Miles Davis's 20 greatest albums – ranked!

With his lost 1985 album Rubberband out in September, and the 50th anniversary of In a Silent Way – released this week – we count down the jazz icon’s finest moments

20. Bags’ Groove (1957)

In the end, Miles Davis would fascinate jazz, rock and classical fans alike. But in the 1940s he had been a teenage trumpet hopeful partnering Charlie Parker and by 1954, when this session was recorded, he had an understatedly personal version of the revolutionary bebop sound. Alongside Sonny Rollins and Thelonious Monk, he reveals it here.

19. Miles In the Sky (1968)

A patchily intriguing set from the next decade, flagging the ever-changing Miles’ migration from free-swinging jazz to rock. The saxophonist Wayne Shorter broods, the embryonic soul-star George Benson plays terse guitar, Herbie Hancock debuts the formerly unjazzy Fender Rhodes and Tony Williams drums up a perfect storm.

18. The Man with the Horn (1981)

Miles comprehensively burned out in 1975, but while his comeback six years later was uncertain, his 1970s edginess was now softened by the rediscovery of his early lyricism. Good originals such as Back Seat Betty, with its wistful trumpet and hard-thumbed Marcus Miller bass hooks, entered the repertoire.

17. Amandla (1989)

Marcus Miller, Miles’s 1980s svengali, scored and glossily produced this late-career set dedicated to South Africa’s liberation from apartheid. It’s a bit lightweight for its subject, but the Jaco Pastorius tribute is both swinging and soulful, and the title ballad is bittersweet acoustic Miles at his most poignant.

16. Panthalassa: The Music of Miles Davis 1969-1974 (1998)

Audacious but sympathetic remixes by imaginative producer/player Bill Laswell, of music from Miles’s heavily experimental 1970s period, including In a Silent Way. While Laswell’s echoey, bass-pumping, beat-swelling treatments sometimes twist the originals way out of shape, their creator’s spirit runs through it all.

15. L’Ascenseur Pour L’Echafaud (1958)

The director Louis Malle hired a Paris-loving, 31-year-old Miles and a French/US band including the bebop drummer Kenny Clarke to improvise a soundtrack for his noirish 1958 thriller L’Ascenseur Pour L’Echafaud (Lift to the Scaffold). Going only by the visuals, the trumpeter reflected the movie’s desolate romanticism perfectly.

14. On the Corner (1972)

Bill Laswell, Miles’s posthumous remixer, called 1972’s On the Corner “mutant hip-hop” – others have heard dub, pre-punk, drum’n’bass and more in its oceanic, thick-textured, harmony-purged turmoil of multiple keyboards, overdubs, saxes and percussion. Long ignored, the session is on its way to rehabilitation.

13. Miles Davis: Vol 2 (1956)

Miles preferred patience, tension, release and expressiveness of tone to the torrents of notes that often characterised bebop. This classy 50s compilation, including the saxophonist Jackie McLean, pianist Horace Silver and drummer Art Blakey, features both his ballad elegance and some of his most surefooted improv over a bop groove.

12. Relaxin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet (1958)

Miles buffs refer to his “first and second great quintets”. The second was the 1960s group including Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. This, with saxophonist John Coltrane, is the dazzling first. The contrast between the reticent, incisive trumpeter and the unquenchable Coltrane is mesmerising.

11. Aura (1989)

In 1985, Denmark’s government awarded Miles Davis its normally classical Sonning prize, and Danish trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg wrote an orchestral suite for the star and – somehow – persuaded him to play on it. Superb solos from an engaged and attentive Miles, navigating Mikkelborg’s references to all kinds of 20th-century music.

Time After Time, live in Munich, 1988.

10. You’re Under Arrest (1985)

Miles’s last session for Columbia Records, notably including beautiful interpretations of two pop songs – Cyndi Lauper’s Time After Time and Michael Jackson’s Human Nature. Also striking is guitar newcomer John Scofield’s fast and convoluted title-track blues, one of the great original compositions for a late-period Miles lineup.

9. Bitches Brew (1969)

The dense, dark, Latin-fusion epic Bitches Brew was a landmark of production as well as musicianship from a superb band including Wayne Shorter, John McLaughlin, Chick Corea and Jack DeJohnette. The players improvised for hours; the producer, Teo Macero, and Miles cut-and-pasted the results into distinct tracks later.

8. Milestones (1958)

Along with Kind of Blue, Milestones is a masterpiece from the 1950s quintet including John Coltrane – expanded to a sextet here by gospel-y alto saxophonist Julian “Cannonball” Adderley. The springy, airborne title track is a standout, as is the leader’s incisive improv on Thelonious Monk’s Straight, No Chaser.

