[light] [dark]

Acknowledgments, Credits, and Tips of the Hat

Jan Lohmann's excellent discography The Sound of Miles Davis: The Discography 1945-1991 (see below), although long out of print, is an essential work for anyone with a serious interest in Miles Davis' music. All Miles Davis aficionados owe Jan Lohmann a debt of gratitude. For more than thirty years Jan has generously shared his expertise, music, and encouragement. Miles Ahead would be much poorer without his contributions.

For just as long, Enrico Merlin has shared his passion for Miles Davis' music, many analyses of issued and unissued recordings, and his deep understanding of the early electric years (1968-1975). An early sample of his work is available on this site: "Code MD: Coded Phrases in the Early Electric Period" (1996). He contributed a terrific sessionography to Paul Tingen's Miles Beyond (2001). He and Veniero Rizzardi published Bitches Brew: Genesi del capolavaro di Miles Davis (Milano: Il Saggiatori, 2009), a brilliant analysis of the techniques used by Miles Davis and Teo Macero in the early electric period. His most recent project, Miles Davis 1959: A Day-by-Day Chronology, was released in 2018. It is no longer for sale, but you can read about it on Enrico's website.

Tommaso Urbano's careful transcriptions and analyses of Miles Davis solos have shed a lot of light, especially on the early recordings. Check out his remarkable website, The Music of Miles.

Chris DeVito and Ron Fritts have been generous, too, supplying me with dates, venues, and photocopies of ads and reviews that have filled out the chronology. Their research has made it possible to correct many errors, to replace "unknown date" and "unknown venue" with specific and documented information, and generally to make Miles Ahead a more useful place. The main focus of Chris' attention is John Coltrane, including the magisterial John Coltrane Reference. Ron is the Ur-source for information about jazz in the Washington DC area.

For many years John Schiebaan has alerted me to errors, and has shared discographical information, especially about European releases. Kevin Carswell has made a lot of helpful corrections, too. I've been helped by Craig Neilson's expertise on the early recordings in California and elsewhere, and Christian Legault has shared with me his researches into Miles Davis' performances in and around Montreál.

Tom Yamaguchi and Hiroshi Tanno helped me with Japanese releases of Miles Davis recordings on LP and CD.

David Arnold, Pat Buzby, Greg Chappee, and Michael Vicari have shed light on the early electric period. I am grateful for their careful analyses of recordings from these years.

Thanks also to many others who have offered corrections, additions, and suggestions, or answered my questions -- notably James Accardi, Steve Berkowitz, Oscar Bianco, Harry Coenen, Larry Crawford, Michael Cuscuna, Mark Freeman, Pascal Garnier, Larry Gregan, Franco Huber, John Keisers, Alexander Keth, Yoshiharu Kuwahara, Al McMahill, Lasse Nikkarev, Lars Möller, Leif Bo Petersen, Mike Rishavy, Pascal Rozat, Richard Seidel, Robert Shoji, Jim Szabo, Axel Van Looy, Paul Van Oost, Mark White, and Vinicio Zanetti. Many others -- too many to list, but you know who you are -- have traded live shows with me, supplied me with cover art, etc. Thank you, everyone!

There are several Miles Davis sites and blogs on the internet; if you want to peruse some of them, or you want to read more about Miles Davis, look at the list of books and websites elsewhere on this site.

I'm sure that there are errors and omissions in these pages, so if you have corrections or additions, send me e-mail at plosin@gmail.com.

I have used discographical information from a number of published sources:

Morroe Berger, Edward Berger, and James Patrick, Benny Carter: A Life in American Music. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1982. Rutgers University Institute of Jazz Studies, Studies in Jazz, Volume 1.

George Cole, The Last Miles: The Music of Miles Davis, 1980-1991. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2005. [website]

Laurent Cugny, Electrique Miles Davis 1968-1975. Marseille: André Dimanche Éditeur, 1993. [reissued 2019]

Michael Cuscuna and Michel Ruppli, The Blue Note Label: A Discography. New York: Greenwood Press, 1988.

Chris DeVito, Yasuhiro Fujioka, Wolf Schmaler, David Wild, edited by Lewis Porter, The John Coltrane Reference. New York and London: Taylor and Francis, 2008.

Piet Koster, Bird Lore: Charlie Parker 1940-1955. Second edition: Names & Numbers, Almere, 2002.

Jan Lohmann, The Sound of Miles Davis: The Discography 1945-1991. Copenhagen: JazzMedia ApS, 1992.

Enrico Merlin, Bitches Brew: Genesi del capolavaro di Miles Davis. Milano: Il Saggiatori, 2009.

Takao Ogawa a.o., Jazz Hero's Data Bank. Tokyo: JICC, 1991.

Toyoki Okajima (ed.), The Complete Blue Note Book: Tribute to Alfred Lion. Jazz Critique Special Edition, No. 3 (1987). Tokyo: Jazz Hihyo, 1987.

------, The Prestige Book: Discography of All Series. Jazz Critique Special Edition No. 3 (1996). Tokyo: Jazz Hihyo, 1996.

Michel Ruppli and Bob Porter, The Prestige Label: A Discography. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1980.

------, The Savoy Label: A Discography (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1980).

Paul Tingen, Miles Beyond: Electric Explorations of Miles Davis, 1967-1991. New York: Billboard Books, 2001. [website]