which miles davis tracks have the best guitar solos?

We Want Miles. Live disc with Mike Stern tearing it up. A classic! Jean Pierre is probably the most famous track/solo on it.


Also check out the studio version of Fat Time.

Next, seek out the many live Miles recordings with John Scofield. John at his finest imo.

 

"In A Silent Way" is where Miles introduced the US to John McLaughlin after he stole him from Tony Williams.

I would say that this release is an acquired taste but lauded by Miles lovers.

John is also on Bitch's Brew, Jack Johnson and On The Corner.

There are Miles releases with John Scofield, Robben Ford and Mike Stern as well. I'm just too lazy to look up the titles.

Be warned, all this electric rock Miles is a lot different than "Kind Of Blue".

If you like "Kind Of Blue" you may want to try "Birth Of The Cool" before getting into the rock stuff.

My favorite Miles are the releases with the quintet (no gtr) = Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, Wayne Shorter and Ron Carter. This takes a little getting used to but it is some of the most interesting music ever recorded IMO.

 

On the "You're Under Arrest" album...

Check out the last track entitled "Katia"

You will be treated to John McLaughlin just wrecking shop! Darryl Jones working a killer slap triad on bass, too...

My Best,

Mike

 

Yeah, the stuff with guitar on it is never straight ahead a la Kind of Blue with maybe the exception of the couple tracks George Benson played on in the 60s. The guitar players show up when Miles was more into the fusion thing.

 

you should also hunt down some live recordings of the band with scofield and al foster. that stuff is smoking!

 

Miles smiles is a must after kind of blue, but has no guitar....then id go for bitches brew, which has some nice guitar

Man i have to recommend george benson cookbook and the kenny burrel/john coltrane album for some great guitar solos of that era...i usually listen to miles to not hear guitar but mclaughlin was my fave of his...

 

Go Ahead John

He Loved Him Madly

 

Pete Cosey's acid flashback guitar with Reggie Lucas literally endless rhythm chops on the entirety of "Pangaea". It's a 2 CD set and there are two 40 minute plus jams on them. From a live concert recording from 1975 just before he "retired". Earlier the same day another two CD set was recorded with the same band "Agharta". Birth of the Cool this is not, it's psychedelic rock jamming that I've never heard the like of again.

Watch out though - I had one guy go "that's enough Miles Davis for me, forever" after hearing it.

And yeah, Stern was burning on Fat Time. Does anyone have footage of when Miles was on Saturday Night Live playing that track? I remember Stern was wearing coveralls (!) and playing a pale yellow strat and ripping the neck up.

 

+1

Have you heard/seen the Miles Davis Quintet Live in Europe box set? It's just outright amazing. They're at the height of their powers on that. Besides the 3 CDs there's a DVD of 2 shows filmed in black and white. I think it's about the coolest thing I've ever seen. For me, this is/was the high water mark for jazz, IMHO. I've been listening to Bitches Brew and Filles de Kilimanjaro more lately, though.

 

You definitely want to check out "Star People," the highly-underrated classic of Mile's comeback years. It simply has the most guitar of any studio album. The related era albums (Decoy, You're Under Arrest and "We Want Miles!" [a live album] also have similar playing, but except for a live track or 2 on Decoy, the playing on Star People is a step above- "Speak" and "Star People" are a couple tracks that I think you'll enjoy.

BTW, on non-guitar, Disc One of "Miles Davis Quintet Live in Europe" box that came out last year is simply stunning. Herbie Hancock's solo on track 2 blows my mind. The band is in top form.

 

Yeah, Stern sounds so great - Strat, MXR stereo chorus, couple of Acoustic amps (MXR distorion pedal?).
Among other timbres, Stern gets some amazing muted trumpet sounds - to paraphrase TGPer beerijuana, "you can almost hear the lips perse".

 

Scofield's solo on the tune Decoy really turned my head around.

Fat Time solo by Stern is great, too. That's from The Man With The Horn. We Want Miles has lots of great playing by Stern.

Star People features lots of great guitar playing by Sco and Stern. It's one of my favorites of Mile's entire catalog. Don't forget to check out Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson and In A Silent Way.

 

Go Ahead John!

 

A while back I saw some guys talking about this on TGP (maybe you) but haven't gotten it yet. It's on my wishlist. Thx.

On the rock stuff, I go through my phases as well. Just depends upon my mood.

 

This is by far my favorite electric Miles stuff. This band was taking serious chances on stage every night and daring people to follow. Check out these clips with Pete Cosey getting seriously out there on a 12 string Vox:

 

I still like the tune John Mclaughlin from Bitches Brew.

 

Excellent suggestions so far. I would say that by the time Miles started incorporating a guitar into his band, his music and ensembles evolved away from following the structure of a traditional jazz or rock "solo". It was really almost as if the band was one entity - like a wall of sound. There are plenty of guitar-heavy efforts, particularly in the mid-70's where he had up to 3 guitar players at a time, but it is such a unique sound that it doesn't necessary fall into the category of what people may consider a guitar solo -despite the guitar players taking solos (even unaccompanied at times).

In the "Bitches" and post-Bitches era/pre-retirement era, Miles often played his trumpet through a wah and phrased many of his solos as a guitarist (in my opinion). The first track on Live-Evil called "sivaD" starts out with a Miles solo that sounds strikingly similar to an electric guitar.

 

Also -McLaughlin's playing on the Jack Johnson album is excellent and probably the first cd I'd recommend checking out if you're looking for guitar-based Miles stuff.