Milestones

McCoy Tyner. I have enjoyed almost all of his work, and of course there's the Coltrane connection.

Not sure if this is what you may be looking for, but Kenny Burrell does a lovely reading of this song (from late 50s, I believe). I am surprised that there aren't more versions of "I'll Close My Eyes." At least, I have heard very few.

Speaking for myself, I rarely remember what I hear/see on YouTube. Maybe I don't watch it often enough.

That's rather sad, since jazz artists have been well-documented, sometimes extremely-documented. We are still getting CDs from Miles (Bootleg series) and Coltrane (Both Directions at Once and many more); but If you are not a superstar (especially those no longer with us), it seems like you're in trouble.

So there is still the question: why hasn't he had a record contract in quite some time?

What about something like Mediterranean Concerto by John McLaughlin? Granted, he is not Mozart, but this appears to fully be a Classical piece. I think the same can be said for the piano concerto written and played by Chick Corea.

Well, he was not young a the time of the Blue Note--about 47. But for most artists who are established at that age (and it seemed Ravi was), they usually find some labels willing to record them on a regular basis.

A nice conversation, often entertaining--though not really offering new insights into John's music. It seems that Ravi disappeared as a leader after 2012, after that one record on Blue Note. Later there was a co-led album with DeJohnette and Matthew Garrison. Of course, he is appearing on stages in this centennial year. But he's had a low profile for quite some time.

It's interesting that Dolly recorded some rock 'n roll many years before her rather odd Rock Star album--such as "House of the Rising Son" (I always think first of The Animals version) about 1980 and a nice acoustic version of "Stairway to Heaven" in 2002.

I think most of us select one album for popularity and a different one for artistic worth. I would not even bother thinking about popularity. I find that Eurasia is a very good record, and so is the live album with Gerry Mulligan.

Did the Red Sox make a deal with the devil? One has to wonder.

My strong impression is that Art Blakey made more live records than ones in the studio.

Wow. Yes, an awful lot of live albums and plenty of repetition. But I find many jewels among these performances.

I'm pretty sure #6 is Jerry Gonzalez. We can all recognize Coltrane in a second, but it's still good to have him here--"Welcome" is a great, great composition and performance.

I was into Pullen/Adams for a while. It was a good idea to put together a small group of (mostly) Mingus alumni, but they mainly played their own compositions--and that was fine. This performance is rather restrained for them. Definitely an under-recognized group.

It is true that live jazz performances focus more on uptempo numbers, but it would have been great had Miles had played more ballads in concert--IMO, the best ballads player ever. But, as they say, there's always the original studio record.

Miles also known to play, in these years, "My Funny Valentine," "All of You," "Round Midnight," "Stella by Starlight."

HutchFan you're right!

I think it's interesting to know how/why music artists (of any sort) decide on what to include in their live sets. Some songs are regulars, some are occasional, and some don't appear at all. And with an album as iconic as Kind of Blue, why did Miles choose to not include three of the pieces.

Indeed, that is the question. I am hoping to receive possible answers.

All 5 pieces have been covered a great deal, though probably "Flamenco Sketches" the least of the five. Still, I have versions by Joe Henderson, John Abercrombie, and Ron Carter.

Does anyone know why Miles apparently only played "So What" and "All Blues" in concert? There are many live versions of these two pieces from the early 60s, but I don't know of any live versions of the other three. I have seen the AI answer, which is that "Flamenco Sketches" is too sensitive for the concert hall or nightclub; the same with "Blue in Green," plus it demands Bill Evans. That sounds unconvincing. True "Flamenco" is as haunting as anything Miles ever played, but he certainly performed plenty of ballads in concert in this period--how about the stunning 15" version of "My Funny Valentine"? "Blue in Green" has been covered by a ton of artists, so you just wonder why Miles did not play it live. I'm sure Miles would have put a new spin on the tracks. Look how different "So What" was in concert--and so much faster.

Yeah, a Jim Steinman song--no one should fail to identify that on a blindfold test. I can so easily imagine Meatloaf singing this. But I have to say, Bonnie really nails it. Never a fan of music videos, and especially from this era.

No question that most jazz artists are prolific, but consider how often releases don't see the light of day until a decade later(even many decades later). There was that Marsalis thing at the turn of the century, which did not seem to thrill anyone. What's interesting about the Vince Gill thing is the regular release of an EP for 12 straight months (still in progress, of course).

I am not very interested in Gill, but he's got a very intriguing thing going on this year--a new release in every month of 2026. Each of these contains 7-8 tracks and runs around 25 minutes. Supposedly, other artists have done this, or tried. Of course, it is easier to do this with an EP versus a CD of 60-75 minutes, or even one running the old LP length (about 40") We've had big releases, like Jarrett with 10 records of solo piano (live of course). But I can't think of anyone in jazz doing something along the lines of what Vince Gill is doing right now.