Miles Davis - The New Sounds

In retrospect it may have been foolhardy to start this blog with one of the best jazz albums ever. How do you surpass Kind of Blue?

Fortunately, music is intensely personal. As the saying goes, one man’s pleasure is another’s pain. Maybe there’s a better album for me out there, but I may have to go trawling back to the beginning.

Where it all began

In 1951 Davis would release his first album under his own name. He teamed up with Jackie McLean and Sonny Rollins on saxophone, Walter Bishop Jnr on piano, Tommy Potter on double bass, with Art Blakey keeping time on drums.

The New Sounds is a four song statement of intent, weighing in at only 25 minutes. In 2024 it proved a little tricky to track down, with no sign of it on Apple Music. Thankfully it was on Qobuz.

This version sees the unwelcome return of some audible clipping of the trumpet right out of the gate, at least on the opening track Conception. This is a frenetic track, perhaps a little too busy and eager for my tastes. Combined with the audio issues it doesn’t make the greatest first impression.

There are re-releases of these tracks in various compilations that are a bit cleaner at the top end, but I wanted to look at the album as it appears.

Thankfully Dig? is much more pleasing on the ear both sonically and musically. It maintains the same uptempo feel, but the notes from both the trumpet and two saxophones are using those notes a little more sparingly. Sometimes less definitely is more.

However, something troubles me. This album was said to have been recorded in Apex Studios, Manhattan. Yet these first two tracks, if I may throw some shade, sound more like a banquet hall full of people talking. Perhaps there’s a little too much reverb, or the microphones a little too far away. It was the 1950s, so I think I should cut them some slack.

My Old Flame, now this is more like it. The banqueters have settled down after their slap-up meal and are letting the musicians do the talking. It’s a slow & steady ballad that I would put up on my short list with Blue in Green and It Never Entered My Mind. A fine piece of work.

It’s Only A Paper Moon, is a fine way to round out this short but definitely sweet glimpse into Miles Davis’ future. The uptempo feel has returned but it feels like Davis is growing into it. Less hurried than the opening two, more tuneful, confident even.

Thoughts

I’m pleased to have found another new favourite song, but also happy that even Davis’ first record had so much potential. Before we move back to the present, I think it would be incumbent upon me to seek out some O.G. pre-war jazz.

After all, it is hard to know where you are without looking back to where you’ve come from.