Album Reviews

Nefertiti | Miles Davis

By Dan ⋅ August 5, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

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Aside from my newly found interest in the Avishai Cohen Trio, Miles Davis is the first name that pops in my head when someone sparks a conversation about jazz. I’m sure this is the case for a lot of people, but have you really taken the time to listen to his albums in entirety, or are you like me and are just vaguely familiar enough to carry on a conversation with other jazz enthusiasts? He had several masterpieces, but would you be able to pick out your favorite? Maybe it’s just my nature to pick the less obvious, but my choice is Nefertiti (1967).

Sketches of Spain (1959) or Birth of Cool (1949) seems to be the general consensus among my friends who favor jazz, but there’s just something more unique and soothing to me about Nefertiti. Perpahs I just haven’t studied his collection enough, but ironically, I’ve done a lot studying with Nefertiti. I can’t tell you how many homework assignments I’ve done or exams I’ve studied for with this album. It’s quite the eclectic list of bands that I can study to. I’ll find myself starting with Oceanic by Isis and then jump to Nefertiti. I’m just able to zone out and temporarily forget the world around me when I put in my headphones with these albums (and a few a others too).

I consider myself to not be terribly familiar with jazz. Mr. Cutright or Schiavoni would probably be better critics in the genre than myself as nearly all of the artists I know came from suggestions from one of them, or jazz band I suppose. Regardless, jazz classics like Miles Davis have always intrigued me, mostly because there is so much more thought put into his compositions and skill into his improvisations than the vast majority of what’s found in the music scene of my generation. I find Miles Davis to be just busy enough to not be too busy and just crazy enough to not be too crazy.. I don’t want to put Miles on too high of a pedestal, as I know there are many, many more jazz artists as good, but he is certainly among my favorites. Even still, I’ll be sure to jog your memory of others in the weeks to come.

Tags: jazz