Heavenly sounds from these two musical masters – all their classic albums, and lots of bonus material too! CD

Promo only CD – with spoken interview passages, plus music from the Miles/Evans box set! CD

Import collection of some more obscure Miles moments from the late 50s Columbia years! There's 4 tracks recorded with the orchestra of Michel Legrand – and players that include Coltrane, Phil Woods, Jerome Richardson, and Bill Evans: "Jitterbug Waltz", "Round Midnight", "Wild Man Blues", and "Django". 2 tracks from a recording by the Brass Ensemble Of The Jazz & Classical Music Society, one led by John Lewis, the other by Gunther Schuller, are surprisingly wonderful – very much in the mode of Miles' work with Gil Evans, with a similar glistening sound on Miles' trumpet, and warm chromatic washes of sound underneath to provide the perfect soloing vehicle. And there are 4 numbers, a pair each from the Coltrane/Garland incarnation of the quintet, "Sweet Sue" & "Budo", and a transitional sextet from 1962, "Devil May Care" & "Blue Xmas". LP, Vinyl record album

Extra material from the 1961 date at Carnegie Hall, an astounding live set that featured Miles in a transitional quintet with Hank Mobley, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb, and also with the Gil Evans Orchestra. The performance is rendered with a subtle grace, an excellent portrait of Miles at a pivotal point in his career, moving on from his early command of bop and explorations of the cool, but not yet exploding his sound altogether with the modal approach that he would soon adopt. Side one features "Concierto De Anranjuez", and side two features "Teo", 'Walkin" and "I Thought About You". LP, Vinyl record album

A masterful meeting of two 50s modern jazz talents – the trumpet of Miles Davis balanced with the arrangements of Gil Evans – with results that have made the album one of Miles' greatest ever! The sound here is completely sublime – as Davis gets all chromatic and spooky over Evans' edgey arrangements – shimmering nicely in a perfect blend of modernism and lighter, more lyrical touches. The record's filled with loads of the kind of solos that Miles brought to his smaller group records – but they almost flower even more amazingly here in the larger setting. Titles include "Springsville", "Blues For Pablo", "New Rhumba", "Lament", and "Miles Ahead". This is the record that your dad bought to prove that he was cool – so buy it from us and keep up the family tradition! Features 4 bonus tracks too! CD

Sparkling live work from Miles Davis – and a set that captures both sides of his talents on Columbia at the time! Half the material features a smoking quintet – with Hank Mobley on tenor, Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers on bass, and Jimmy Cobb on drums – and the other half of the date features a larger orchestra led by Gil Evans – in the modern mode that make the Miles/Evans collaborations sound so great on some of the pair's studio records! Together, the material offers up a beautiful live portrait of Davis' early 60s genius – allowed a bit more space to roam in the live setting, on titles that include "So What", "New Rhumba", "Lament", and "No Blues" – all taken at a bit of a faster clip than in the studio, as Miles was wont to do in a live performance! CD

Way more than just a simple version of work from Porgy & Bess – and instead, a key collaboration between Miles Davis and Gil Evans – done with a sound that really transforms the tunes! True, the work here is all based on George Gershwin's original compositions – but through his inventively modern arrangements, Gil Evans really pushes the familiar numbers to a whole new place – and Miles glides over the top with some especially shimmering solos! Titles include "Summertime", "The Buzzard Song", "I Loves You, Porgy", and "Fishermen, Strawberry, & Devil Crab". LP, Vinyl record album

A beautiful collaboration between Miles Davis and the great Gil Evans – and perhaps the most perfectly realized of all their projects! The album's got a wonderfully unified feel – as it begins with long compositions that have a distinct Spanish-tinge (and not a Latin-tinge, which is an important distinction to the way the album progresses.) Evans' arrangements have a majesty that takes the songs to the next level – working them as lush, lively backings for Davis' equally majestic trumpet solos, some of the finest he ever recorded with large group backing. Wonderful all the way through – and with the tracks "Concierto De Aranjuez", "Saeta", "The Pan Piper", and "Solea". LP, Vinyl record album

