Dinner Jazz CD: Miles Davis / Kurt Elling
 
 

Dinner Jazz CDDinner Jazz is a 2-disc CD featuring various artists that Jazz FM are releasing on March 16th. (Pre-Order Here)

In this week’s series of features, we are examining the second CD which kicks off with tracks by Miles Davis and Kurt Elling.

MILES DAVIS - MY SHIP

Miles Davis (1926-1991) was a trumpeter, bandleader and composer at the forefront of almost every major development in jazz from World War II to the 1990s.

Davis played the trumpet in a lyrical, introspective, and melodic style, often employing a stemless Harmon mute to make his sound more personal and intimate.

He took a lead role in the formation of cool jazz, and later modal composition, with his first great quintet with John Coltrane on saxophone.

After many line-up changes, his Second Great Quintet featuring Wayne Shorter (saxophones), Herbie Hancock (piano), Ron Carter (bass) and Tony Williams (drums) emerged. That group disbanded slowly as Miles embarked on a jazz-rock style known as fusion. Prior to his 5 year retirement, Miles also branched into musique concrete and funk.

Kind of Blue (1959) remains Davis’ best known work and is often cited as the greatest jazz record of all time, but Bitches Brew (1970), when released, was the biggest-selling jazz album of all time up to that point.

Other milestones include Birth of the Cool and Sketches of Spain.

My Ship is taken from the 1957 album Miles Ahead which features Davis on flugelhorn, leading a 19-piece band conducted by Gil Evans and also including Paul Chambers (bass), Arthur Taylor (drums).

The track was composed by Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin, arranged by Gil Evans and recorded in New York on May 10, 1957.

KURT ELLING - AND WE WILL FLY

Kurt Elling (1967- ) is an American jazz vocalist who has released seven albums for the Blue Note label in the last decade.

He has performed and recorded with musicians such as David Amram, Joanne Brackeen, Buddy Guy, Jon Hendricks, Charlie Hunter and Rex Richardson and he has won the Down Beat and JazzTimes critics’ polls three years in a row in the Best Male Singer category.

And We Will Fly is taken from his 2007 album Nightmoves, which was his first to be released by Concord Records.

The track is an interpretation of a piece by West Coast pianist Alan Pasqua, who originally recorded it on his 2005 trio release My New Old Friend with drummer Peter Erskine and bassist Derek Oles.

This version features Elling (vocals), Laurence Hobgood (piano), Willie Jones III (drums), Christian McBride (bass), Rob Mounsey (electric piano/keyboards), Guilherme Monteiro (guitar) and  Gregoire Maret (harmonica).

Have a look at our previous features on tracks from the album:


Dinner Jazz is released on March 16th and was compiled by Jazz FM’s Sarah Ward. (Pre-Order Here)

Buy from Amazon

 
 
The Sound of Jazz FM 2009