William's Song a Day Blog - est. September 2007

From: Miles in the Sky ; Year: 1968; Genre: Jazz Fusion I happened to hear this track yesterday during my journeys and I knew I had to make it today's pick. If you want to hear almost 13 minutes of the some of the greatest jazz musicians to ever exist at their best, then this song is definitely worth a listen. Whilst it's difficult to single out one member of the band on this recording due to the immense skills displayed, George Benson's guitar playing really add a great aspect you normally do not hear too much.   Hear Paraphernalia on YouTube.       My song pick 1 year ago today: Utopia - Set Me Free   My song pick 2 years ago today: Nick Gilder - Rated X   My song pick 3 years ago today: Rush - Second Nature My song pick 4 years ago today: Diana Ross & The Supremes - Someday We'll be Together My song pick 5 years ago today: Megadeth - Dread and the Fugitive Mind My song pick 6 years ago today: Lynyrd Skynyrd - Gimme Back My Bullets My song p...

From: Blue Haze ; Year: 1956; Genre: Hard Bop Jazz/Blues I've been in the mood for some bluesy jazz for most of the day; I figured I could not go wrong with something from the great Miles Davis. This is one you could easily get lost in just listening, so much beauty and technique.   Hear Blue Haze on YouTube.       My song pick 1 year ago today: Bootsy Collins - Hyper Space   My song pick 2 years ago today: The Cure - Lovesong My song pick 3 years ago today: Steeleye Span - The Lofty Tall Ship/Shallow Brown My song pick 4 years ago today: Powerwolf - Sanctus Dominus My song pick 5 years ago today: Simple Minds - Alive and Kicking My song pick 6 years ago today: Jethro Tull - Love Story My song pick 7 years ago today: Primus - My Name is Mud My song pick 8 years ago today: Styx - Mr. Roboto My song pick 9 years ago today: Carmen - High Time My song pick 10 years ago today: Stahlhammer - Strom Der Zeit My song pick 11 years ago today: Ally K...

From: Blue Haze ; Year: 1957; Genre: Hard Bop Jazz I have had Miles Davis' Blue Haze album on my mind; this rendition of Miles Ahead in particular. There's some great musicianship throughout this piece; truly landmark music in the extreme. Hear Miles Ahead on YouTube. My song pick 1 year ago today: Grace Slick - All The Machines My song pick 2 years ago today: Of Monsters and Men - Black Water My song pick 3 years ago today: Blondie - Union City Blue My song pick 4 years ago today: Candlebox - Change My song pick 5 years ago today: Pallas - Atlantis My song pick 6 years ago today: The Beatles - Blackbird My song pick 7 years ago today: Vaughn Monroe - (Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend My song pick 8 years ago today: Bob Dylan - Knockin' on Heaven's Door My song pick 9 years ago today: Frank Zappa - Dumb All Over My song pick 10 years ago today: Django Reinhardt - I'll See You In My Dreams My song pick 11 years ago today: Q...

From: The Man With The Horn ; Year: 1981; Genre: Jazz Fusion/Funk If my numbers are correct, today marks my 130th consecutive Funky Friday; 130 weeks straight of picking something funk or funk related to mark the end of the workweeks. Anyway, the funky latinesque groove is what really catches my attention every time I hear it; Marcus Miller's bass in particular. With this tight and complex rhythm it gives an excellent platform for Miles Davis to work his magic he's so known for. Hear Aïda on YouTube. My song pick one year ago today: James Blunt - So Long, Jimmy My song pick two years ago today: Alestorm - Death Throes of the Terrorsquid My song pick three years ago today: Of Monsters and Men - Mountain Sound My song pick four years ago today: Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast My song pick five years ago today: Larry Graham & Graham Central Station - The Jam My song pick six years ago today: Django Reinhardt & Stephane Grappelli (Quintett...

From: Milestones ; Year: 1958 (1946); Genre: Bebop Jazz I'm in the mood for some jazz this morning, and looked no further than the great sounds of some early Miles Davis. This is one of his most famous earlier hits, in fact it's one of his more famous songs period. Great playing all around on this amazing track. Hear Milestones on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Thin Lizzy - Warriors My song pick two years ago today: Soundgarden - Taree My song pick three years ago today: Lighthouse - Pretty Lady My song pick four years ago today: Ugly Kid Joe - Mr. Recordman My song pick five years ago today: Chet Atkins & Jerry Reed - Something My song pick six years ago today: Buddy Holly & the Crickets - Well... All Right My song pick seven years ago today: Fleetwood Mac - Dreams

From: Live-Evil ; Year: 1971; Genre: Jazz Fusion/Funk Wow, I just noticed that, according to Google, my song a day blog just passed 100,000 page views. Actually that's only since April 2009 when I migrated this blog from my old MySpace account where I posted for the first two years; I guess that's kind of cool, eh. Anyway, back to song blogging; here's my ninth Funky Friday pick in a row, and I thought I'd pick something a bit more off the wall. I'd really love to know what was going on in the mind of Miles Davis' head. Every time I listen to his recording I wonder how he could've conceptualized this kind of music let alone bring it into reality; whatever the case, the man was a utter genius. Anyway, if you decide to listen to this one get ready for almost 24 minutes of being deluged in Miles' avant-garde mixture of Jazz, Bop, Funk, Rock, and whatever else you can pick out. Like I said before, he was one of those greats that pushed the very ...

