Miles Ahead

“Miles Ahead” is an album by Miles Davis that was originally released in 1957 by Columbia Records. It was Davis’ first collaboration with arranger Gil Evans following the “Birth Of The Cool” sessions. Along with their subsequent collaborations “Porgy And Bess” (1959) and “Sketches Of Spain” (1960), “Miles Ahead” is one of the most famous recordings of Third Stream, a fusion of jazz, European classical, and world music. Davis played flugelhorn throughout.

Miles was reportedly unhappy about the album’s original cover, which featured a photograph of a young white woman and child aboard a sailboat. He made his displeasure known to Columbia executive George Avakian, asking, “why did you put that white bitch on there?”. For later releases of the record the original photo has been replaced by a photograph of Miles Davis, such as this copy for sale here, a 2021 reissue on WaxTime. Brand new heavyweight vinyl! Sleeve has a small crease in the top left corner, check out the photos.