all encompassing list but I think it covers some essential albums and collections that would be great for the uninitiated or even the collector in this age of digital music storage.

So as you spend the next couple of days reading articles about Miles here's what you might want to consider the next time you go to the record store.


L'Ascenseur pour l'echafaud
Kind Of Blue
Live In Stockholm
Bitches Brew Live
The Columbia Years
Decoy
Doo Bop


And check out the videos we found as a bit of prove on why Miles Davis is so important.

Mike LeDonne: Live Review From Smoke, NYC

Mike LeDonne (piano; b. 1956)
Live At Smoke, New York City (2.6.2010)

Mike LeDonne is a highly accomplished and well regarded pianist - His performances both on record and live are pure and entertaining. With a gentle and sophisticated post bop style, Mike LeDonne is definitely a disciple of such greats as Harold Mabern, Jaki Byard and Oscar Peterson.

With over 12 albums as leader, LeDonne has worked with a wide array of musicians including Dizzy Gillespie, Joshua Redman, Ryan Kisor, Christian McBride, Jimmy Cobb, Eric Alexander and the list goes on. LeDonne also spent time in the Milt Jackson Quartet in the late '80s and soon became the group;s primary songwriter in the latter years of Jackson's career. Mike has been a mainstay on the New York jazz scene since the late '90s.

He has had a small but revolving quartet, quintet and sextets for years. His most recent quintet includes; Eric Alexander (sax), Jeremy Pelt (trumpet), John Weber (bass) and Joe Farnsworth (drums). It's no surprise 3/5 of this quintet consists of members from the fiery sextet, One For All(Alexander, Weber and Farnsworth), which makes the current CD, FiveLive (Savant Records), recorded at the legendary Smoke Jazz Club on the Upper West Side of Manhattan even more exciting.

I was one of the lucky 60 plus people jammed comfortably into this iconic little room to hear a wonderful and sometimes smokin first set from LeDonne's quintet. The evening shifted mainly between LeDonne's own material, including his feisty tribute to fellow Smoke visitor and performer, Harold Mabern entitled "Hands," as well as a wonderful rendition of the classic "I Should Care". With the addition of Eric Alexander and Jeremy Pelt driving home the intensity of the night's proceedings, everyone was in for a stellar hour of jazz.

The balance between the members wasn't just between the leader and his horn section but the rhythm section of Weber and Farnsworth were just as vital. They created a pulsating atmosphere which allowed each member there an opportunity to express some crafty solo work, especially Farnsworth who is a fantastic drummer and in my opinion, highly underrated.

Definitely an enjoyable evening for Jazz lovers, but for those who couldn't be there or may not have a chance to see Mike LeDonne, I would suggest picking up his latest which is the perfect prescription for "not being there"--FiveLive (Live At Smoke Jazz Club) (Savant Records). Looking to discover something new and definitely entertaining--get yer ears into Mike LeDonne.

Jeff "Tain" Watts: Drums Alive!

Jeff "Tain" Watts (drums)
Watts

Great jazz drummers are hard to come by these days. You have to say one the most famous left us not too long ago in the shape of Elvin Jones. Roy Haynes, Paul Motian and Jimmy Cobb to name a few, are still alive and kickin' it with a lot of verve. So who among the new breed should you follow? Well, let me suggest Jeff "Tain" Watts. If you listened to any Branford Marsalis album you will have heard Jeff "Tain" Watts on drums.

Jeff "Tain" Watts is a formidable yet playful drummer. His song structure and delivery have become better and more exciting with each album. On his latest, simply titled, Watts (Dark Key Music), he has gathered some usual suspects (Branford Marsalis: saxophones; Terence Blanchard: trumpet; Christian McBride: acoustic bass; Lawrence Fields: piano) but as a unit they put in a superb performance over the course of Watts.

Jeff has a number of albums which have gone in and out of print so I would suggest if you see them used definitely pick one up. Most of his albums are available for download though. Watts is definitely the best I have heard him in a very long time.

If you can't find any of the others this is a good place to start.

Discography
Megawatts (Sunnyside; 1991)
Citzen Tain (Columbia; 1998)
Bar Talk (Columbia; 2000)
Detained-Live At The Blue Note (Half Note; 2004)
Folk Songs (Dark Key Music; 2007)
Watts (Dark Key Music; 2009)