A beautiful collaboration between Miles Davis and the great Gil Evans – and perhaps the most perfectly realized of all their projects! The album's got a wonderfully unified feel – as it begins with long compositions that have a distinct Spanish-tinge (and not a Latin-tinge, which is an important distinction to the way the album progresses.) Evans' arrangements have a majesty that takes the songs to the next level – working them as lush, lively backings for Davis' equally majestic trumpet solos, some of the finest he ever recorded with large group backing. Wonderful all the way through – and with the tracks "Concierto De Aranjuez", "Saeta", "The Pan Piper", and "Solea". 2CD version features a bonus disc with the track "Teo", a live version of "Concierto De Aranjuez", and 9 more alternates of tracks from the album – all packaged beautifully, with great notes, and a bonus PDF digital booklet with unpublished documents from the sessions! CD

Another bold new direction for the legendary Miles Davis Quintet of the 60s – a set that has some of the angular styles of earlier albums, but also a bit more of the flowing grace to come in the electric years! A key illustration of this is the leadoff track "Prince Of Darkness" – which has a fluid sensibility that still never fails to floor us, even all these many decades later! The rest of the tracks are equally great – even when subtle – and by this point, the group of Davis, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams were well earning their acclaim as one of the most groundbreaking groups in jazz. Titles include "Prince Of Darkness", "Masqualero", "The Sorcerer", "Pee Wee", and "Vonetta" – plus the odd inclusion of a vocal version of "Nothing Like You" – recorded 5 years before with singer Bob Dorough and arranger Gil Evans! The tune's an odd cap to this otherwise cohesive set – but we love it plenty too, and it somehow oddly fits! CD reissue features alternate takes of the tracks "Masqualero" and "Limbo"! CD

Another bold new direction for the legendary Miles Davis Quintet of the 60s – a set that has some of the angular styles of earlier albums, but also a bit more of the flowing grace to come in the electric years! A key illustration of this is the leadoff track "Prince Of Darkness" – which has a fluid sensibility that still never fails to floor us, even all these many decades later! The rest of the tracks are equally great – even when subtle – and by this point, the group of Davis, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams were well earning their acclaim as one of the most groundbreaking groups in jazz. Titles include "Prince Of Darkness", "Masqualero", "The Sorcerer", "Pee Wee", and "Vonetta" – plus the odd inclusion of a vocal version of "Nothing Like You" – recorded 5 years before with singer Bob Dorough and arranger Gil Evans! The tune's an odd cap to this otherwise cohesive set – but we love it plenty too, and it somehow oddly fits! LP, Vinyl record album

Another bold new direction for the legendary Miles Davis Quintet of the 60s – a set that has some of the angular styles of earlier albums, but also a bit more of the flowing grace to come in the electric years! A key illustration of this is the leadoff track "Prince Of Darkness" – which has a fluid sensibility that still never fails to floor us, even all these many decades later! The rest of the tracks are equally great – even when subtle – and by this point, the group of Davis, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams were well earning their acclaim as one of the most groundbreaking groups in jazz. Titles include "Prince Of Darkness", "Masqualero", "The Sorcerer", "Pee Wee", and "Vonetta" – plus the odd inclusion of a vocal version of "Nothing Like You" – recorded 5 years before with singer Bob Dorough and arranger Gil Evans! The tune's an odd cap to this otherwise cohesive set – but we love it plenty too, and it somehow oddly fits! CD reissue features alternate takes of the tracks "Masqualero" and "Limbo"! CD

2 wonderful late 50s sessions from arranger Gil Evans – both of which we'd rank right up there with his best work with Miles Davis, or the albums under his own name for Impulse in the 60s! The first half of the CD is from the album New Bottle Old Wine – a record of swinging modern backdrops, used to showcase both the solo talents of a young Cannonball Adderley, and the dynamic energy of Evans himself! Cannon's sharp-edged early tone is a really great sound for the record – far more modern than you might expect from later funk and soul sides of the 60s – and perfectly poised next to Gil's larger back drops to reignite a host of older tunes with new energy! And while the titles are familiar, the readings certainly are not – as the Evans pen has really changed things up beautifully – as you'll hear on numbers that include "St Louis Blues", "King Porter Stomp", "Willow Tree", "Struttin' With Some Barbeque", "Lester Leaps In", "Round About Midnight", "Manteca", and "Bird Feathers". Great Jazz Standards is equally great, a fantastic lost set from Evans – and one that features Mingus trumpeter Johnny Coles as the lead soloist in front of Evans-led modern groups that include players like Elvin Jones, Ray Crawford, Steve Lacy, Budd Johnson, Rod Levitt, and Chuck Wayne. Despite the "standards" in the title, most of these numbers are modern tunes from the 50s – like "Joy Spring", "Ballad Of The Sad Young Men", "Django", "Straight No Chaser", and "Chant Of The Weed" – all given Evans' unique style of arrangement, tweaked up a few notches to give them a really edgey quality. Coles is clearly standing in for Miles here, but the format works well overall! CD features 15 tracks in all, including some newly-improved versions of a few tracks, correcting mistakes in the original records! CD