7. Sketches of Spain (1959-60)

Most at ease in small groups, Miles Davis was also a poetic soloist in concerto-like roles with a big band. His long and fruitful relationship with the Canadian composer/arranger Gil Evans gets a spectacular airing on Spanish themes including the smouldering Concierto de Aranjuez, and the quietly conversational Solea.

6. The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel (1995)

Maybe the best-ever representation of “the second great quintet” at work. Superbly recorded live at Chicago’s Plugged Nickel club, the set finds Miles, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter and Tony Williams reinventing small-band jazz with an all-but-psychic flexibility of timing and on-the-fly harmonising.

5. Birth of the Cool (1957)

The young Miles wanted to play bebop’s revolutionary conceptions in a more ethereal, less impatient way than its first pioneers. With likeminded souls including saxophonist Gerry Mulligan and Lee Konitz, and the composer/arranger Gil Evans, he formed this delicately groundbreaking chamber ensemble, an influence on the jazz sound still.

4. Porgy and Bess (1959)

A beautiful makeover of the Gershwin opera – give or take a little shaky section playing in the under-rehearsed band – with Miles’s trumpet soaring over a Gil Evans-arranged orchestra. His exhortations over the shouts of the band on Prayer, and his supple, gliding solo on Summertime are standouts.

3. Jack Johnson (1970)

From a film-score assignment about boxing legend Jack Johnson, Miles launched a new band (hiring Stevie Wonder bassist Michael Henderson among others) and built a thrillingly hard-rocking sound out of long studio jams and radical editing. The seeds of his next five years are in this uncompromising music.

2. In a Silent Way (1969)

Time stands still on this 1969 Davis classic. Electric sounds and textures (notably from new guitarist John McLaughlin and keyboardist Joe Zawinul) make clear breaks from the trumpeter’s acoustic bands – but Miles’s horn and Wayne Shorter’s keening soprano sax sketch passages of an exquisite, irresistible tranquillity.

So What, from Kind of Blue (official video).

1. Kind of Blue (1959)

Revered by pundits and fans, radiating an enduringly contemporary sound, and with un-jazz-like sales of 4 million plus at the last count, Kind of Blue – the 1959 session recorded in just a few hours and with minimal rehearsal – changed the way listeners and practitioners everywhere heard and made music. The Milestones band, with John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley on saxes, was the core, with the graceful pianist Bill Evans added, and the use of modes rather than song chords throughout gave the music an ethereal, free-associative spaciousness that draws new audiences to jazz to this day.

Actors

Actors playing nightmarish versions of themselves in cinema - ranked!
Michael Caine's best films - ranked!
The 10 best Glenn Close movies - ranked!
Tom Cruise - top 20 movies - ranked!
Judi Dench - every film - ranked!
Jane Fonda's 10 best films - ranked!
Ryan Gosling movies - ranked!
10 best Hugh Grant films - ranked!
Every Angelie Jolie film performance - ranked!
Nicole Kidman’s top 10 films - ranked!
The best and the worst Jennifer Lopez films - ranked!
All Helen Mirren's 61 movies - ranked!
Robert Redford's greatest screen roles - ranked!
Winona Ryder's 20 best films - ranked!
Movie Santa Clauses - ranked!
Maggie Smith's 20 best films – ranked!
Jason Statham - every film - ranked!
Emma Thompson's best films - ranked!

Directors

Wes Anderson movies - ranked!
The Coen brothers’ films - ranked!
Stanley Kubrick's best films - ranked!

Movie genres

Biopics trashed by families, friends and fans - ranked!
Purr evil: cats in movies with hidden agendas - ranked!
Dog weepie movies - ranked!
Top 20 J-horror films - ranked!
Movies that have grossed more than $1bn - ranked!
Palme d'Or winners - ranked!
The scariest horror films ever - ranked!
The best Shakespeare films - ranked!
The 10 best movie shark performances - ranked!
The best Stephen King movies  - ranked!
From Trolls to Transformers: toy films – ranked!
Worst holidays in cinema - ranked!

Studios & franchises

Aardman's 20 best films – ranked!
James Bond on film – 007's best and worst movies - ranked!
The 20 best Marvel films - ranked!
Top 10 Merchant Ivory films - ranked!
Pixar - every film ever made - ranked!
Planet of the Apes - the best and worst of the movies - ranked!
Star Wars - every film - ranked!

TV & award shows

The 20 best music documentaries - ranked!
The weirdest Brits performances - ranked!
Game of Thrones - every episode - ranked!
Oscar nominees - the weirdest ever - ranked!
Oscar snubs - the 20 greatest ever - ranked!
The biggest Rock & Roll Hall of Fame snubs ever - ranked!
Super Bowl half-time shows - the 10 greatest - ranked!
The best X Factor finalists - ranked!
From Niall Horan's toast to Russell Crowe’s jockstrap: celebrity auction items - ranked!

