Miles Ahead: Columbia Equivalents

The Miles Ahead database contains entries for most of Miles Davis's Columbia recordings. I've included the original monaural LPs (CL series); original stereo reissues (CS series); one or two subsequent reissues (e.g. the PC series in the mid-1970s); and the most recent LP reissues (CJ series: many of these are based on digital re-masters). Please note that I use the word "equivalent" a little loosely, to include issues with substantial common material as well as issues with exactly the same titles.

If you're looking for other formats, check out the Columbia equivalents query form elsewhere on this site.

Davis's Columbia records began appearing in Japan in the late 1950s on the Nippon Columbia label. (Here's one.) In 1969 CBS/Sony took over and began reissuing the Davis catalog in a more systematic way. I've included catalog numbers for CBS/Sony Japanese LPs where I know them. These records are beautifully produced (both sonically and graphically) and the pressings are excellent. All of the series except the last, issued in the mid-1980s (with 28AP xxxx numbers for single LPs and 40AP xxxx for double LPs), used analog masters. (I'm grateful to Hiroshi Tanno of Early Records in Fukuoka City for help with these LPs.)

In 2010 Sony Musical Industries in Japan issued Kind of Blue and Sketches of Spain on LP (DYJP-100 and -101, respectively); perhaps this is the beginning of a reissue program?

The listing for Japanese CDs includes several series. In the case of most titles, there are by now five or six issued CD versions:

1. The original CBS/Sony CDs (35DP series) were released in 1983.
2. Another series (with 32DP / 50DP catalog numbers) was issued in 1985-1986; this series reissued all of the 35DP titles and added most of the remaining titles from Davis's Columbia years.
3. The CBS/Sony CSCS series in the late 1980s reissued most of these recordings.
4. The Sony SRCS 5000 series in the early 1990s reissued most of them again (including several not reissued in the CSCS series).
5. The Sony "Master Sound" series (SRCS 91xx and 93xx), released beginning in early 1997, used 20-bit masters incorporating Super Bit Mapping. A few of the titles had bonus material not included in previous releases. The initial releases were housed in paper LP-style sleeves.
6. A subsequent "Master Sound" series (SRCS 97xx), released beginning in mid-2000, incorporated one-bit "Direct Stream Digital" mastering. Several of these titles included bonus material, some of which first appeared on the boxed sets of Miles Davis's recordings that began to appear in the late 1990s. The initial releases had paper LP-style sleeves.
7. Sony released the first "Super Audio CD" versions of Miles Davis (SRGS 45xx) in mid-1999. These were also based on the one-bit DSD masters. Again, several titles included bonus tracks.

Sony continues to reissue the Davis catalog in a variety of audio formats (CD, SACD, now Blu-spec CD). I try to keep up with these reissues elsewhere on this website.

In November 2009, Sony released The Complete Miles Davis Columbia Album Collection, with all 52 of Davis' Columbia records in one package, including the full performance of Davis's group at the Isle of Wight 1970. A bonus DVD contains video of the Davis Quintet in Stockholm and Karlsruhe from the fall 1967 "Newport Jazz Festival in Europe" tour produced by George Wein.

In the table below, the columns list monaural LP, stereo LP, Japanese LP, U.S. compact disc, and Japanese compact disc issues, respectively.

Last updated: 1/21/2012