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Acknowledgments, Credits, and Tips of the Hat

Jan Lohmann's excellent discography The Sound of Miles Davis: The Discography 1945-1991 (see below) is an essential work for anyone with a serious interest in Miles Davis' music. All Miles Davis aficionados owe him 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. (In May 2024 we added Jan's data for 1980-1991 sessions to the Miles Ahead database.)

For just as long, Enrico Merlin has shared his passion for Miles Davis' music and his deep understanding of the early electric years. An early example of his work is available on this site: "Code MD: Coded Phrases in the Early Electric Period" (1996). He contributed a valuable sessionography to Paul Tingen's Miles Beyond: Electric Explorations of Miles Davis, 1967-1991 (2001). He and Veniero Rizzardi published Bitches Brew: Genesi del capolavaro di Miles Davis (Milano: Il Saggiatori, 2009), analyzing the techniques used by Miles Davis and Teo Macero in the early electric period. His most recent project is Miles Davis 1959: A Day-by-Day Chronology, released in 2018.

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.

Klaus Werner has responded to my questions and requests many times, often sharing items from his vast collection of Miles Davis treasures, and he has been helpful and encouraging for many years. Be sure to check out his excellent website, Miles Davis -- formerly known as Kind of Blue.

Chris DeVito and Ron Fritts have also been generous, supplying me with dates, venues, and copies 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 his contribution to 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 shared discographical information, especially about European releases. Kevin Carswell's keen eye has spotted many errors and discrepancies and he has been kind to bring them to my attention. In addition, 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 Montréal.

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. Frederik Adlers has kindly shared his expertise in identifying the various electr(on)ic keyboards Davis played in the 1980s and 1990s.

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, Bob Elliott, Mark Freeman, Pascal Garnier, Larry Gregan, Franco Huber, Eric Jooris, 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, Masaya Yamaguchi, 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, so if you want to peruse some of them, or you want to read more about Miles Davis, check out the list of books and websites elsewhere on this site.

I'm sure that there are errors and omissions in these pages; if you have corrections or additions, please send me a message.

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, Électrique 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, and David Wild; edited by Lewis Porter, The John Coltrane Reference. New York and London: Taylor and Francis, 2008. [website]

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

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

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

Takao Ogawa a.o., Jazz Hero's Data Bank [sic]. 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]