According to Don Cheadle, though, Lamar could have popped up in another musician’s biopic. During the actor’s recent appearance on Way Up With Angela Yee, Cheadle claimed that Lamar was offered a role in the Miles Davis movie, Miles Ahead.
“To talk about acting, when we shot [the ‘D.N.A.’] video, Kendrick was so with it,” he said. “He stayed in character the whole video. He was really committed. He was someone that I had thought about casting in my movie I did, Miles Ahead, and have him play the role of Junior. We talked about it for a long time, and ultimately he said, ‘I don’t think I’m ready to do that. I’m kind of working on a project right now, and I have to see that through, and I also don’t wanna come in here halfway,’ and I was like, ‘No, I get it.’ And it was [his 2015 album] To Pimp A Butterfly, and I’m like, ‘I think you made the right choice on that one!’”
Craft Recordings celebrates a pivotal year for Miles Davis with Miles ’54: The Prestige Recordings—a new, 20-track compilation, collecting genre-defining recordings from the music icon’s 1954 output, including music from classic albums Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis Quintet, Miles Davis All Star Sextet, andMiles Davis Quartet (all originally issued via Prestige Records).Featuring an all-star cast of musicians, including Sonny Rollins, Thelonious Monk, Milt Jackson, Kenny Clarke, Art Blakey, and Horace Silver, Miles ’54blends originals by the influential jazz icon, with popular ballads and compositions by his legendary sidemen.
Arriving November 22, 2024, Miles ’54will be available in an array of formats, including 180-gram4-LP, 2-CD, and hi-res digital. All audio has been newly remasteredby GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer, Paul Blakemore, with lacquers cut by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio. Physical editions offer a brand-new essay by GRAMMY®-winning music historian Ashley Kahn (author of Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece, among others) as well as in-depth session notes by GRAMMY-winning writer, Dan Morgenstern. The complete collection is available for pre-order here, while the track “Oleo” can be streamed today.
1954 was a watershed year for Miles Davis. Ten years into his celebrated career, the trumpeter, composer, and bandleader was on the precipice of international fame and more focused than ever. Throughout the year, Davis entered Rudy Van Gelder’s studio for five landmark sessions—each of which would find him honing his sound, maturing as a leader, and collaborating with the era’s brightest rising stars. The resulting recordings would catapult Davis’ career to the next level and set the tone for the mid-late ’50s post-bop scene.
The release of Miles ’54not only coincides with the 70th anniversary of these recordings but also the 75th anniversary of Prestige Records, the venerable independent jazz label founded by producer Bob Weinstock. Launched in 1949, Prestige found itself at the forefront of the genre: ushering in the cutting-edge sounds of bop, hard bop, soul jazz, and beyond, while developing the careers of such iconic artists as John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Stan Getz, Sonny Rollins, and, of course, Miles Davis.
Anybody who thought the vinyl resurgence was just a fad was mistaken: The industry has experienced a legitimate revival. As a result, music fans are interested in physical media in ways they may not have if the decades-old medium hasn’t made a comeback. That doesn’t mean everybody is listening to just their parents’ old music, though. That’s part of it, sure, thanks to rereleases that present classic albums in new ways. A vital part of the renewed vinyl wave, though, is new projects being released as records, of which there are plenty.
Whatever you might be into, each month brings a new slew of vinyl releases that has something for everybody. Some stand out above the rest, naturally, so check out some of our favorite vinyl releases of March below.
Elton John — Honky Château (50th Anniversary Reissue)
UMe
1972’s Honky Château is an iconic Elton John release (it’s the one with “Rocket Man“). It turns 50 this year and it’s getting an anniversary edition to celebrate. This reissue features outtakes from the original session tapes and “an eight-page booklet containing rare photos, memorabilia and an essay featuring interviews from those who were there at the time.”
Tom Waits — Closing Time (50th Anniversary Reissue)
ANTI-
Closing Time, while not a major commercial hit back in its day, has gone on to be one of Tom Waits’ most beloved albums. Well, it turns 50 this year, and now it’s available in both black and clear pressings, and was given a half-speed remaster at the iconic Abbey Road Studios.
Miles Davis had a long, productive career, but perhaps his most beloved run was from the late ’60s to the mid-’70s. Vinyl Me, Please is commemorating that era with The Electric Years, which includes seven iconic Davis albums: In A Silent Way (1969), B*tches Brew (1970), A Tribute To Jack Johnson (1971), Live-Evil (1971), On The Corner (1972), Big Fun (1974), and Get Up With It (1974). Aside from the albums themselves, also included are listening notes and even an original podcast.
