#48: Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain

"Is it jazz or isn't it?" is all I've been able to read online about Sketches of Spain. Rather than working from the modal framework of the album's immediate predecessor, Kind of Blue, Sketches takes pre-existing compositions and adds Miles' virtuosity and Gil Evans' arranging prowess to the mix while altering little else. Since the improvisation is much more contained and there isn't much that stands as a product of its time (1960), it's often said that this is more of an orchestral piece than a jazz record.

I don't care.

All that matters to me is that the songs are damn good, and that the Spanish vibe is carried throughout the record without overdoing it and going into bad Mexican restaurant mariachi band territory. It's expressive but never flamboyant, and restrained without being constricted. Even when he's playing pieces he didn't compose, the coolness remains, and Sketches of Spain smartly drips cool rather than a manufactured stereotypical Spanish flavor, but who would have expected anything less? Coltrane and Cannonball may have sat this one out, and it ultimately sounds more cinematic than club-ready, but it's as enjoyable as a Miles Davis record could be for me.