Miles Ahead: Credits

Jan Lohmann's excellent discography (see below) is essential reading for anyone with a serious interest in Miles Davis's music. He's working on a second edition of this work, to be published sometime soon. All Miles Davis aficionados owe Jan Lohmann a debt of gratitude. Miles Ahead would be poorer without his contributions.

Enrico Merlin has shared with me his passion for Miles Davis's music, many analyses of issued and unissued recordings, and his expert knowledge of the early electric years (1968-75). A sample of his work is available on this site: "Code MD: Coded Phrases in the Early Electric Period". He contributed a terrific sessionography to Paul Tingen's book Miles Beyond.)

Chris DeVito has been very generous, supplying me with dates, venues, and photocopies of advertisements and reviews that have filled out the chronology. His archival research has made it possible to correct many errors, to replace "unknown date" and "unknown venue" with specific and documented information, and generally to make Miles Ahead a more useful place. (The main focus of Chris DeVito's attention is John Coltrane, and some of his work now appears in The John Coltrane Reference. See below for citation.)

Tom Yamaguchi has kept me informed of (and in many cases, supplied with) Japanese official and private/bootleg releases of Miles Davis recordings, and Yasuki Nakayama has shared his discographies with me. I've been able to fill many gaps in the discography with information they have supplied.

John Schiebaan has found many errors and inconsistencies, and he shared a lot of information with me, especially about European releases.

Pete Pablo, Pat Buzby, David Arnold, and Greg Chappee have done a lot to clarify the early electric period. Their careful analyses of recordings from this period have led to many improvements.

Many thanks also to many others who have offered corrections, additions, and suggestions -- notably Mark Freeman, Larry Gregan, Lasse Nikkarev, Leif Bo Petersen, Jim Szabo, Hans de Werdt, Thomas Westphal, and Jeff Zeitz. Many others (too many to mention -- you know who you are!) have traded tapes and CDs with me, supplied me with cover scans, etc. Thanks!

As you might expect, there are several Miles Davis sites on the internet; links to some of them are available here. And if you want to read more about Miles Davis, look at the bibliography elsewhere on this site.

I've used discographical information from a number of published sources:

Morroe Berger, Edward Berger, and James Patrick, Benny Carter: A Life in American Music. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1982. Rutgers University Institute of Jazz Studies, Studies in Jazz, Volume 1.

Jack Chambers, Milestones: The Music and Times of Miles Davis. New York: Da Capo Press, 1998. Originally published in two volumes, 1983 and 1985.

Todd Coolman, The Miles Davis Quintet of the Mid-1960s: Synthesis of Improvisational and Compositional Elements. Ann Arbor: University Microfilms, 1997.

Laurent Cugny, Electrique Miles Davis 1968-1975. Marseille: André Dimanche Éditeur, 1993.

Michael Cuscuna and Michel Ruppli, The Blue Note Label: A Discography. New York: Greenwood Press, 1988.

Chris DeVito, Yasuhiro Fujioka, Wolf Schmaler, David Wild, edited by Lewis Porter, The John Coltrane Reference. New York and London: Taylor and Francis, 2008.

Yasuhiro Fujioka, Lewis Porter, and Yoh-Ichi Hamada, John Coltrane: A Discography and Musical Biography. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1995. Rutgers University Institute of Jazz Studies, Studies in Jazz, Volume 20.

Ashley Kahn, Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece. New York: Da Capo Press, 2000.

Piet Koster, Bird Lore: Charlie Parker 1940-1955. Second edition: Names + Numbers, Almere, 2002.

Jan Lohmann, The Sound of Miles Davis: The Discography 1945-1991. Copenhagen: JazzMedia ApS, 1991.

Tore Mortensen, Miles Davis: Den Ny Jazz. Aarhus, 1976.

Yasuki Nakayama, Miles Davis Complete Discography. Tokyo: Futabasha, 2000.

------, Listen to Miles, Version 6. Tokyo: Futabasha, 2004.

------, Miles Davis: We Love Music, We Love the Earth. Tokyo: Tokyo FM, 2002.

Takao Ogawa a.o., Jazz Hero's Data Bank. Tokyo: JICC, 1991.

Toyoki Okajima (ed.), The Complete Blue Note Book: Tribute to Alfred Lion. Jazz Critique Special Edition, No. 3 (1987). Tokyo: Jazz Hihyo, 1987.

------, The Prestige Book: Discography of All Series. Jazz Critique Special Edition No. 3 (1996). Tokyo: Jazz Hihyo, 1996.

Michel Ruppli and Bob Porter, The Prestige Label: A Discography. Westport: Greenwood Press, 1980.

------, The Savoy Label: A Discography (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1980).

Paul Tingen, Miles Beyond: Electric Explorations of Miles Davis, 1967-1991. New York: Billboard Books, 2001.

Ken Vail, Bird's Diary: The Life of Charlie Parker, 1945-1955. London: Sanctuary Publishing, 1996.

------, Miles' Diary: The Life of Miles Davis, 1947-1961. London: Sanctuary Publishing, 1996.