Miles Davis

6 Miles Davis Albums That Changed Music

Miles Davis died in 1991, but his influence on music is still being felt. The new film Miles Ahead, produced, co-written, directed by and starring Don Cheadle, is giving a new audience a fresh take on one period in the musician's career.
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Davis himself wasn't the most humble about his musical sway. At a White House dinner in 1987, the jazz musician was asked what he'd done to deserve to be there. Davis wrote in his autobiography that he replied, "Well, I've changed music five or six times."

Davis' career spanned more than 50 years and encompassed everything from bebop to avant-garde to hip-hop. Professor Sean Jones of the Berklee College of Music in Boston teaches a class on Miles Davis.

"It's kind of controversial," he tells NPR's Michel Martin about Davis' claim to have changed the face of music. "You can make the argument that he indeed did change music a few times, five or six times. But you could also state that he was at the forefront of the change, by putting together bands that were a part of the movements that were going on. And I tend to subscribe to that notion.

"He, having such a unique voice, he was able to superimpose his sound on that change, making it seem as if he were the change agent."

NPR asked Jones to compile some of his favorite Miles Davis songs and albums that showcase how Davis changed — or helped change — musical tastes.

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  Miles Davis during a studio recording session, October 1959.

• 'First Miles'

  What became Davis' first album, First Miles, featuring recordings from 1945 and 1947, includes the song "Milestones."
  
  "We hear him taking the bebop language and sort of making it accessible for the listener. Which is basically what hard bop was to do later on," Jones says. It's the first time Charlie Parker plays tenor saxophone, instead of his usual alto, on a recording, he says. "Even at the age of 18, he had the foresight to know that he wanted to do something different."

• 'Birth Of The Cool'

  Recorded in 1949 and 1950, on Birth of the Cool, "you hear a departure from the language of bebop," Jones says. On the song "Deception" in particular, "you hear it smoothed out. You hear the smooth sounds of the instrumentation."
  
  The recordings with Davis' nonet paved the way for his well-known collaborations with Gil Evans, Jones says.

• 'Relaxin'

  Two recording sessions in 1956 were enough for four separate albums: Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet, Cookin' with the Miles Davis Quintet, Workin' with the Miles Davis Quintet, and Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet. "If I Were a Bell" is the lead track off of Relaxin'. "Many people argue that these are the first hard bop recordings ever done," Jones says. "What you hear is a relaxed style, you hear the rhythm section very relaxed. You don't hear that up feel that you get with bebop. And you also hear the American popular songbook expressed magically by Miles."

• 'Miles Smiles'

  "Orbits," from the 1967 album Miles Smiles, is a showcase of "the Second Great Quintet," Jones says. The group had totally changed, with the exception of Davis, from the players on the previous decade's group of Quintet albums. The players — Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams — were a part of the avant-garde scene of the early to mid-'60s, he says. "You hear the freedom of rhythm — boundaries are being broken. And there's arguably no better band to represent what that period was all about than Miles Davis' Second Great Quintet."

• 'Bitches Brew'

  The 1970 album Bitches Brew is acclaimed as one of the great works in jazz fusion. "John McLaughlin" is the shortest of the six songs on the double LP, two of which run more than 20 minutes. The electric guitar, electric bass and electric piano on the album all represent a departure from earlier instrumentation. "The freedom, the exploration in sounds of the day — you can tell that Miles was checking out what was going on on the radio," Jones says. "He was checking out Sly [and the Family Stone] and he was checking out what the young cats were listening to. And so he wanted to again be the face of that change..."

• 'Tutu'

  You can hear the 1980s in "Perfect Way" from the 1986 album Tutu. The song is a cover of the song by the new wave band Scritti Politti. It features heavy use of synthesizers and drum machines. "Miles again was taking the music of the day and putting it at the forefront of his own sounds — and superimposing his sound on that," says Jones. The album and 1989's Amandla feature the production work of Marcus Miller, who also wrote most of the music on both records. "Marcus Miller definitely knows the '80s sound," he says. "He was a big part of what was happening in the '80s in many different genres..."

SOURCE: NPR Music

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Post pod nazivom Stanislaw Jerzy Lec (1) je prebačen na sajt Weebly.com

Ššš... Violeta Ivković

Ššš...

