Miles Davis - The Miles Style

The Miles Style gathers eight Miles Davis performances onto a single LP, a compact tour of the trumpeter's most lyrical side. This 2024 compilation leans toward ballads and late-night moods.

The 1950s were the decade Davis reinvented jazz again and again, moving from cool restraint through hard bop to the modal breakthroughs at the end of the decade. Along the way he developed the spare, vulnerable ballad style that became his signature, often playing through a Harmon mute so every note sounded like a confidence shared in a dark room.

It Never Entered My Mind opens the set in exactly that mode, hushed and aching. Blue in Green is pure late-night reverie, Fran Dance glides with a soft, unhurried lilt, and In Your Own Sweet Way gives a Dave Brubeck tune a cool, graceful reading. Elsewhere, a pair of standards and two Paris-flavoured pieces keep the romantic, after-hours thread going.

The running order flows like a well-made mixtape, with little to break the spell from first track to last. It works equally well as background for a quiet dinner or as focused listening.

It makes a neat introduction for newcomers and a mellow companion for anyone who already loves Davis at his most tender. Dim the lights and let it play.