Miles Ahead (album)

Evans combined the ten pieces that make up the album into a suite, each flowing into the next without interruption; the only exception to this rule was on the title track since it was placed last on side A (this has been corrected on the CD versions). Davis is the only soloist on Miles Ahead, which features a large ensemble consisting of sixteen woodwind and brass players. Art Taylor played drums on the sessions and the then current Miles Davis Quintet member Paul Chambers was the bassist.

A fifth recording date involved Davis alone (re-)recording material to cover or patch mistakes or omissions in his solos using overdubbing. The fact that this album was originally produced in mono makes these inserted overdubbings rather obvious in the new stereo setting.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
Down Beat	[6]
Entertainment Weekly	(A)[7]
The Independent	(favorable)[8]
Penguin Guide to Jazz	[9]
Tom Hull	B+[10]

The Penguin Guide to Jazz gave Miles Ahead a four-star rating out of a possible four stars, and called the album "a quiet masterpiece... with a guaranteed place in the top flight of Miles albums."[11] Of Davis' flugelhorn, Kevin Whitehead of Cadence wrote that it "seemed to suit [Davis] better than trumpet: more full-bodied, less shrill, it glosses over his technical deficiencies."[12] The Penguin Guide, on the other hand, opined that "the flugelhorn's sound isn't so very different from his trumpet soloing, though palpably softer-edged.... [S]ome of the burnish seems to be lost."[11]

Miles was reportedly unhappy about the album's original cover, which featured a photograph of a young white woman and child aboard a sailboat. He made his displeasure known to Columbia executive George Avakian, asking, "Why'd you put that white bitch on there?"[13] Avakian later stated that the question was made in jest. For later releases of the record, however, the original cover-photo has been replaced by a photograph of Miles Davis.

Jon Hendricks had been working on vocalising Miles' parts on the album for over 50 years, and Pete Churchill, on hearing this, approached him to talk about developing it with ensemble the London Vocal Project. Together they finished scoring all the parts and writing the lyrics, for the band parts as well as for Miles, which the LVP then rehearsed extensively. On 17th February, 2017, the LVP performed the entire album at St Peter's Church in New York, which was funded by Quincy Jones. The soloists were Anita Wardell, Michele Hendricks, Kevin Fitzgerald Burke, and Jessica Radcliffe.[14][15]

1. "Springsville" (John Carisi) – 3:27
2. "The Maids of Cadiz" (Léo Delibes) – 3:53
3. "The Duke" (Dave Brubeck) – 3:35
4. "My Ship" (Kurt Weill, Ira Gershwin) – 4:28
5. "Miles Ahead" (Davis, Evans) – 3:29
6. "Blues for Pablo" (Evans) – 5:18
7. "New Rhumba" (Ahmad Jamal) – 4:37
8. Medley Pt. 1: "The Meaning of the Blues" (Bobby Troup, Leah Worth) – 2:48
9. Medley Pt. 2: "Lament" (J. J. Johnson) – 2:14
10. "I Don't Wanna Be Kissed (By Anyone but You)" (Harold Spina, Jack Elliot) – 3:05

A current CD reissue contains alternate takes of "Springsville", "Miles Ahead" (incorrectly labeled as being one of "Blues for Pablo"), a complete rehearsal take of "The Meaning of the Blues", and "Lament" (recorded as a continuous track by Avakian as a contingency plan) and "I Don't Wanna Be Kissed (By Anyone but You)".

• Miles Davis – Flugelhorn
• Bernie Glow – Lead trumpet
• Ernie Royal – Trumpet
• Louis Mucci – Trumpet
• Taft Jordan – Trumpet
• John Carisi – Trumpet
• Frank Rehak – Trombone
• Jimmy Cleveland – Trombone
• Joe Bennett – Trombone
• Tom Mitchell – Bass trombone
• Willie Ruff – French Horn
• Tony Miranda – French Horn
• Jim Buffington - French horn
• Bill Barber – Tuba
• Lee Konitz – Alto sax
• Danny Bank – Bass clarinet
• Romeo Penque – flute and clarinet
• Sid Cooper – Flute and clarinet
• Paul Chambers – double bass
• Art Taylor – Drums
• Wynton Kelly - piano
• Gil Evans – Arranger and Conductor

Source: Miles Ahead (album) at Discogs.