Milestones (Miles Davis album)

Milestones
Studio album by Miles Davis
Released	September 2, 1958
Recorded	February 4 and March 4, 1958 at Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York City
Genre	Jazz
Length	47:36 (LP), 69:00 (CD)
Label	Columbia CL 1193
Producer	George Avakian
Miles Davis chronology
Miles Ahead (1957) Milestones (1958) Porgy and Bess (1958)

Milestones is an album recorded in February and March 1958 by Miles Davis. It is renowned for including Miles' first forays into the developing modal jazz experiments, as noticed on the piece "Milestones" (not to be confused with "Miles" – recorded, by Davis, in 1948), which would be followed to its logical conclusion on Kind of Blue. Furthermore, the playing of his sextet, which featured Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane contributing on such tracks as "Straight No Chaser", have induced it to be highly regarded by jazz musicians, fans and critics alike. It was also the last time the rhythm section of Jones, Garland and Chambers would ever play with Miles on record.

Coltrane returned to Davis’s group in 1958, contributing to the “modal phase” albums Milestones (1958) and Kind of Blue (1959), both considered essential examples of 1950s modern jazz. Davis at this point was experimenting with modes—i.e., scale patterns other than major and minor.^[1]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
All About Jazz	(favorable)[2]
Allmusic	[3]
PopMatters	(favorable)[4]

The Penguin Guide to Jazz selected this album as part of its suggested "Core Collection" calling it "one of the very great modern-jazz albums."^[5]

Track listing

Side one

1. "Dr. Jackle" – 5:47 (Jackie McLean)
2. "Sid's Ahead" – 12:59 (Miles Davis)
3. "Two Bass Hit" – 5:13 (John Lewis – Dizzy Gillespie)

Side two

1. "Milestones" – 5:45 (Davis)^[6]
2. "Billy Boy" – 7:14 (traditional, arr. Ahmad Jamal)
3. "Straight, No Chaser" – 10:41 (Thelonious Monk)

CD track listing

1. "Dr. Jackle" – 5:47
2. "Sid's Ahead" – 12:59
3. "Two Bass Hit" – 5:13
4. "Milestones" – 5:42
5. "Billy Boy" – 7:10
6. "Straight, No Chaser" – 10:35
7. "Two Bass Hit" (Alternate Take) – 4:30
8. "Milestones" (Alternate Take) – 6:00
9. "Straight, No Chaser" (Alternate Take) – 10:30

Tracks 3–8 recorded on February 4, 1958; tracks 1 and 2 recorded on March 4, 1958.

Performers

• Miles Davis – Trumpet, Piano (on "Sid's Ahead")
• Cannonball Adderley – Alto saxophone
• John Coltrane – Tenor saxophone
• Red Garland – Piano
• Paul Chambers – Double bass
• Philly Joe Jones – Drums

Notes

1. ^ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1286546/Milestones Encyclopedia – Britannica Online EncyclopediaProvides complete text of Encyclopaedia Britannica with search capabilities, related...
2. ^ All About Jazz review
3. ^ Allmusic review
4. ^ PopMatters review
5. ^ Cook, Richard; Brian Morton (2006) [1992]. "Miles Davis". The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings. The Penguin Guide to Jazz (8th. ed.). New York: Penguin. pp. 321–2. ISBN 0-14-102327-9. 
6. ^ Referred to as "Milestones" on Davis' later recordings, and is not to be confused with the earlier "Milestones", a bebop melody written by John Lewis, credited to Davis, first recorded in 1947.