Ballad Artistry Of Miles Davis CD

Compilation producers: Ken Kahn, Pete Welding.
Personnel: Miles Davis (trumpet).
CEMA Special Markets' The Ballad Artistry of Miles Davis culls highlights from Davis' Capitol and Blue Note recordings, including "How Deep Is the Ocean?," "Venus de Milo," "It Never Entered My Mind," "Dear Old Stockholm," "Moon Dreams," "Autumn Leaves," "Yesterdays," and "I Waited for You." Jazz purists will have little interest in this, since they'll want the original sessions, but this is a good sampler for casual listeners who want the sweet, slow side of early Miles. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Miles Davis was one of jazz's great minimalists. Over the years, he refined his sound to the point where he could say more with a single note than with a series of phrases. Legend has it that when Coltrane inquired about a good way to end a solo, Miles replied "Take the horn out of your mouth, Trane." It's this sensibility that made Miles such a great ballad player.
Though in later years, he ventured into ballad format with less frequency, these earlier recordings find him fully willing to test the downtempo waters. The unhurried lyricism of his legato lines on "How Deep is the Ocean" is downright stirring. The perfect, angular phrases Miles lays down over the easy swing of "Israel" are the definition of taste. While some of the tunes here are a touch too fast to be technically considered ballads, this offbeat collection of Miles' more muted work offers a valuable glimpse at an important facet of his talent.