A fantastic lost set from modernist genius Gil Evans – one that expands on some of the larger group territory he was exploring with Miles Davis at Columbia Records – but with an even hipper range of soloists overall! The lineup on the record is an all-star one – mostly top shelf players, not studio musicians – and the set has Evans making room in the arrangements for key solo performances by giants who include Johnny Coles on trumpet, Steve Lacy on soprano sax, Budd Johnson on tenor, Ray Crawford on guitar, and both Curtis Fuller and Jimmy Cleveland on trombones – all players who each bring some key moments of magic to the larger arrangements on the album. Evans himself plays piano, and drums are by Elvin Jones and Dennis Charles – which should give you an idea of the modernist inclinations in the music. And although the title says "standards", the tunes here are definitely on the hipper side of the jazz spectrum of the 50s, expanded with beautiful modern arrangements by Gil – on versions of "Joy Spring", "Ballad Of The Sad Young Men", "Django", "Straight No Chaser", and "Chant Of The Weed". LP, Vinyl record album

Although Gil Evans is probably best remembered for his work behind Miles Davis, the albums he cut on his own are actually even more interesting, and feature a far-reaching conception of modern jazz, executed by Evans, and some of the top players of his day. This great album from 1964 features a host of wonderful musicians – including Steve Lacy, Eric Dolphy, Johnny Coles, and Wayne Shorter. The set includes mostly original compositions by Evans, like "Las Vegas Tango", "El Toreador", "Flute Song", and "Hotel Me" – all of them a shimmering blend of free solos and tightly composed orchestral passages, filled with rich colors and shades of warm imagination! Plus, this CD also includes a huge amount of extra tracks, either unreleased, or longer versions – including "Time Of The Barracudas", "Spoofull", "Nothing Like You", and "Proclamation"! CD

A pivotal session for Gil Evans – one that brought his genius to the American public strongly and successfully, without the help of Miles Davis! Sure, Gil had recorded albums as a leader before this one – but the sparkling quality of this set is right up there with the charts he handled for Miles, and the quality of the players in the group make the performance every bit as great. Gil's band includes trumpeter Johnny Coles, plus Ron Carter on bass, Elvin Jones on drums, Budd Johnson on tenor, and Ray Crawford on guitar – all players who open up the sound with a magnificent array of colors that sparkle from the sublime Evans arranging touch. Titles include "Stratusphunk", "Sunken Treasure", "La Nevada", and a great reading of Kurt Weil's "Bilbao Song". LP, Vinyl record album

Blue Note 2-fer that brings together some of Gil Evans' great modernist jazz pieces for the World Pacific label. The material was all recorded in New York in 1958 and 1959, and the groups include crack jazz players like Steve Lacy, Art Blakey, Cannonball Adderley, Johnn Coles, Elvin Jones, and Evans himself. The tracks are mostly standards, but they're given super-sharp arrangements by Evans, in the style that he was using for some of his work with Miles Davis. They also feature prominent soloists, also as with the Miles work, and titles include "Chant Of The Weed", "Lester Leaps In", "Round Midnight", "Manteca", and "Sruttin With Some Barbeque". 2 LPs, with a good essay on Evans' work. LP, Vinyl record album

