Performer Notes

Personnel: Miles Davis (flageolet, trumpet, flugelhorn); Janet Putnam (harp); Harold Feldman (flute, clarinet, oboe, flugelhorn); Al Block (flute, oboe, flugelhorn, tuba); Eddie Caine (flute, flugelhorn); Albert Block (flute); Danny Bank (clarinet, bass clarinet); Romeo Penque (oboe); Jack Knitzer (bassoon); Louis Mucci, Ernie Royal, Johnny Coles, Taft Jordan, Bernie Glow (trumpet); James Buffington (French horn, horns, Fender Rhodes piano); Tony Miranda, Joe Singer, John Barrows, Earl Chapin (French horn); Dick Hixon, Frank Rehak (trombone); Jimmy McAllister, Billy Ray Barber, Billy Barber (tuba); Jimmy Cobb (drums); Elvin Jones, Jose Mangual (percussion).
Audio Remasterer: Phil Schaap.
Liner Note Authors: Nat Hentoff; Phil Schaap.
Recording information: 30th Street Studio, New York, NY (11/15/1959-03/10/1960); Street Studio, New York, NY (11/15/1959-03/10/1960).
Directors: Seth Rothstein; Kevin Gore; Steven Berkowitz.
Photographers: Vernon Smith; Verne Smith.
Unknown Contributor Roles: Jimmy McAllister; Vernon Smith; Frank Rehak; John Barrows; James Buffington.
Arranger: Gil Evans.
The crown jewel of the epic Evans/Davis triptych that began with MILES AHEAD and PORGY AND BESS, SKETCHES OF SPAIN is as emotionally compelling as any performance in the trumpeter's remarkable body of works. Combining as it does the emotional gravity of two cultures--the deep song of flamenco music and the rich lament of the blues--SKETCHES OF SPAIN is a musical hybrid of enormous power and beauty. Gil Evans' immense canvas of orchestral colors inspires some of Davis' most deeply felt solo flights. He paints vast vistas of velvety, shimmering night sounds, and through it all runs the mountainous backbone of Spain's native rhythms and chants.
The centerpiece of SKETCHES OF SPAIN is the Evans/Davis treatment of the second movement of Rodrigo's "Concierto De Aranjuez." Evans' charts engage Davis in a shifting, insistent dialogue, italicizing the trumpeter's subtle variations and timbral ecstasies with magnificent orchestral flourishes. The surreal patina of three flutes and harp, high muted trumpets and woodwinds, and subterranean trombones, French horns and tuba that define one of the main variations on the theme, is a majestic foil for Davis' expressive tones.
Gil Evans liked to say that after Louis Armstrong, no one had affected the sound of the trumpet like Miles Davis. Miles fashioned a vibrato-less, introspective brass cry, made all the more lovely by his lush use of the middle and lower registers. Davis' manipulation of pitch on "Saeta" and "Solea" is so idiomatic, so vocalized, so full of revel and lament, it pierces your heart with heroic resignation and longing. SKETCHES OF SPAIN stands alone as one of the pillars of modern music.

Professional Reviews

Q (1/00, p.134) - 5 stars out of 5 - "...fierce Spanish folk melodies...took orchestral jazz in a new direction....features Davis' trumpet in all its drifting, dry, abstract beauty."

Down Beat (p.61) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "With SKETCHES OF SPAIN, Davis' music continued its modal moves away from bebop's busy density, opting to highlight his strengths, which emphasized feeling and lyric expression over technique."

Down Beat (1960) - 5 Stars - Excellent - "...One of the most important musical triumphs that this century has yet produced....If there is to be a new jazz, a SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME, then this is the beginning..."

Goldmine - 3.5 Stars - "...Brilliantly remixed..."

Record Collector (magazine) (p.98) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "Almost panoramic in scope and fusing jazz with classical music, the album kicked off with an epic 16-minute version of Spanish composer Rodrigo's guitar concerto, transcribed for trumpet and orchestra."

Album: Sketches Of Spain
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Concierto de Aranjuez: Adagio	More Info...
2)	Will O' the Wisp	More Info...
3)	The Pan Piper	More Info...
4)	Saeta	More Info...
5)	Solea	More Info...
6)	Song of Our Country	More Info...
7)	Concierto de Aranjuez (Adagio)	More Info...
8)	Concierto de Aranjuez	More Info...

Album: Sketches Of Spain
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Concierto de Aranjuez: Adagio	More Info...
2)	Will O' the Wisp	More Info...
3)	The Pan Piper	More Info...
4)	Saeta	More Info...
5)	Solea	More Info...
6)	Song of Our Country	More Info...
7)	Concierto de Aranjuez (Adagio)	More Info...
8)	Concierto de Aranjuez	More Info...