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An Introduction to Miles Ahead

Miles Davis discography
Contains information about commercially issued recordings. It's organized chronologically. If you select a recording from the list, you get basic facts about the recording (label, dates, tunes and composers, and cover art if it's available) -- and links to more detailed information about the sessions. If you're looking for all the recordings on a particular label, try the label-by-label listing.

Miles Davis sessions list
Lists all the sessions in the Miles Ahead database, not just those available on commercially issued recordings. It's also organized chronologically. If you select a date from the list, you get details about that session (location, musicians, tunes, releases, notes, etc.) Data for sessions from 1980-1991 has been provided by Jan Lohmann, author of The Sound of Miles Davis: The Discography 1945-1991 (Copenhagen: JazzMedia ApS, 1992).

Miles Davis query form
Allows you to search for tunes, musicians, venues, cities, media, groups, or years. You can also combine fields, e.g. to find only those versions of "'Round Midnight" featuring John Coltrane, or all of the 1957 New York performances of the Miles Davis Quintet with Sonny Rollins. You get a list of sessions matching your query, and from there you can get to details on each session.

Discographical details
Provides a fuller list of the various forms in which a tune has been issued. Formats include: 78 rpm, 45 rpm, 10" LP, 12" LP, compact disc, and video.

Charlie Parker discography
Provides details for many CD reissues of Charlie Parker. It too is organized chronologically. Since so many of Parker's recordings are compilations which combine recordings from several different dates, this may not be so useful. To see the recordings grouped by label, try the label-by-label listing. There is also a summary of the available boxed sets of Parker's studio and live recordings.

Charlie Parker sessions list
Organized chronologically, and lists all the Parker sessions in the Miles Ahead database. If you select a date from the list, you get details about that session (location, musicians, tunes, releases, etc.).

Charlie Parker query form
Allows you to search for tunes, musicians, venues, cities, media, groups, or years. Again, you can combine various parameters, e.g. to find all of the versions of "Anthropology" with Dizzy Gillespie. As with the Miles Davis version, you get a list of sessions matching your query, and from there you can get to details on each session.

Site index
Links to all of the pages on the Miles Ahead website.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What's in Miles Ahead?

A: The Miles Ahead database includes information about 1166 sessions, and discographical entries for 1188 compact discs, LPs, and other media. It also contains information about 229 Charlie Parker sessions, and discographical entries for 189 Parker CDs and CD sets.

Miles Davis discography items

Miles Davis sessions

Charlie Parker sessions

Q: How do you decide the "decade" of a record or CD when it includes sessions from more than one decade?

A: Previously I listed the record only in the decade of the earliest recording -- so a record like Sketches of Spain, which includes sessions from 1959 and 1960, would appear only in the list of 1950s records. I changed this a while back so a record that includes sessions from more than one decade now appears in each of the decades -- so Sketches of Spain appears near the end of the list of 1950s records and also in the list of 1960s records. This means that many records (especially compilations) will be listed multiple times, but you will be able to find them based on the decade of any of the sessions included, not just the earliest.

Q: What happened to the information about the Miles-L discussion group?

A: The Miles-L went offline many years ago and has been superseded by a Google group. Many of the members of the old Miles-L participate in a Facebook group.

Q: Why are you asking for donations?

A: The costs involved in maintaining Miles Ahead have increased as I have added features over the years. So if you're feeling generous, please read more and consider making a small donation to help pay for Miles Ahead.

Q: Why don't you list bootleg CD-Rs?

A: I did for a while, but it reached a point of diminishing returns. The vast majority of CD-Rs (on labels like Stardust, So What, and Red Circle) are poorly produced, based on inferior masters, inaccurately labeled, and not very widely available -- and in many cases are exorbitantly expensive. Even the unreleased studio sessions available on these labels (e.g. the Bitches Brew or Calypso Frelimo or He Loved Him Madly sessions on So What and other labels) are based on unknown-generation reference copies of the studio reels. And since there are new CD-Rs coming out all the time, it was really hard to keep up. Apologies to the completists out there.

Q: What's all this stuff about a Creative Commons License?

