Sketches of Spain
| Sketches of Spain | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Studio album by Miles Davis | ||||
| Released | July 18, 1960 | |||
| Recorded | November 20, 1959; March 10, 1960 Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York |
|||
| Genre | Third stream[1] | |||
| Length | 41:19 | |||
| Label | Columbia CL 1480 |
|||
| Producer | Teo Macero & Irving Townsend | |||
| Miles Davis chronology | ||||
|
||||
Sketches of Spain is an album by Miles Davis, recorded between November 1959 and March 1960 at the Columbia 30th Street Studio in New York City. An extended version of the second movement of Joaquin Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez is included, as well as a song called "Will o' the Wisp", from the ballet El amor brujo by Manuel de Falla. Sketches of Spain is an exemplary recording of Third Stream, a musical fusion of jazz, European classical, and world musics.[1]
Contents |
Background [edit]
The album pairs Davis with arranger and composer Gil Evans, with whom he had collaborated on several other projects, on a program of compositions largely derived from the Spanish folk tradition. Evans explained, "[We] hadn't intended to make a Spanish album. We were just going to do the Concierto de Aranjuez. A friend of Miles gave him the only album in existence with that piece. He brought it back to New York and I copied the music off the record because there was no score. By the time we did that, we began to listen to other folk music, music played in clubs in Spain... So we learned a lot from that and it ended up being a Spanish album. The Rodrigo, the melody is so beautiful. It's such a strong song. I was so thrilled with that."[2]
"Concierto de Aranjuez" [edit]
The opening piece, taking up almost half the record, is an arrangement by Evans and Davis of the adagio movement of Concierto de Aranjuez, a concerto for guitar by the contemporary Spanish composer Joaquín Rodrigo. Following the faithful introduction of the concerto's guitar melody on flugelhorn, Evans' arrangement turns into a "quasi-symphonic, quasi-jazz world of sound", according to his biographer.[2] The middle of the piece contains a "chorus" by Evans unrelated to the concerto but "echoed" in the other pieces on the album.[2] The original melody then reappears in a darker mode.
Davis plays flugelhorn and later trumpet, attempting to connect the various settings musically.[3] Davis commented at rehearsal, "The thing I have to do now is make things connect, make them mean something in what I play around it."[3] Davis thought the concerto's adagio melody was "so strong" that "the softer you play it, the stronger it gets, and the stronger you play it, the weaker it gets", and Evans concurred.[3]
According to Davis's biographer Chambers, the contemporary critical response to the arrangement was not surprising, especially given the scarcity of anything resembling a jazz rhythm in most of the piece. Martin T. Williams wrote that "the recording is something of a curiosity and a failure, as I think a comparison with any good performance of the movement by a classical guitarist would confirm". The composer Rodrigo was also not impressed, but royalties from the arrangement brought him "a lot of money", according to Evans.[3]
Reception [edit]
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |  [4] |
| Down Beat | [5] |
| Penguin Guide to Jazz |  [6] |
| Pitchfork | (10.0/10)[7] |
| Pitchfork | (8.0/10)[8] |
| Q | [9] |
| Rolling Stone Album Guide | [10] |
Sketches of Spain is considered by fans and critics alike to be one of the most accessible albums of Davis's career. Less improvisational than much of his other work, some of Davis' contemporaries[who?] suggested that Sketches of Spain was something other than jazz. Davis replied (according to Rolling Stone magazine), "It's music, and I like it".[11]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide calls it "a work of unparalleled grace and lyricism."[10] In 2003, the album was ranked number 356 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[11]
Evans and Davis won the 1961 Grammy Award for Best Original Jazz Composition for Sketches of Spain.