From: Kind of Blue ; Year: 1959; Genre: Modal Jazz With today's pick number I had a quandary; there's a lot of good music released in the year 1959; (suffice it to say I have a lot of future picks of songs from that year). However, I then remembered that '59 was the year Miles Davis recorded and released arguably one of, if not the most influential jazz album of all time: Kind of Blue . While I've heard many, many artists citing this album as one of their main inspirations and had it described as, and I'm paraphrasing here, like The Bible: every house seems to have a copy of it, Miles Davis himself seemed to not be as enthusiastic about it looking back on it. Perhaps that's the way that pioneers on the cutting edge of even the definition of music itself look at their past work; they're always looking for what's new. In my opinion, no matter what you think of his personality, you have to admit the man had more talent and originality in his fingern...

From: Milestones ; Year: 1958; Genre:Modal  Jazz Here's a nice one that was recorded and released in 1958, which is also today's song pick number. This is Miles' cover of a Thelonious Monk tune that features both legendary saxophonists Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane. Hear Straight, No Chaser on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Triumph - Hold On My song pick two years ago today: Jack Black and Jason Segel - The Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth My song pick three years ago today: John Denver - Poems, Prayers and Promises My song pick four years ago today: Crosby, Stills & Nash - Marrakesh Express My song pick five years ago today: Jethro Tull - We Used To Know

1628 Miles Davis - Pharaoh's Dance From: Bitches Brew , Year: 1970 Genre: Jazz Fusion/Jazz I was thinking about some of the songs off of this album this morning and figured I would pick one of them. This is one of Miles' more experimental albums, which contained sounds you'd continue to hear in the coming decades in Jazz. On this song, which was written by master keyboardist Joe Zawinul, contains an amazing lineup of musicians and a real interesting arrangement as well: Miles Davis, of course, (trumpet), Joe Zawinul (left piano), Chick Corea (right piano), Larry Young (mid piano), Lenny White (left drums), Jack DeJohnette (Right Drums), John McLaughlin (guitar), Wayne Shorter (soprano saxophone), Bernie Maupin (bass clarinet), Dave Holland (double bass), Harvey Brooks (electric bass), Don Alias (congas), and Juma Santos (shaker). While Miles Davis' music and this album in particular isn't everyone's cup of tea, he and his music has influenced not only Jazz, but ...

1517 Miles Davis - Freedom Jazz Dance From: Miles Smiles , Year: 1967 Genre: Jazz/Post Bop The other day I happened upon the sheet music to this song packed away in my guitar case amongst my other sheet music. I have no idea where it came from, but it truly has been a joy learning it. This song was originally written by Eddie Harris, but Miles Davis' version is one of the most well known. On this album he was backed by: Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams. It's always fun reading the musicians list on his albums; it's like reading the who's who of Jazz music at the time of its release. Here is a recording of the song on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Boston - More Than a Feeling My song pick two years ago today: David Bowie - Suffragette City My song pick three years ago today: Slade - Mama Weer All Crazee Now My song pick four years ago today: Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) - Prologue/Twilight +

1271 Miles Davis - Freddie Freeloader Ever since last night I've had Miles Davis' Kind of Blue album running steadily through my mind. This is, of course, one of the tracks from this masterpiece of an album; it is about 10 minutes of pure musical bliss. I've always loved John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley's saxophone playing/solos. Hear Freddie Freeloader on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Django Reinhardt & Stephane Grappelli (Quintette du Hot Club de France) - Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away) My song pick two years ago today: Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble - Little Wing My song pick three years ago today: Jethro Tull - Said She Was A Dancer +

1165 Miles Davis - So What My friend and I were going over some of Miles Davis' music yesterday, of course music from Miles' legendary Kind of Blue album took up most of the time. We were mostly going over his use of modes and improvisation in the album's music; in this song he employs the Dorian mode . What I love about this song in particular is while it's an amazing piece of music to listen to it's quite unobtrusive as well. Hear So What on YouTube. My song pick a year ago today: Ray Charles - I Can't Stop Loving You My song pick two years ago today: J.S. Bach - BWV 659 - Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland My song pick three years ago today: Billy Thorpe - Children of the Sun +

This song is easily one of my absolute favorite Miles Davis tracks. It is a very mellow Jazz composition that is quite listenable even to those who are not fans of Jazz. The song is experimental in that there is no definitive melody present; instead there was a lot of improvisation as well as the use of modal scales. Hear Flamenco Sketches on YouTube. +

I decided that I needed some Miles Davis on my list; this is one of my favourite songs that I have heard from his band. This is a Hard Bop Jazz song, which is a genre of Jazz that is as much fun for me to listen to as classical; there is a lot of musical virtuosity to be had in this amazing sub-genre. Here is part one of the studio version on YouTube. Here is part two on YouTube. Here is a live performance on YouTube. +