U ladicama od trešnjevog drveta sećanja.
na grudima Šćućurena Šaptala.
Rukohvat im prsten od inja. Zarobi kožu na tren,
pa se otopi pod prstima.
uŠnirana maŠnica od bosih kolena.
Neprozirno je drvo. Beli se kao cvet treŠnje
i rumeni kao zvončići ploda.
u zamrŠaju krila ŠuŠka tiŠina.
Okačim ih o uho da osluhnem.
tihuju pobeglice u koŠtici.
Pođem od zapretanih spomena. Zacvili lisnata grančica.
Šumori čarŠav, Šarenica raŠita.
Javor je procvao, zanjiše peteljkica.
i Šljiva je ruža, a ti samo minđuŠica.
Orah je eolska harfa, zatreperi skrita struna.
tiŠe, vetar u kroŠnji bluz svira.

Svučem peteljku s uha, raskinem.
trešnjicu divlju, samonikla sećanja.
Zagrcnem se jednim, pa drugim zrnom.
Ššš...

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The Smiths - The Stories Behind 27 Album And Single Sleeves

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  Ever wondered who each of the characters and faces adorning the covers of The Smiths records were? Here's an exhaustive guide to each and everyone of their 27 single and album releases' sleeves, and what they mean...

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  'Hand In Glove': The Smiths' first release, and a controversial one to boot. Keen to stoke the theme of homoeroticism, Morrissey chose a buttock-baring photo of actor George O'Mara. Andy Rourke's parents weren't best pleased. The bassist said: "He said to me, 'That's a bloke's bum' and I said, 'yeah' but when he asked me why I just didn't have an answer for him."
  
  Photo: Press
  
  Hand in Glove

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  'This Charming Man': As would become common throughout the career, The Smiths baulked at the idea of putting themselves on their artwork. Instead, Morrissey preferred to parade his pop culture heroes on record sleeves instead. Here's French swashbuckling actor Jean-Alfred Villain-Marais, in a still from Jean Cocteau's film Orpheus.
  
  Photo: Press
  
  This Charming Man

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  'What Difference Does It Make?': Terrence Stamp eventually gave permission for The Smiths to use an image of him from The Collector on the cover for The Smiths' third single. The image, which wasn't used in the film but is a still taken on set, shows Stamp holding a chloroform pad. Until he relented and allowed the image to be used, The Smiths had to come up with an alternative...
  
  Photo: Press
  
  What Difference Does it Make

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  ... which was Morrissey himself. Here's the singer doing his best to re-enact Stamp's pose (although the chloroform pad is gone, and replaced by a more wholesome glass of milk instead). Other famous figures who rejected Morrissey's artwork approaches include footballer George Best and actor Albert Finney.
  
  Photo: Press

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  'The Smiths': For The Smiths' self-titled debut, the band used an image of 1960s actor and sex symbol Joe Dallesandro. A protege of Andy Warhol, it's also Dallesandro's bulging, denim-clad crotch that takes pride of place on The Rolling Stones’ ‘Sticky Fingers’ cover.
  
  Photo: Press
  
  The Smiths (LP)

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  'Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now': Viv Nicholson, pictured here, found fame in 1961 when she won £152,319 (roughly £3m today) but squandered it all. She was a favourite of Moz's - he even pinched a quote from her autobiography for 'Still Ill' and recycled it for the lyric "Under the iron bridge, we kissed/ And although I ended up with sore lips".
  
  Photo: Press
  
  Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now

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  'William, It Was Really Nothing': According to Moz, The Smiths' artwork needed to "take images that were the opposite of glamour and to pump enough heart and desire into them to show ordinariness as an instrument of power - or, possibly, glamour." Here's a perfect example - this image was originally used as an advertisement for A.D.S speakers.
  
  Photo: Press
  
  William, it was really nothing

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  'How Soon Is Now?': A sore point for Morrissey - the original cover, a still from war film Dunkirk of Brit actor Sean Barrett in the middle of praying, was deemed too racy for US audiences, who worried that Barrett looked like he was fondling his crotch. It was replaced in the States by a picture of the band backstage at Glastonbury, which Moz called "abhorrent".
  
  Photo: Press
  
  How Soon Is Now?

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  'Meat Is Murder': Emile de Antonio’s controversial Vietnam War doc, In The Year Of The Pig, scandalised some viewers for its pro-Vietnamese sentiments. Morrissey pinched the film’s iconic image of Marine Cpl Michael Wynn, but with a twist: Wynn’s helmet was originally scrawled with the message ‘Make War Not Love’, but The Smiths changed the slogan to match the title of their LP.
  
  Photo: Press
  
  Meat Is Murder

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  'Shakespeare's Sister': The ultimate Morrissey pin-up, here's legendary actress Pat Phoenix on the sleeve of 'Shakespeare's Sister' in character as the much-loved Elsie Tanner from Manchester soap Coronation Street. One of the show's most celebrated characters, Phoenix portrayed Tanner on television screens for nearly 25 years.
  
