Miles on Monday: More Newport box set reviews, Glasper remixing Miles, and more

If it's Monday, that means it's time for the latest in Miles Davis-related news:

* This past weekend's Newport Jazz Festival commemorated the 60th anniversary of Davis' first performance at the event with a variety of performances and special events, and radio station WBUR in Boston interviewed the festival's impresario George Wein (pictured, with Davis) about his experiences with the trumpeter.

* Also on the Newport front, as promised last week, here are links to more reviews of the recently released box set Miles Davis at Newport 1955-1975: The Bootleg Series Vol. 4:

"So instead of being wall-to-wall necessary, this Bootleg Series edition is simply three-quarters-revelatory. But what is legitimately new here is as good as anything else in the Davis-rarity series." - Seth Colter Walls, Pitchfork

"Perhaps no other recording better illustrates how Miles Davis bridged the gap between jazz’s old guard and its younger visionaries." - John Paul, PopMatters

"This is another excellent archival boxed set from Columbia’s seemingly bottomless archive of Miles Davis recordings. The music is simply extraordinary and the packaging is fine as well with solid liner notes and discography and wonderful photographs." - Tim Niland, Music and More

"No music lover and especially no Miles Davis fan should go without this wonderfully historic box set." - Devon Wendell, International Review of Music

"A starting point for newer fans or an added box to check off for fans of everything Miles. Either way, another essential release from the vaults." - George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly

"It's a jazz journey of fearless and epic proportions." - Walter Tunis, Lexington Herald Leader

"Hearing it all together, over four discs, his innovations don’t seem as radical as they might have been considered at the time, but they’re nonetheless fascinating to devour." - Mike Shalney, Blurt

"Just as Miles’ catalog is broken up by different jazz genres, this set does a superb job of giving us a little bit of everything." - Ira Kantor, Elmore

* Speaking of reviews, Victor Svorinch's book Listen to This: Miles Davis and Bitches Brew was reviewed for AllAboutJazz.com by Matt R. Lohr.

* The latest batch of vinyl reissues out last week from Blue Note includes Davis' 1956 album Miles Davis, Volume 1.

* Davis' son Erin Davis and nephew Vince Wilburn, Jr. were interviewed by SoulTrain.com.

* In an interview with the British magazine Jazzwise, pianist Robert Glasper said that in addition to his previously disclosed work on the Miles Ahead movie soundtrack, he's also doing an album of remixes of Davis' own recordings.

Music Education Monday: Behind the score of Birdman with drummer Antonio Sanchez

The Academy Award nominated film Birdman, now playing in theaters across the US, has won acclaim for its script, cinematography, lead performance by Michael Keaton, and the musical score created by drummer Antonio Sanchez.

Perhaps best known to jazz fans for his work with guitarist Pat Metheny, Sanchez (pictured) unfortunately was eliminated from consideration in this year's Oscars due to a technicality, as the film's soundtrack also included some pre-existing material.

But that snub hasn't stopped viewers and critics from raving about Sanchez' contribution to Birdman, and this article about Sanchez and the Birdman score at IndieWire.com includes a video in which the drummer talks about how he put the music together.

Down below here on this page, there's a video of a complete master class that Sanchez did in 2013 when he was a guest artist-in-residence at Berklee College of Music. Though the class is focused on jazz drumming, not film scoring, it offers more insight into Sanchez' techniques and his approach to music.

For more about Antonio Sanchez' score for Birdman, read this article from Vanity Fair; this interview the drummer did with HitFix.com, which includes some audio samples from the score; his interview with the blog The Film Experience; and this article from TheCredits.org. You can hear audio of all 28 minutes of Sanchez' music for Birdman here.