Singles

All Abba's UK singles - ranked!
The Beatles' singles – ranked!
Kate Bush – every UK single - ranked!
Every one of Madonna's 78 singles - ranked!
Missy Elliott's solo singles – ranked!
Prince's 50 greatest singles – ranked!
Queen's 50 UK singles - ranked!
Taylor Swift's singles - ranked!
The Who: their UK singles - ranked!

Albums

Black Sabbath - every album - ranked!
David Byrne – (almost) all of his albums - ranked!
Miles Davis's 20 greatest albums – ranked!
Lil Wayne's albums - ranked!
Every Mercury prize-winning album - ranked!
Joni Mitchell's albums – ranked!
The Rolling Stones – every album - ranked!
10 best Paul Simon albums - ranked!
Bruce Springsteen's albums - ranked!
Kanye West – every album - ranked!
Stevie Wonder's albums - ranked!

Songs

20 greatest breakup songs ever - ranked!
Aphex Twin's best songs - ranked!
Barry Manilow – all his greatest songs - ranked!
Björk – her 20 greatest songs ranked!
Cher's 30 greatest songs - ranked!
The 30 greatest Disney songs – ranked!
Elton John's 50 greatest songs - ranked!
From Drake to Wet Wet Wet: songs with 10 weeks at No 1 - ranked!
From MC5 to Jeff Mills: the greatest Detroit tracks ever - ranked!
PJ Harvey's 50 greatest songs – ranked!
Giorgio Moroder's 20 greatest songs - ranked!
Nirvana's 20 greatest songs - ranked!
The best songs from teen movies - ranked!
The best UK garage tracks - ranked!
The greatest banned songs of all time - ranked!
The greatest ever female rap tracks - ranked!
The greatest pop music dance crazes - ranked!
All 43 Spice Girls songs - ranked!

Artists & bands

The 30 best boyband members - ranked!
The greatest Scottish indie bands - ranked!
Quincy Jones's greatest ever moments - ranked!

Contributor

John Fordham

The GuardianTramp

Related Content

Article image
Wayne Shorter, icon of jazz saxophone, dies aged 89
Composer and performer traversed numerous phases of jazz history, and fused his playing with the likes of Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell and Carlos Santana

Ben Beaumont-Thomas

02, Mar, 2023 @4:40 PM

Article image
Blue Note: Uncompromising Expression review – classics in single measures
This collection of 75 singles from jazz and funk giants fro Monk to Coltrane mostly proves genius can deliver succinctly too, writes John Fordham

John Fordham

13, Nov, 2014 @10:00 PM

Article image
Joni Mitchell's albums – ranked!
On the 50th anniversary of Woodstock, we celebrate the supernatural folk and bold jazz experimentation of the groundbreaking artist whose famous song captured the spirit of the festival – even though she didn’t go

Kat Lister

15, Aug, 2019 @11:21 AM

Miles Davis Quintet: Live in Europe 1969 – review
This package, from the 'lost band' that never made a studio album, is a must-have, writes Dave Gelly

Dave Gelly

17, Feb, 2013 @12:04 AM

Article image
Miles Davis: At Newport 1955-1975 review – catches the master at his best
This four-CD box set of previously unreleased recordings capture Davis’s dizzying changing styles

Dave Gelly

16, Aug, 2015 @7:05 AM

Article image
The 20 greatest Christmas albums – ranked!
Whether you fancy a heartwarming carol with Elvis or the story of a yuletide drug dealer from OutKast, there’s a festive album for you in our rundown of the best ever

Alexis Petridis

15, Dec, 2022 @1:52 PM

Article image
Nina Simone’s 20 greatest songs – ranked!
Ahead of an album of previously unreleased 1966 live recordings, we appraise the strident, sexual, socially conscious songcraft of a truly indomitable artist

Alexis Petridis

20, Jul, 2023 @11:48 AM

Article image
Cher's 30 greatest songs – ranked!
From her hippy-counterculture beginnings alongside Sonny Bono to her 80s power ballads, the singer has surfed the zeitgeist for half a century. Here are the best songs from her extraordinary career

Alexis Petridis

18, Oct, 2018 @11:34 AM

Article image
Miles Davis: Miles Davis at Newport 1955-1975 review – coolly swinging
This classy four-CD box set includes four hours of previously unreleased live music from Davis’ appearances at the Newport jazz festival

John Fordham

16, Jul, 2015 @8:34 PM

Article image
Phil Collins' greatest solo songs – ranked!
After Collins went viral thanks to a pair of teenagers astounded by In the Air Tonight, we appraise the best of the rest of his solo catalogue

Michael Hann

13, Aug, 2020 @12:00 PM