  Photo: Press
  
  Shakespeare's Sister

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  'Barbarism Begins At Home': Another image of Nicholson, although her friendship with Morrissey would soon sour: in later life she became a Jehovah Witness, and she objected to the band using her image for a reissue of 'The Headmaster Ritual' due to the explicit lyric "Belligerent ghouls/Run Manchester schools/Spineless bastards all".
  
  Photo: Press
  
  Barbarism Begins At Home

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  'That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore': "The eyes are encrusted with hurt and premature wisdom," said Morrissey of this single's cover star, an unknown child actor from Russian film The Enchanted Desna. The band, who found the picture in a film magazine, could have ended up with something rather different - a proposed alternative cover featured a dead chicken instead.
  
  Photo: Press
  
  That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore

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  'The Boy With The Thorn In His Side': Writer Truman Capote is the jumping, jubilant cover star of 'The Boy With The Thorn In His Side'. Morrissey later said of the cover: "When I put him [Capote] on the cover of the Smiths single 'The Boy With the Thorn In His Side' a certain member of the Smiths (who unfortunately is still alive) said, "is that Ernie Wise?" .... dear God ..."
  
  Photo: Press
  
  The Boy With The Thorn In His Side

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  'Bigmouth Strikes Again': James Dean again – and this time, he's riding a motorbike. Morrissey would later pay further tribute to the actor by filming the video for solo single 'Suedehead' in Fairmount, Indiana, which is where Dean grew up.
  
  Photo: Press
  
  Bigmouth Strikes Again

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  'Panic': Man In A Suitcase was a 1960s TV series in which Richard Bradford played a disgraced ex-CIA agent turned private detective who lives out of his suitcase in London. The Smiths chose Bradford to adorn the cover of 'Panic'.
  
  Photo: Press
  
  Panic

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  'The Queen Is Dead': French thesp Alain Delon is pictured on The Smiths’ masterpiece ‘The Queen Is Dead’. Delon wrote to the frontman giving his approval for them to use an image from 1964 noir film The Unvanquished. It came with a caveat, though: in Autobiography, he reveals that Delon told him that his parents were upset that “anyone would call an album ‘The Queen Is Dead’.
  
  Photo: Press
  
  The Queen Is Dead

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  'Shoplifters Of The World Unite': Morrissey's screen heroes tend to trump his musical icons when it comes to Smiths sleeves, but 'Shoplifters...' bucks the trend with this image of Elvis Presley. One of the singer's first ever press shots, it was taken in 1955 by his hairdresser.
  
  Photo: Press
  
  Shoplifters Of The World Unite

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  'Sheila Take A Bow': 'Sheila...''s cover star is Candy Darling: a transgender actress who became closely associated for her work with Andy Warhol, and was also a huge source of inspiration for The Velvet Underground; she's the muse for their song 'Candy Says', among others.
  
  Photo: Press
  
  Sheila Take A Bow

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  'Girlfriend In A Coma': "I've never made any secret of the fact that at least 50 per cent of my reason for writing can be blamed on Shelagh Delaney," Morrissey once said of one of his favourite playwrights: he borrowed the words "I dreamt about you last night/ And I fell out of bed twice" from her play A Taste Of Honey for 'Reel Around The Fountain'.
  
  Photo: Press
  
  Girlfriend In A Coma

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  'I Started Something That I Couldn't Finish': Comedian and actress Avil Angers became one of post-war England's most cherished performers. Angers, who also had a role in Morrissey's beloved Coronation Street, was chosen by The Smiths to star on the cover of 'I Started Something That I Couldn't Finish'.
  
  Photo: Press
  
  I Started Something That I Couldn't Finish

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  'Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before': This still of British actor Murray Head is taken from the 1966 film The Family Way – it's the same flick that's also the source of the Angers photo from the 'I Started...' cover. Head would later become best-known for singing the song 'Superstar' from Andrew Lloyd Webber's stage rock musical Jesus Christ Superstar.
  
  Photo: Press
  
  Stop Me If You Think You've Heard...

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  'Strangeways, Here We Come': Morrissey's first choice Harvey Keitel refused the cover of ‘Strangeways...’. Instead, he had to settle for a shot of Richard Davalos, co-star of James Dean in East Of Eden. Dean was one of a young Morrissey’s heroes, to the extent that the singer once wrote a piece of fiction in his honour: the 1983, pre-Smiths fame book James Dean Is Not Dead.
  
