''Milestones'' is a

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...

. It was recorded with his "first great quintet" (augmented to a sextet with the addition of alto saxophonist

Cannonball Adderley Julian Edwin "Cannonball" Adderley (September 15, 1928August 8, 1975) was an American jazz Alto saxophone, alto saxophonist of the hard bop era of the 1950s and 1960s. Adderley is perhaps best remembered by the general public for the 1966 soul ...

) and released in September 1958 by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

Composition

Tenor saxophonist

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...

's return to Davis' group in 1958 coincided with the "modal phase" albums: ''Milestones'' and '' Kind of Blue'' (1959) are both considered essential examples of 1950s modern jazz. Davis at this point was experimenting with modes – scale patterns other than major and minor. Davis plays both trumpet and piano on "Sid's Ahead", a blues which is reminiscent of "Walkin'" that Davis had recorded under the title "Weirdo" for Blue Note in 1954. He plays trumpet in the ensemble passages and solos on trumpet but moves to the piano to accompany the saxophonists and Paul Chambers's bass solo in the absence of pianist

Red Garland William McKinley "Red" Garland Jr. (May 13, 1923 – April 23, 1984) was an American modern jazz pianist. Known for his work as a bandleader and during the 1950s with Miles Davis, Garland helped popularize the block chord style of playing in jazz ...

. "Billy Boy" is a solo feature for Garland and the rhythm section.

Critical reception

In a five-star review,

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

's Thom Jurek called ''Milestones'' a classic album with blues material in both

bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early to mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo (usually exceeding 200 bpm), complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerou ...

and

post-bop Post-bop is a jazz term with several possible definitions and usages.Yudkin, Jeremy (2007), p. 125 It has been variously defined as a musical period, a musical genre, a musical style, and a body of music, sometimes in different chronological perio ...

veins, as well as the "memorable" title track, which introduced modalism in jazz and defined Davis' subsequent music in the years to follow. Andy Hermann of ''

PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...

'' felt that the album offers more aggressive swinging than ''Kind of Blue'' and showcases the first session between saxophonists Coltrane and

, whose different styles "feed off each other and push each musician to greater heights." Jim Santella of ''

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

'' said that the quality of the personnel Davis enlisted was "the very best", even though the sextet was short-lived, and that ''Milestones'' is "a seminal album that helped shape jazz history." '' The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' selected the album as part of its suggested "Core Collection", calling it "one of the very great modern-jazz albums."

Stereo remix and remaster

''Milestones'' was originally released in mono, as well as in electronically re-channeled stereo (also called pseudo-stereo). The album was remixed and remastered in stereo for '' The Complete Columbia Recordings of Miles Davis with John Coltrane'' and, in 2001, reissued in stereo on the Columbia/Legacy label.

Track listing

;Side one # "Dr. Jekyll" (titled "Dr. Jackle" on later LP and CD releases) – 5:55 ( Jackie McLean) # "Sid's Ahead" – 13:13 (

) # "Two Bass Hit" – 5:19 ( John Lewis,

Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie ( ; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improvisation, improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy El ...

) ;Side two # "Miles" (titled " Milestones" on later LP and CD releases) – 5:49 (Davis)Referred to as "Milestones" on Davis' later recordings, and is not to be confused with the earlier "Milestones", a bebop melody written by John Lewis, credited to Davis, first recorded in 1947. # " Billy Boy" – 7:19 (Traditional; arranged by

Ahmad Jamal Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones; July 2, 1930 – April 16, 2023) was an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader, and educator. For six decades, he was one of the most successful small-group leaders in jazz. He was a NEA Jazz Ma ...

) # " Straight, No Chaser" – 10:41 ( Thelonious Monk) *Sides one and two were combined as tracks 1–6 on CD reissues. ;CD reissue bonus tracks #

"Two Bass Hit" (alternate take) – 4:29

# "Milestones" (alternate take) – 5:58 # "Straight, No Chaser" (alternate take) – 10:28 Tracks 3–9 recorded on February 4, 1958; tracks 1–2 recorded on March 4, 1958.

Personnel

–

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

(on "Sid's Ahead"), flugelhorn (on "Milestones") * Julian "Cannonball" Adderley –

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...

–

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (whi ...

–

(except on "Sid's Ahead") *

Paul Chambers Paul Laurence Dunbar Chambers Jr. (April 22, 1935 – January 4, 1969) was an American jazz double bassist. A fixture of rhythm sections during the 1950s and 1960s, he has become one of the most widely-known jazz bassists of the hard bop er ...

–

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

Philly Joe Jones Joseph Rudolph "Philly Joe" Jones (July 15, 1923 – August 30, 1985) was an American Jazz drumming, jazz drummer. Biography Early career As a child, Jones appeared as a featured tap dancer on ''The Kiddie Show'' on the Philadelphia radio stat ...

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Milestones 1958 albums Albums produced by George Avakian Albums recorded at CBS 30th Street Studio Columbia Records albums Miles Davis albums