The harder of the two Gil Evans albums on Impulse to find, and the best – really far-reaching material that has Evans coming into contact with some of the hippest jazz players of his generation! The record's got three incredible tracks written by Cecil Taylor – a very bold move for Evans, given Taylor's strongly out reputation even at this point in his career – and possibly even more bold, given that Taylor's on the tracks playing piano, alongside players who include Archie Shepp, Jimmy Lyons, Sonny Murray, and Henry Grimes. The material's fantastic, and is a key part of Taylor's work at the time, and shows a very different setting for his piano – a bit of tension with the larger Evans group, in a way that's almost more compelling than his own early dates as a leader! Taylor titles include "Pots", "Bulbs", and "Mixed". The other tracks on the album were written by John Carisi, who wrote the classic "Israel" for Miles Davis' nine piece group in the late 40s – but who here contributes "Moon Taj", "Angkor Wat", and "Barry's Tune". Carisi's tracks are a bit more subdued, but no less wonderful – and arrangements are by Taylor and Carisi, of their own music, presented with the Evans modern touch. If you ever needed a record to convince you that Gil Evans was a genius, this is it! CD

A set with an unusual sort of flavor – one that looks at the influence of Spanish culture on modern music during the postwar years – brought together here in a mix of jazz and classical recordings with some very different styles! CD1 is all jazz – and showcases some key Spanish-themed projects – most notably the famous Miles Davis/Gil Evans collaborations, but also work by John Coltrane and Django Reinhardt too – music that maybe adapts Spanish classical themes for the modern idiom. CD2 dives more into the realm of classical – and features work by both French and Spanish composers with very vivid sonic imagery – longer pieces by Ravel, Debussy, and De Falla – heard here in classic recordings. CD3 is a bit more intimate, and features a range of classical themes, but with more up-close performance – often classical guitar, played by Sabicas, Julian Bream, and others – but sometimes with piano, and in one case a woodwind quintet. 37 tracks in all – with a detailed booklet of notes! CD

Legendary early work from trumpeter Miles Davis – late 40s sessions for Capitol Records that are completely different than the bop material he was cutting with Charlie Parker and on his own! Instead, these sides have Miles working with a complex, more arranged style – built up with a young Gil Evans, in a mode that prefaces the later famous recordings the pair would make in the late 50s for Columbia. Here, the tracks are shorter, but beautifully blend bop ideas with fuller arrangements – and Davis blows alongside other key young modernists in a variety of larger groups – with work from Lee Konitz on alto, Gerry Mulligan on baritone sax, JJ Johnson and Kai Winding on trombones, Al Haig and John Lewis on piano, and Kenny Clarke and Max Roach on drums. Mulligan contributed plenty, too – his ideas on an overall sound definitely helped shape these sides – and the record's go on to legendary status – even though it's very different than most other Miles Davis from the time. Titles include "Godchild", "Jeru", "Move", "Venus De Milo", "Budo", and "Deception". This "complete" package follows up the core tracks with live material recorded at the Royal Roost, even before the original studio sessions – in a group that features Mike Zwerin on trombone with Konitz, Mulligan, Lewis, and Roach – plus a bit of vocals from Kenny Pacho Hagood. Titles include "Darn That Dream", "Moon Dreams", "S'Il Vou Plait", "Move", "Birth Of The Cool Theme", "Godchild", and "Budo". CD

A surprisingly nice set of tracks that were recorded for Columbia during the 60s, but not issued until the time of this 1981 compilation. Tunes run the gamut from early modal to freer electric – and Miles works with players that include Joe Zawinul, Tony Williams, Airto, Hank Mobley, Bennie Maupin, Dave Holland, Steve Grossman, Herbie Hancock, Gil Evans, and Chick Corea. Tracks include "Ascent", "Willie Nelson", "Konda", "Duran", "Fun", "Directions 1 & 2", "Limbo", "So Near, So Far", and "Song Of Our Country". LP, Vinyl record album

A masterful meeting of two 50s modern jazz talents – the trumpet of Miles Davis balanced with the arrangements of Gil Evans – with results that have made the album one of Miles' greatest ever! The sound here is completely sublime – as Davis gets all chromatic and spooky over Evans' edgey arrangements – shimmering nicely in a perfect blend of modernism and lighter, more lyrical touches. The record's filled with loads of the kind of solos that Miles brought to his smaller group records – but they almost flower even more amazingly here in the larger setting. Titles include "Springsville", "Blues For Pablo", "New Rhumba", "Lament", and "Miles Ahead". This is the record that your dad bought to prove that he was cool – so buy it from us and keep up the family tradition! CD