  Photo: Press
  
  Strangeways, Here We Come (LP)

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  'Louder Than Bombs': The Smiths use another image of playwright Delaney. One of the tracks on the compilation album, 'This Night Has Opened My Eyes', retells the story of Delaney's play A Taste Of Honey and the central character of Jo.
  
  Photo: Press
  
  Louder Than Bombs

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  'Hatful Of Hollow': Another reference for director Jean Cocteau: the model on the original artwork for 'Hatful Of Hollow' is Fabrice Colette, who sported a tattoo inspired by a Cocteau drawing on his shoulder. The sleeve was redesigned in 1987, however, with the image cropped so the tattoo is no longer visible. The original photograph was taken by Gilles Decroix.
  
  Photo: Press
  
  Hatful Of Hollow (LP)

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  'Rank': British actress Alexandra Bastedo was chosen by the band to adorn the cover of live album 'Rank'. Like Morrissey, Bastedo was a committed vegetarian and an advocate for animal welfare – after her acting days were over, she briefly served as the president of her local branch of the RSPCA.
  
  Photo: Press
  
  Rank (LP)

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  'Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me': Another outing for a pop star on a Smiths' cover. Bequiffed rock superstar Billy Fury, who died in 1983, was one of Morrissey's heroes, and was a sensation in the '60s due to his charisma and sexualised stage show. "Billy Fury is virtually the same as James Dean," said Morrissey. "He was entirely doomed too and I find that quite affectionate."
  
  Photo: Press
  
  Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody...

SOURCE: New Musical Express

Violeta Ivković - Čelo neba

Čelo neba

Na grudima mi je ležala planina. Apa je ostao dole, u baznom logoru. Više mi nije bio potreban. Stazu sam pamtio otkad sam prvi put pokušao da se domognem vrha.

Osim puta u koji na zubove dereza nabadam korake, u mislima mi je slika sela u podnožju i devojaka kosih očiju. Dopola nage, kupale su se u jezercetu otopljenog snega. Ležalo je uklešteno oblim stenama, beljih od snežnog pokrivača. Sa devojačkih nadlaktica i grudi rascvetavao se miris sapuna, takođe belog. Prskale su kapljice vode i praskao je kamen na kom su sedele, kao na belom sedlu. Da nisu imale bičeve crne kose, mislio bih da se belina zapatila na vrhu sveta, varajući oči tankim slivom niz zlatna tela.

Vodič Apa i ja, natovareni više od jaka, doneli smo teret do pod sâm glečer. Razapeli smo šatore i poboli kočeve u meso leda. Nije ni pisnuo, samo se s visina sjurio oblak pretećeg izgleda. Nije nosio ništa u sebi izuzev ljutnje.

Dok maločas nisam video truplo u ledu, pitao sam se da li planina oseća išta. Odgovor mi je pružio pogled zaobručenog u snegu; gledao je široko ka kresti uprtoj u nebo. Pod hladnim suncem caklilo se inje na trepavicama.

Planina je, sem planinara, sačuvala i njegov šator. U njemu sam našao konzerve mesnog nareska i tunjevine, dve kesice goveđe supe, masku i spremište sa kiseonikom, gorionik, tri termosa, transportnu vreću i dve za spavanje, uže, svetiljku sa rezervnim baterijama i sijalicom, cepin i bajlu, lekove i vitamine, pribor za jelo, zaštitnu pomadu, par termo čarapa i pamučne gaće.

Disao sam plitko i brzo pri usponu. Prsti rukavice zagrebali su led kad sam ga opazio. Kraj mog prethodnika, umesto pijuka, karabinera za uže ili bar maske, ležao je ranac. Otvorio sam ga da vidim šta je u njemu. Ovde važe drugačija pravila i uvek su korisne nenadane zalihe. Šta ostane za penjačem kojeg više nema, nasledi onaj kojeg još ima.

U rancu su bile sveska i slike – šuma rododendrona koja opasava selo, livada uz reku, dozrelo žito, žene na pirinčanim poljima sa šarenim, neuvezanim maramama koje im pridržavaju kaiševi što nose torbe od pruća – da nema zabrađenih glava ne bi bilo ni tereta na leđima – i devojke bosih grudi kako se kupaju u jezeru.

Otvorio sam beležnicu. Hladnoća je zamrzla stranice, ali ih nije slepila jednu uz drugu. Otvarale su se kao da je svaka korica nove knjige. Na prvom listu pisalo je:

„Na grudima mi je ležala planina. Apa je ostao dole, u baznom logoru. Više mi nije bio potreban. Stazu sam pamtio otkad sam prvi put pokušao da se domognem vrha...“

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