Miles Davis Plays Half Nelson

The Jazz Band is currently working on a bebop tune written by Miles Davis called "Half Nelson." Here are two recordings for you to check out. The first is when Miles was quite young and was playing as a sideman for Charlie Parker:

Half Nelson - C. Parker, Miles...

The second is from a later quintet recording when he was the leader:

Half Nelson - Miles Davis

Note how much more developed and confident he is in the second recording.

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This posting is a bit of an experiment. I'm using a new online music service called "la la" that allows me to embed recordings for free in my blog so that you, the reader, can listen to the music I am discussing. It's an interesting new business model--you can go to their website, sign up, and listen to any song once. If you want to be able to hear it over and over, you pay a mere 10 cents for the right. You can also buy and download the song, a la iTunes, for 89 cents. Check it out here. I'll be curious to see how well it does.