Collections of music or movies called ‘box sets’ have been popular for quite some time – I remember buying a 3-record collection of Richard Wagner’s Orchestral music in a nice box with a huge book of information 30 years ago! Over the last decade, though, Box Sets have become a major industry, especially around the Christmas holiday season. Now Columbia has opened up the vaults to unleash a massive collection that one has to see to believe!

The set is called “THE COMPLETE MILES DAVIS COLUMBIA ALBUM COLLECTION” and here is the summary:

• Limited Edition – Only Manufactured Once!
• 52 albums on 70 CDs in mini-LP replica jackets
• Previously Unreleased DVD: Live In Europe ‘67
• 250 page color book with biography, fully annotated discography and complete song index
• Previously unreleased and rare audio on In Paris Festival International De Jazz, Quiet Nights, At Plugged Nickel Chicago, and We Want Miles, in addition to previously released bonus material from past reissues
• First time ever complete audio release of the August 29th, 1970, Isle of Wight festival performance

Legendary jazz trumpeter Miles Davis was at the forefront of just about every major change in modern jazz since World War II. During a career that spanned 5 decades, he spent over 30 years with a single record label: Columbia. He was part of Charlie Parker’s seminal bebop unit, pioneered ‘Cool Jazz’ in 1949, and introduced ‘hard bop’ with his classic ‘first great quintet’ that also included soon-to-be-legendary John Coltrane.

He simultaneously took ‘modal music’ out of the classroom and into the mainstream and produced what is STILL the best selling jazz album of all time 50 years ago with Kind of Blue, and spent the 60′s exploring complex harmonic spaces with his ‘second great quintet’ while largely ignoring the ‘free jazz’ movement.

1969 was a year of major changes in Jazz as well as home to great upheavals in popular music forms – and once again Miles Davis was the leader: his ‘Bitches Brew’ caused a major rift within Jazz ranks and remains the source of controversy for many who say that Miles ‘sold out’, despite the fact that a quick listen will inform just about anyone that there is nothing ‘commercial’ or ‘mainstream’ about that music. There were electric instruments and rock elements to be sure, but the complex harmonies and extended improvisations were pure jazz throughout.

Similar bitter dissent followed Miles for the next several years as he produced what was labeled ‘fusion’ music until his self-imposed exile from 1975-1980. When he returned, Columbia was waiting for him. Over the next several years he released a series of recordings that he called ‘social music’ and that were certainly his most mainstream work to date, but still filled with excellence of collaboration, composition and improvisation. His ability to infuse his style and voice on popular recordings such as his take on “Time After Time” and “Human Nature”.

This new collection includes every commercial recording Miles made from 1955-1985, and also includes a CD featuring the previously unreleased set from the historic 1970 Isle of Wight festival (well, that is partially true, the set was released on DVD), and a really new DVD release of two live sets from 1967 in Europe. In fact, let’s just take a look at the whole collection:

# Title Rec. Rel. Catalog
01. In Paris Festival Int’l De Jazz May, 1949 – 1949 1977 SRCS 9724
02. ‘Round About Midnight – 1955-1956 1957 CK 85201
03. Circle In The Round – 1955-1970 1979 C2K 46862
04. Miles Ahead – 1957 1957 CK 65121
05. Milestones – 1958 1958 CK 85203
06. 1958 Miles – 1958 1974 C6K 65833
07. At Newport 1958 – 1958 1964 CK 85202
08. Porgy And Bess – 1958 1959 CK 65141
09. Jazz At The Plaza – 1958 1973 CK 85245
10. Kind Of Blue – 1959 1959 CK 64935
11. Sketches Of Spain – 1959-60 1960 CK 65142
12. Directions – 1960-70 1981 SRCS 9761/2
13. Someday My Prince Will Come – 1961 1961 CK 65919
14. In Person Friday Night At The Blackhawk, 1961 – 1961 C2K 87097 San Francisco – Complete
15. In Person Saturday Night At The Blackhawk, – 1961 1961 C2K 87100 San Francisco – Complete
16. At Carnegie Hall – 1961 1962 C2K 65027
17. Quiet Nights + “Blue Xmas (To Whom It May Concern)” and “Devil May Care” – 1962 1963 CK 65293
18. Seven Steps To Heaven – 1963 1963 CK 93592
19. In Europe – 1963 1964 CK 93583
20. My Funny Valentine – 1964 1965 CK 93593
21. “Four” & More – 1964 1966 CK 93595
22. Miles In Tokyo – 1964 1969 CK 93596
23. Miles In Berlin – 1964 1965 CK 93594
24. E.S.P. – 1965 1965 CK 65683
25. At Plugged Nickel – V. 1 1965 1976 18AP 2067
V. 2 1965 1976 18AP 2068
26. Miles Smiles – 1966 1967 CK 65682
27. Sorcerer – 1967 1967 CK 65680
28. Nefertiti – 1967 1968 CK 65681
29. Water Babies – 1967-68 1976 CK 86577
30. Miles In The Sky – 1968 1968 CK 65684
31. Filles De Kilimanjaro – 1968 1969 CK 86555
32. In A Silent Way – 1969 1969 CK 86556
33. Bitches Brew – 1969 1970 C2K 65774
34. Big Fun – 1969-72 1974 C2K 63973
35. A Tribute To Jack Johnson – 1970 1971 CK 93599
36. Live At The Fillmore East (March 7, 1970): It’s About That Time – 1970 2001 C2K 85191
37. Black Beauty: Miles Davis At Fillmore West – 1970 1973 C2K 65138
38. At Fillmore – 1970 1970 C2K 65139
39. # Isle Of Wight – 1970 2009 -
40. Live/Evil 1970 – 1971 C2K 65135
41. On The Corner – 1972 1972 CK 63980
42. In Concert – 1972 1973 C2K 65140
43. Dark Magus – 1974 1977 C2K 65137
44. Get Up With It – 1972-74 1974 C2K 63970
45. Agharta – 1975 1976 C2K 46799
46. Pangaea – 1975 1975 C2K 46115
47. The Man With The Horn – 1980-81 1981 CK 36790
48. We Want Miles + 3 bonus tracks from Miles!, Miles!, Miles! – 1981 1982 SICP 1235/6
49. Star People – 1982-83 1983 CK 38657
50. Decoy – 1983 1984 CK 38991
51. You’re Under Arrest – 1984-85 1985 CK 40023
52. Aura – 1985 1989 CK 45332 indicates double-CD.

Of course, the fact that there are 52 listings and 70 CD’s included simply means that there are 18 double-CD sets.

This collection is an Amazon-exclusive, and is available for pre-order for $328.49 (list price $365) and includes free shipping.

The things I love about this are the dump-boxes with mini-LP styles CD holders … it reminds me of paging through records to find just the right disc to put on the turntable! Of course, other things like getting the 250 page book, the new live 1967 DVD and the CD of the excellent Isle of Wight recordings are also wonderful.

One of the comments at the official Miles Davis site asks:

I am wondering who actually is the target client for such a pricey CD box? The longstanding fan will own too much of it, some even in better or extended quality. The newcomer is not likely to shell out USD 300 plus for such a box.

I have to agree. One would think I am an easy target for this collection, but as I learned more my excitement faded. I have a massive collection of Miles Davis music, so much that I couldn’t begin to store it all digitally on my computer and have only a portion of it between my iPod, Mac and backup disk. What would attract me to something like this is what caused me to buy ‘The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions’ and the SACD version of ‘Kind of Blue’ despite having the originals for a reason: they offered something new. Sony Japan has rights to the Miles Davis collection in Japan and has released nicely remastered versions of many recordings, and the 4-CD ‘Complete Bitches Brew Sessions’ includes everything recorded during that epic shift in Jazz music, and surprisingly none of it is filler!

According to the information, there are a few new additions, but largely this is a re-release of the entire catalog all in one place, but the versions are the same ones you could find to purchase now. So unlike last year’s amazing The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton, which brought many recordings back from seeming death and greatly enhanced all of those classics, this great boxed set brings a few nifty collectible such as the 250 page book and the live DVD that will likely be released in several months on its own anyway.

So this is clearly an excellent collection – and for someone or someplace trying to put together a definite record of this true genius of modern music this is a great way to do just that. And at ~$5 a CD the price is actually very good! What do you think? How do you feel in general about box sets?

Source: MilesDavis.com