MF Doom’s Metalface Records is celebrating the 30th anniversary of KMD’s sophomore album, Black Bastards. For those unfamiliar, KMD was a hip-hop trio that featured Zev Love X, who would later go on to achieve greater recognition as… yes, MF Doom. So, this reissue is an absolute must-have for Doom stans.
Of her now-decade-old album (the first one that Aaron Dessner ever produced), Sharon Van Etten said in a statement, “About a year or two ago, Naomi Yang (of Galaxie 500) reached out to me after she rediscovered a video that we had made together in 2011, during the making of Tramp, just before the album’s release. It was for the song ‘Serpents.’ The timing was uncanny, approaching the anniversary of Tramp. Thinking about my time in New York while in the bubble of Los Angeles and my home. Thinking about how restless I was, and now settled down and stable. Thinking about how Aaron Dessner took a chance on me after I messaged him with a fury of demos. He could see through the hiss and crappy vocals on my GarageBand demos, and that I had something to say. He gave me the confidence to be loud and to scream my rage and feel founded and justified in my own pain. He gave me more tools to find catharsis in my work. I have carried that with me ever since.”
Bob Marley would have turned 78 this past February and his estate is going big with marking the occasion. A bunch of his albums have been re-released as part of limited-edition pressings straight out of Jamaica, via Marley’s own Tuff Gong label. If you only get one album, you can’t go wrong with the Legend compilation, which is widely regarded as one of the best albums ever.
Flaming Lips — Fight Test and Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell
Warner Bros.
Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots is an all-time classic, but don’t forget the two EPs Flaming Lips dropped at around the same time, too: Fight Test and Ego Tripping At The Gates Of Hell. The band is reissuing those now and this is the first time they’re both available on vinyl, meaning fans are finally able to fill a Wayne Coyne hole in their LP library.
The Police have a ton of hits, so picking up a compilation album from the group is a safe bet. Greatest Hits was originally released in 1992 and features iconic tracks like “Roxanne,” “Message In A Bottle,” “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” and “Every Breath You Take.” This reissue was remastered at Abbey Road and is pressed on heavyweight black vinyl.
Burt Bacharach and Elvis Costello — The Songs Of Bacharach & Costello
UMe
We’re now about two months removed from the death of vintage pop icon Burt Bacharach. During his storied career, he counted Elvis Costello among his frequent collaborators, and now, The Songs Of Bacharach & Costello celebrates the three-decade professional relationship they enjoyed. This edition includes remastered tracks, previously unreleased songs, and a moving 10,000-word essay from Costello on his late friend.
Pink Floyd — The Dark Side Of The Moon (Deluxe Box Set)
Warner Music
It could be argued that The Dark Side Of The Moon is the most famous/successful album ever; It’s been on the Billboard charts for nearly 20 total years now. Dark Side turns 50 this year and a massive new anniversary edition comes with goodies like a book, CD and Blu-ray editions, and an LP of The Dark Side Of The Moon – Live At Wembley Empire Pool, London, 1974.
Vinyl Me, Please, the popular vinyl subscription company, has announced that their new anthology is a special Miles Davis tribute called Miles Davis: The Electric Years.
The limited-edition box set will consist of seven albums on vinyl from a certain period of Davis’ career — from 1969 to 1974, specifically. The records include In A Silent Way, B*tches Brew, A Tribute To Jack Johnson, Live-Evil, On The Corner, Big Fun, and Get Up With It.
They have also all been “mastered AAA from 1-to-1 tape transfers of the master tapes by Ryan Smith at Sterling Sound,” per VMP press materials. The box set will come wit a 24-page “listening notes and photo booklet” written by Ben Ratliff. The artwork on the box’s cover is a portrait of Davis done by the artist Tadayuki Naitoh.
“As a total volume of music, these records achieve an organic unity by growing and dissolving into one another, even as they might individually seem to you disjointed or unclear or even disembodied,” Ratliff wrote on the company’s website. “If so, you shouldn’t feel alone. This may be some of the most confusing music ever made. Miles Davis aspired to be the sort of successful artist who could make the ensembles and records and concerts that he wanted, when he wanted, such that he didn’t particularly have to worry about record-label marketing, audiences, and critics.”
This Miles Davis: The Electric Yearstribute box set costs $349 for members and $399 for those who aren’t subscribed. It’s available for pre-order here.
