Miles Davis - The Essential Miles Davis [2LP]

The Essential Miles Davis squeezes four decades of reinvention onto a double LP, tracing the trumpeter from bebop apprentice to electric pioneer and beyond.

First assembled in 2001 by Columbia and Legacy, this collection takes on the impossible task of summing up Miles and handles it with care. Fourteen tracks hop from his early sides alongside Charlie Parker through the Birth of the Cool sessions, the classic quintet and sextet years, the electric revolution and his 1980s comeback.

"'Round Midnight" and "So What" are the cornerstones, the latter lifted from Kind of Blue with its unhurried modal cool. "Nefertiti" captures the second great quintet circling a hypnotic melody while the rhythm section churns underneath, and "Time After Time" shows him turning a Cyndi Lauper hit into a tender, muted ballad.

Sequenced in chronological order, the set lets you hear each reinvention arrive in turn, from tight 1940s bebop to lush orchestral collaborations with Gil Evans and the dense electric grooves of the 1970s. It is a remarkable arc for one musician, and it makes a strong case that nobody in jazz changed course more often or more boldly.

For newcomers it is an ideal front door, and for longtime fans it plays like a highlight reel of jazz's most restless mind.