A: The Creative Commons (creativecommons.org) represents an attempt to negotiate sensible compromises in permitting the use of various kinds of intellectual property; as they put it, "We work to offer creators a best-of-both-worlds way to protect their works while encouraging certain uses of them -- to declare 'some rights reserved.'" This is an intriguing idea, and so I thought I'd join up. Here's why, in a nutshell. Maintaining Miles Ahead is, on and off, a lot of work. I am glad to share the information gathered here -- with the help of many others, I'll be the first to admit -- but when it is used commercially, by producers of bootleg CDs, for example, or by people hawking their wares on eBay, I'm less happy. The terms of the Creative Commons License governing this site allow you to use the original content on this site freely so long as (1) you acknowledge where it came from; (2) you're not using it for commercial purposes; and (3) if you alter, transform, or build upon it, you distribute the resulting product only under the same terms as I've just described. That seems fair enough, doesn't it?

Q: I have one of the sessions you list, but the track list and/or the timings don't match. Why?

A: Several possibilities. First, sessions that passed through many analog tape decks vary a lot in duration as well as quality. Second, people sometimes excise announcements, shorten applause, etc., which changes the overall length of tunes and sets. Digital audio editors make it easy to alter recordings (remove dropouts and gaps, shorten applause, and the like). Finally, it's possible -- but not very likely -- that your version is just different than the one I've listed. For most live Davis shows there is only one master, either an audience or soundboard recording or a radio broadcast. The likelihood of independent masters, especially for pre-1980s shows, is pretty small.

As for different track lists, people mark the beginnings and endings of tunes differently -- this is especially true in the early electric period (1967-1975) when sets were performed without interruptions. For live sessions, the times I have listed generally include the applause after the performance.

Q: I have a session (or a record) that's not listed here. Can you give me details?

A: Probably not. Miles Ahead is not comprehensive or complete. There are probably some live sessions and some studio recordings that are not listed. Also, I have not tried to list every issued version of every recording, or every collection or compilation of Davis tunes. If this is what you're after, find a copy of Jan Lohmann's discography, The Sound of Miles Davis (Copenhagen: JazzMedia, 1992). The Discogs.com website (https://www.discogs.com/search/) is also a good place to find information about items that are not listed here.

Two other Davis websites -- George Cole's The Last Miles: The Music of Miles Davis 1980-1991, and Paul Tingen's Miles Beyond: The Electric Explorations of Miles Davis 1967-1991 -- are much more comprehensive than Miles Ahead when it comes to Davis' post-1980 activity.

Q: Can I buy copies of these recordings?

A: Sadly, many of Miles Davis' recordings for major labels (Prestige, Columbia, Warner Brothers, etc.) are out of print. Some live recordings have been issued either in licensed versions or on bootleg LP or CD; but many of these are out of print as well. Often they show up on eBay or discogs.com or other internet auction sites. Some online vendors even sell CD-R copies of live Davis shows, but it's good to be wary of these, since many such shows are misidentified, and many are based on poor and/or incomplete masters. And the prices are often absurdly high. If you're interested is seeing what's available, cyberseekers.com is a good place to start.

Q: No, I mean do you sell these recordings?

A: No. I used to trade for shows I did not have, or for better-quality versions of shows I did have. Not any more.

Q: I don't have anything to trade. How can I get started?

A: Check out the BitTorrent sites on the internet -- e.g. dimeadozen.org or Lossless Legs. There is a lot of unissued Miles Davis material available on these sites. All you need to do is create an account, install a free BitTorrent client (of which there are scores), and you're ready to go.

Q: I found an error. What should I do?

A: If you see something that looks wrong, please send me a message. Many people have helped improve Miles Ahead by finding errors.

Q: Why do you do this?

A: This site began in the early 1990s as a way to organize my collection of Miles Davis records, CDs, and tapes. It quickly became clear that there were many other fans and collectors out there, and the site evolved into a way of sharing, and gathering, information for others as well as myself. Over the years many people have contributed generously to Miles Ahead, so please visit the Credits and Acknowledgments page elsewhere on this website.