It suddenly struck me yesterday that I've never used any music from Miles Davis to soothe the way on long car journeys. Considering the considerable surface attractions of every period of the great jazzer's work, supplemented, of course, by the rewards of what lies below the surface, this seemed a trifle odd. Surely this music would be perfect in this context? (as well as being pretty much perfect in most other contexts that one might think of.)
Having very recently downloaded Miles Ahead and Tutu (the deluxe, remastered version) from iTunes, I experimented with the two as the starting music for today's journey up to Melaka. And I was right: we found ourselves stuck in a massive tailback onto the bridge at Tuas, the Malaysian side being unable to handle the influx of Singaporeans fleeing from their National Day for the extended weekend, yet I felt hardly any impatience at all luxuriating as I was in the plentiful live bonus tracks on Tutu.
I suppose I shouldn't like Tutu very much at all, given the obvious 80s production vibe that pervades the album, yet for once I found myself ignoring the drum machines and slabs of synthesiser. Whatever serves as a basis for Miles to solo thereon works for me given the strength of the melodic and harmonic ideas overlaying what lies beneath. And I suppose this is as good a place as any to confess that I've always preferred Miles Ahead (indeed anything that features Gil Evans & Miles together) over Kind of Blue. I suspect I prefer him on flugelhorn to trumpet, but that's pushing a bit too far into entirely heretical territory.
Our journey here took so long, by the way, that the great Miles Davis needed to be followed by a whole batch of other stuff, all of which cheered me considerably. In the interest of full disclosure here's the list: Oranges and Lemons by XTC; Stevie W's Signed, Sealed, Delivered (the album, that is); Pete Hammill's Singularity; and Steven Wilson's Hand. Cannot. Erase.
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