Monday, March 14, 2016

Miles on Monday: Release dates set for Miles Ahead soundtrack & tribute album, and more

This week in Miles Davis news:

* Columbia/Legacy Recordings last week announced the upcoming release of two Miles Davis-related projects: a soundtrack album for the feature film Miles Ahead, and Everything’s Beautiful, a tribute album described as "reimagined interpretations" of Davis' music.

The Miles Ahead soundtrack, out on Friday, April 1 to coincide with the film's release in the US, will feature recordings from Davis’ Prestige and Columbia Records catalogs plus new original music written and performed by pianist Robert Glasper, with guest appearances by Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, trumpeter and St. Louis native Keyon Harrold, and more.

Everything’s Beautiful is set for release on Friday, May 27, one day after what would have been Davis' 90th birthday. It also was produced by Glasper and incorporates some of Davis' original recordings into "new collaborative soundscapes," along with performances from guest artists including Stevie Wonder, Erykah Badu, John Scofield, Ledisi, Hiatus Kaiyote, and others.

Columbia Legacy already has released "Ghetto Walkin'", a single from Everything's Beautiful featuring the singer Bilal, which you can hear by clicking on the image in this post. They've also put out a short promotional video for the album, which you can see in the embedded video window at the bottom of this post.

* Meanwhile, Glasper, Harrold, Miles Ahead director and star Don Cheadle, and others are set to take part in a panel discussion on the making of "Miles Ahead" during this week's SXSW Music conference in Austin, TX. The Austin Chronicle also reviewed the film in advance of the SXSW screening.

* Continuing his series of media appearances for the film, Cheadle was interviewed on the Jazziz magazine podcast.

* Davis' sartorial style, and his occasional attempts to impart tips to his sidemen on how to dress, were the subject of a New York Times feature, "The Ensembles of Miles Davis Epitomized Cool".

* Also worth a look, the UK website Uncut has republished their 2011 feature "Miles Davis – the making of Kind Of Blue, Bitches Brew and more", featuring comments from former Davis collaborators Jimmy Cobb, Jack DeJohnette, Michael Henderson, Bill Evans, Marcus Miller, and Easy Mo Bee.

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