Aura

Artist: Miles Davis
Label: Sony
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 074644533224
EAN: 0074644533224
ASIN: B0000026VG

Release Date: 1989-09-12

Related Categories:

General

| Jazz | Styles | Music

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Listmania:

under no circumstances by these records
Truely Essential Miles Davis Recordings

Tracks:

Intro
White
Yellow
Orange
Red
Green
Blue
Electric Red
Indigo
Violet

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Customer Reviews:

Adding Decoration to a Rainbow.......2005-02-05

Aura was composed by Palle Mikkelborg who was also the producer.
If one is familiar with Miles Davis' work, one will see that the
stages of color from white to purple relate to the stages of Miles' career, from BeBop to Cool to Orchestra to post-Bebop to
modal then electric, with the blues always remembered. The music chosen by Miles Davis to play over Palle Mikkelborg's orchestration is all imporvised, and meant to fit the portion of the era being
protrayed. ( Miles even was heard to say that Palle knew more about the history of Miles Davis's music than he did. And it
shows.)
The music is not easy to get into, it takes time to absorb.
It isn't like a four or five minute set of standards. It's a
complete concept, a tribute to Miles Davis and his music. The
presence of John McLaughlin adds to the flavor of a retrospective
and reminds us that this is a record looking back, performed by
musicians of the present--or the present when it was performed.
Miles made artistic decisions on the record, it wasn't all
a work scored that Miles would simply play on. In the manner of
Gil Evans, Mikkelborg wrote out the music for the orchestra but
left Miles to improvise the lead. One song has no Miles Davis
trumpet on it, Indigo, because Miles said the record was full
enough without his trumpet in it. That shows artistic integrity.
And he was right.
The record is different from his usual trumpet redordings
because he is fronting a huge orchestra. The Danish studio
orchestra of Copenhagen was playing the score, and there wasn't
the same sort of playing as one does with a small band. The
orchestra uses all the tricks ever used in a Miles Davis record,
from horn to synthesizers to electric bass. The ethereal sound
of much of the record helps to emphasize the trumpet solos that
Miles does in the space left open for them.
Each cut of the recording is strong enough to stand on its
own. The complete piece of music is a masterpiece of musical
engineering. It is not a piece that can be listened to as a
backgound to housework or reading. It must be actually listened
to and experienced. It is worthy of the five stars I have
given it.

Quite good.......2000-02-16

This is not one of Miles' greatest albums, but it is a quality work. Miles plays really well, for the last time in his recorded career--all albums after this one had markedly worse playing by him. The compositions are interesting and there is an attempt to create artistic statements, which is also lacking in all of the albums after this one. Not all of the music works completely, but the failures on this album are those of an artist straining to achieve art, not the failures of later Miles albums which are the failures of a cynic who has abandoned any pretense at creating art. This album is often compelling and enjoyable to listen to, and in historic context, is the last gasp of Miles' career.

I agree with the critic from CT.......1999-09-27

This is a 'production', not a jazz alubum. Even though this music is interesting in it's own way, it's not the jazz that Miles would make, were this his effort. Disappointing would be the key word.

Hit & Miss.......1999-06-13

Been a Miles fan for years and I appreciate all periods. The last period is Miles weakest in some ways. Most albums in the last period have some brilliant stuff, after all it is Miles. This one is spotty. Some great stuff but a lot of searching without finding. At least Miles continued to search unlike some of the moldy old figs out there.

Unique beyond all criticism.......1999-06-12

The reason that this album is important is because it is the ultimate introduction to Miles, and or jazz itself. Why? As a beginning jazz listenter, ever try to understand the connection between the title of a jazz piece and the piece itself? Ok. This cd provides for the listener a starting point, an elementary intro to musical/symbolic expressions, of the titles. We already know the sybolism of lets say, RED. How does a musician tell us of red without saying a word? This album is the closest most tangible connection to a physical painting, but you see, the music is the brush, and canvis is your mind. This is the ONLY album by Miles that has this easily accessable quality, it makes it unique. Unique beyond ALL criticism. Furthermore the playing by Miles is excellent, and equivilant to any of his other albums, because I've never heard Miles play anything but, EXCELLENT. Have you not heard Electric red?

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