Milestones (instrumental composition)
"Milestones" | |
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Composition by Miles Davis from the album Milestones | |
Released | September 2, 1958 |
Recorded | February 4, 1958 |
Genre | Jazz |
Length | 5:45 |
Label | Columbia |
Composer(s) | Miles Davis |
Producer(s) | George Avakian |
Milestones track listing | |
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"Milestones" is a jazz composition written by Miles Davis. It appears on the album of the same name in 1958. It has since become a jazz standard. "Milestones" is the first example of Miles composing in a modal style and experimentation in this piece led to the writing of "So What" from the 1959 album Kind of Blue. The song's modes consist of G Dorian for 16 bars, A Aeolian for another 16 bars, and then back to G Dorian for the last eight bars, then the progression repeats.
Originally titled "Miles" on the initial album pressings, people soon began referring to the piece as "Milestones" rather than "Miles." On later editions of the album the title was changed.
The musicians who performed on "Milestones" are:
- Miles Davis - trumpet
- Cannonball Adderley - alto saxophone
- John Coltrane - tenor saxophone
- Red Garland - piano
- Paul Chambers - double bass
- Philly Joe Jones - drums
Only Cannonball, Miles, and Coltrane solo.
"Milestones" is also the title of another composition credited to Miles Davis that John Lewis had written for him while playing with Charlie Parker. Musically it is not related to the more famous tune and should not be confused with each other.
Among many other artists, "Milestones" has been recorded by:
- Barry Adamson
- Jan Akkerman
- Chet Baker
- Elek Bacsik
- Anthony Braxton
- Phil Collins Big Band
- The Dead
- Charles Earland
- Bill Evans
- Jerry Garcia
- Dexter Gordon
- Herbie Hancock
- Roy Hargrove
- Joe Henderson
- Bobby Jaspar
- Wynton Kelly
- Phil Lesh and Friends
- Dave Liebman
- Little Feat
- Wes Montgomery
- Mark Murphy
- Oliver Nelson
- Joe Pass
- Enrico Rava
- Buddy Rich
- Jimmy Smith
- René Thomas
- Turtle Island String Quartet
- Bob Weir & Ratdog
- Gerald Wilson
- Fabian Zone Trio