Track listing [edit]
- Side one
- "Concierto de Aranjuez" (Adagio) (Joaquín Rodrigo) – 16:19
- "Will o' the Wisp" (Manuel de Falla) – 3:47
- Side two
- "The Pan Piper" (a.k.a. Alborada de Vigo) (Spanish folk song uncredited) – 3:52
- "Saeta" (Gil Evans) – 5:06
- "Solea" (Evans) – 12:15
- 1997 reissue bonus tracks
- "Song of Our Country" (Heitor Villa-Lobos uncredited, arranged by Evans) – 3:23
- "Concierto de Aranjuez" (alternative take; part 1) (Rodrigo) – 12:04
- "Concierto de Aranjuez" (alternative take; part 2 ending) (Rodrigo) – 3:33
Personnel [edit]
In alphabetical order (Note: this list actually encompasses the total musicians used on several sessions in late 1959 and early 1960. The actual number of players on the pieces was 19.)
|
|
In popular culture [edit]
- Buckethead's 2002 album, Electric Tears, contains a song entitled "Sketches of Spain (For Miles)".
- Two Almodóvar films have featured songs from this album: Tacones lejanos (High Heels), where "Solea" is heard over the opening credits; and La flor de mi secreto (The flower of my secret), where "Saeta" is heard in a ballet scene.
- In Haruki Murakami's novel, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, the main character owns a signed copy of Sketches of Spain.
- In the movie The Salton Sea, Val Kilmer's character plays an excerpt from the song Saeta on his trumpet. It is also a prevailing song throughout the movie.
- Hip-Hop Producer DJ Premier sampled "Will O' the Wisp" for the tracks "Invasion" and "Wrath of the Math" for the Jeru The Damaja 1996 album Wrath of the Math.
- In 2010, a cover of the album was recorded featuring Lew Soloff, Solo Trumpet, with Steve Richman conducting the Harmonie Ensemble/New York.
- In concert, the Grateful Dead occasionally played a jam inspired by "Solea" that was dubbed by fans as "Spanish Jam". Examples of this jam can be heard on various concert recordings, including Dick's Picks Volume 6.[12]
- The screamo band Saetia is named after a track on Sketches of Spain, "Saeta".
References [edit]
- ^ a b Kanzler, George. "Miles Revisited: Sketches of Spain (50th Anniversary Edition) & Miles Ahead Live". All About Jazz. Retrieved February 23, 2013.
- ^ a b c Crease, Stephanie Stein (2003). Gil Evans: Out of the Cool: His Life and Music. Chicago Review Press; p. 207. ISBN 9781556524936
- ^ a b c d Chambers, Jack (1998). Milestones: The Music And Times Of Miles Davis. Da Capo Press; pp. 10-11.
- ^ Jurek, Thom. Sketches of Spain at Allmusic. Retrieved 15 September 2005.
- ^ "Tower Records listing". Tower.com. 1997-09-23. Retrieved 2012-01-07.
- ^ The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD (6th ed.). Penguin Books. 2002. ISBN 978-0-14-051521-3. Cited at "Sketches of Spain rankings and ratings". AcclaimedMusic.net. Retrieved 14 June 2008.
- ^ Schreiber, Ryan (October 1997). "Miles Davis Sketches of Spain > Album Review". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 3 November 2005. Retrieved 30 January 2006.
- ^ Richardson, Mark (June 5, 2009). "Miles Davis Sketches of Spain Legacy Edition > Album Review". Pitchfork. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
- ^ "''Sketches of Spain'' details at". Cduniverse.com. Retrieved 2012-01-07.
- ^ a b Considine, J.D. (2004). "Miles Davis". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian. The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. London: Fireside. pp. 214–217. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8. Retrieved 5 April 2010.
- ^ a b Levy, Joe; Steven Van Zandt (2006) [2005]. "356 | Sketches of Spain - Miles Davis". Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (3rd ed.). London: Turnaround. ISBN 1-932958-61-4. OCLC 70672814. Retrieved 25 May 2006.
- ^ "Spanish Jam | Grateful Dead". Dead.net. Retrieved 2012-01-07.
External links [edit]
- Sketches of Spain Legacy Edition at Myspace (streamed copy where licensed)
