Sketches of Spain [Bonus Tracks]

1	Concierto de Aranjuez 16:19
2	Will O' the Wisp 3:47
3	the Pan Piper 3:52
4	Saeta 5:06
5	Solea 12:15
6	Song of Our Country Bonus Track / Issued Take 3:23
7	Concierto de Aranjuez, Pt. 1 Bonus Track / Alternate Take 12:04
8	Concierto de Aranjuez, Pt. 2 (Ending) Bonus Track / Alternate Take 3:33

Barnes & Noble

The last full-fledged collaboration between trumpeter Miles Davis and arranger Gil Evans is as extraordinary as their acclaimed earlier works, Miles Ahead and Porgy and Bess. In fact, Sketches of Spain contains some of Davis's most expressive horn work: The melancholy nature of the Iberian-style material, and Evans's deeply felt writing, inspire a palpably mournful sound from the master trumpeter. "Saeta," in particular, features a wrenching Davis solo whose display of naked emotion is almost too painful to bear yet too compelling to turn away from. The album's centerpiece, an adaptation of Roderigo's "Concierto de Aranjuez," strikingly sets Evans's dramatic tonal colors off Davis's yearning melodic statements. Supported by an expanded jazz ensemble, and sharing the spotlight with another creative genius, Davis is still able to turn Sketches of Spain into one of his most personal and most triumphant projects. Steve Futterman

All Music Guide

Along with Kind of Blue, In a Silent Way, and Round About Midnight, Sketches of Spain is one of Miles Davis' most enduring and innovative achievements. Recorded between November 1959 and March 1960 -- after Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley had left the band -- Miles teamed with British arranger Gil Evans for the third time. Davis brought Evans the album's signature piece, "Concierto de Aranjuez," after hearing a classical version of it at bassist Joe Mondragon's house. Evans was as taken with it as Miles and set about to create an entire album of material around it. The result is a masterpiece of modern art. On the "Concierto," Evans' arrangement provided an orchestra and jazz band -- Paul Chambers, Jimmy Cobb, and Elvin Jones -- the opportunity to record a classical work as it was. The piece, with its stunning colors and intricate yet transcendent adagio, played by Davis on a flügelhorn with a Harmon mute, is one of the most memorable works to come from popular culture in the 20th century. Davis' control over his instrument is singular, and Evans' conducting is flawless. Also notable are "Saeta," with one of the most amazing technical solos of Davis' career, and the album's closer, "Solea," which is conceptually a narrative piece, based on an Andalusian folk song, about a woman who encounters the procession taking Christ to Calvary. She sings the narrative of his passion and the procession -- or parade -- with full brass accompaniment moves on. Cobb and Jones, with flamenco-flavored percussion, are particularly wonderful here, as they allow the orchestra to indulge in the lushly passionate arrangement Evans provided to accompany Davis, who was clearly at his most challenged here, though he delivers with grace and verve. Sketches of Spain is the most luxuriant and stridently romantic recording Davis ever made. To listen to it in the 21st century is still a spine-tingling experience as one encounters a multitude of timbres, tonalities, and harmonic structures seldom found in the music called jazz. Thom Jurek