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Sketches of Spain | 
| Artist: Miles Davis
Label: Sony Jazz
Category: Music
New (9) Used (4) Collectible (1) from £3.25
Rating:  17 reviews
Sales Rank: 6045
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
EAN: 5099706514220
ASIN: B000024279
Release Date: October 6, 1997
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| Tracks:
| • | Concerto de aranjuez | | • | Will o' the wisp | | • | Pan piper | | • | Saeta | | • | Solea | | • | Song of our country | | • | Concierto de Aranjuez (2) | | • | Concierto de Aranjuez (3) |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.co.uk Review
Miles Davis's impact on jazz is almost incalculable. From his early days as a sideman for Charlie Parker, through his groundbreaking Birth of the Cool sessions, to his stunning small groups of the 1950s and 1960s, through to his electric renaissance, the trumpeter, bandleader and composer has left a deep mark on all who came after. He is one of jazz's true giants. Sketches of Spain, though one of Davis's most commercially successful sessions, is also one of his most controversial. Re-teaming with arranger and composer Gil Evans, who played such a pivotal role in Davis's 1949 Birth of the Cool recordings, Davis recorded a series of large group albums beginning in the late 1950s, including Porgy and Bess, Miles Ahead, and Quiet Nights. Sketches of Spain, with its emphasis on flamenco, rich orchestrations and relaxed tempos is certainly one of Davis's most mellow recordings (he even works out on fluegelhorn), and proved to have broad appeal. To some critics, however, the project was "elevated elevator music". -- Fred Goodman
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| Customer Reviews: Read 12 more reviews...
 Overdose on Castanets August 14, 2008
I originally bought this album as a boxed set of three LP's, Kind of Blue, Porgy and Bess were the other two. It tends to be loathed by "true believers" largely, I think, because it was one of the most popular. Therefore: it was a sore trial to the sort of deaf elitists that you find at Jazz and Orchestral music events. (People who clap harder as the music gets worse.)
It does have it's faults, the over use of castanets, which is like adding atmosphere with ketchup. The gushing orchestration which pervades the collection like cheap perfume in dance-hall. Occasional shrieking trumpet - where MD definitely looses the thread.
It's still a great album and well worth a listen. It maybe the weakest of the three albums mentioned. It's still worth five stars.
 Vastly overrated; mostly quite dull January 16, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
'Sketches of Spain' is one of those albums that, for some reason, has been talked up so much over the decades that it has now become something that people buy, and say they love, simply because that's what's expected.
A lot of Davis' albums fall into this category - 'On The Corner' is another good example - an almost unlistenable album that many self-conscious music-lovers profess to 'get' when, in reality, they would only be able to tolerate listening to it a few times before putting it away for good (in a smugly conspicuous position, I might add) in the hope that they can impress their friends by owning it.
OK, I'm being a bit extreme here, 'Sketches of Spain' is far from unlistenable; in many places it is very tender and beautiful, in others there is superb tension and release, but it is most certainly NOT one of the all-time greatest jazz records.
More often than not it is tedious, and Davis' playing too unfocused - as though he wasn't quite sure exactly what to play in parts. The orchestral accompaniment at times is just brilliant, but at others strays too far into muzak territory or abstraction just for the sake of it.
I guess it's a mixed bag really.
If you want to hear the best that the Davis-Evans collaboration produced you'd be far better off with 'Miles Ahead' or 'Porgy & Bess', and if you want to hear Spanish classical/folk music rendered perfectly, then get hold of a few decent recordings of music by Rodrigo (there are a few budget-priced CDs on Naxos which are a good start).
If you're a big Miles fan then you'll no doubt want to own this - it is certainly a distinctive disc in the whole Davis canon - but don't try to fool yourself or convince others that it is worthy of the 5 stars that every man and his dog throw at it.
miles en espanol September 2, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a great rendition of various Spanish pieces,most notably "Concierto de Aranjuez" by Joaquin Rodrigo.Miles and Gil Evans seem to really enjoy this,and while it's not as cutting edge as "Kind Of Blue",it's great fun.By the by,Rodrigo,when he heard Miles' version,hated it.No pleasing some people!!
Miles fuses the sounds of Spain with American Jazz March 19, 2007
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Sketches of Spain is one of my favorite of Miles Davis' fusion works. Here, he fuses the sounds of Spain with American Jazz. It's not nearly as radical as much of his fusion work, but it's not likely to be heard on an elevator either. If you've enjoyed Miles' easiest-to-listen-to-albums (for example, Kind of Blue, Birth of the Cool), and you want to be challenged just a little more, take a listen to Sketches of Spain.
Pictures Of A Master May 31, 2006
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
When I got this album it came in a three pack which included Kind of Blue and Porgy and Bess; this is fundamental Jazz; another classic from this man; whos life I have now adopted as god status; this is the man that got me into to Jazz in a massive way, this and its two companians are the three greatest Jazz albums from Davis and up there amoungst the best ever recorded
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