Watch Trailer, Clip From ‘Miles Davis: The Birth Of The Cool’ Documentary

The film about the life, work and legacy of the jazz master debuted at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival last year and had a brief run in theatres.

PBS has shared a trailer, and a separate two-minute clip, from the documentary Miles Davis: The Birth of the Cool, which will air as part of the broadcaster’s American Masters series next Tuesday (25).

The feature-length documentary is directed by the Emmy Award-winner Stanley Nelson, and is a co-production of Eagle Rock Entertainment, Firelight Films and American Masters Pictures. It features interview with such admirers and collaborators of Davis as Quincy Jones, Carlos Santana, Clive Davis, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock, Flea and the Roots.

Says Davis in the trailer: “A lot of the old guys thought that if you went to school, it would make you play like you were white. If you learned something from theory, you would lose the feeling in your playing. I wanted to see what was going on in all of music. If anybody wants to keep creating, they have to be about change.”

Owen Leiberman, reviewing the documentary for Variety, described it as “superbly crafted.” He wrote: “It’s a tantalizing portrait: rich, probing, mournful, romantic, triumphant, tragic, exhilarating, and blisteringly honest. If you were 15 years old and walked into this movie having never heard of Miles Davis, you’d walk out touching the essence of who he is (and would probably be hungry to hear a dozen different albums).”

The New York Times ‘review by Glenn Kenny noted that the film “doesn’t presume to be the last cinematic word on the artist, but within its nearly two-hour confines, this production aims for comprehensiveness.” Rolling Stone avowed: “Consider this a nice Miles 101 primer if you’re unfamiliar with a singular body of work, and a chance to see clips of the man in action, from be-bop to Doo-Bop.”

Udiscovermusic.com – Paul Sexton

Glen Campbell museum opens in downtown Nashville

Johnny Cash, George Jones and Patsy Cline have a new museum neighbor on Nashville's Lower Broadway — the man who brought us "Rhinestone Cowboy," "Wichita Lineman" and "Southern Nights."

The Glen Campbell Museum and Rhinestone Stage opened this month at the corner of Broadway and 2nd Avenue, and it celebrates the late country music legend through 4,000 square feet of instruments, awards, outfits and keepsakes.

It's also a reminder that Campbell was a multifaceted talent — from his time as a session musician in the famed "Wrecking Crew" to starring alongside John Wayne in "True Grit" and hosting TV's popular "Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour."

Along with dozens of awards, plaques and guitars, there are plenty of surprising artifacts: handwritten letters from the four U.S. presidents Campbell befriended, rifles gifted to him from frequent songwriter collaborator Jimmy Webb, even the laptop that served as a lyric teleprompter on Campbell's final tours as he battled Alzheimer's.

Among several original outfits is a replica of the iconic suit Campbell wore on the cover of his "Rhinestone Cowboy" album, courtesy of famed designer Manuel Cuevas.

The Glen Campbell Museum and Rhinestone Stage is now open at the corner of Broadway and 2nd Avenue. Admission starts at $15. Find out more at glencampbellmuseum.com.

Dave Paulson, The Tennessean

Rare David Bowie Live Album Coming on 2020 Record Store Day

The posthumous David Bowie bounty will continue on April 18 with the release of a special Record Store Day rarity live album. I'm Only Dancing (The Soul Tour 74) pulls together previously unreleased tapes from shows in Nashville and Detroit in 1974. The new album joins another upcoming Record Store Day release, ChangesNowBowie, and, according to Parlophone Records, the live album will come in a 2LP and 2CD format.

"Taken from recently discovered sources in The David Bowie Archive®, 'I’M ONLY DANCING (THE SOUL TOUR 74)' was recorded mostly during David’s performance at the Michigan Palace, Detroit on 20th October, 1974, with the encores taken from the Municipal Auditorium, Nashville on 30th November, 1974," according to a statement from Parlophone.

"The only song missing from the full set on the 20th October performance is ‘Diamond Dogs’ which was unfortunately only recorded in part. To make up for that it was decided to include the encores from the 30th November performance which featured ‘Diamond Dogs’ but also enables a fuller representation of the set from The Soul Tour including such numbers as ‘Knock On Wood’ and the ‘Foot Stomping / I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate’ medley."

The 1974 Soul Tour was a "radical departure" from the first part of that year's Diamond Dogs "theatrical extravaganza," according to the release. "During a three-week break in late 1974, the Diamond Dogs Tour’s elaborate six-ton Hunger City stage set was drastically stripped back, and the tour’s set list overhauled to include as-yet-unreleased tracks from the Young Americans sessions at Sigma Sound in Philadelphia. The Soul Tour also featured a revamped band, augmented to include musicians and vocalists from those sessions, and rechristened The Mike Garson Band."

The artwork for the album is based on the original design for the programs that were handed out at the venues on The Soul Tour, which hit less than 20 cities in the East and South of the U.S. This is the first time the audio from that part of the tour has ever been officially released. In January, Parlophone announced the Record Store Day special, the nine-track ChangesNowBowie, culled from a 1996 session with longtime bassist Gail Ann Dorsey, guitarist Reeves Gabrels and producer Mark Plati during rehearsals for a 50th birthday gig at Madison Square Garden.

Billboard Magazine – Gil Kaufman

Willie Nelson to Release His 70th Studio Album

Willie Nelson has announced his 70th solo studio album, First Rose of Spring, via Sony Music’s Legacy Recordings. The LP, his 14th for the label, arrives April 24, just before his 87th birthday on April 29. The Feb. 21 announcement included the release of the title track. Watch the music/lyric video below.

First Rose of Spring follows Nelson’s recent Grammy Award for 2020 Best Country Solo Performance–his 10th overall, not including his Grammy Legend and Lifetime Achievement Awards–for “Ride Me Back Home,” the title track from his 2019 album. The previous year, My Way, Nelson’s musical homage to Frank Sinatra took home the Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

Nelson collaborated again with longtime friend and producer Buddy Cannon. The original artwork was created by Willie’s son Micah.

In addition to his own new compositions on the album which he wrote with Cannon, Nelson covers a variety of pop and country songwriters and performers, interpreting songs penned by Toby Keith (“Don’t Let the Old Man In”), Billy Joe Shaver (“We Are the Cowboys”) and Pete Graves (“Just Bummin’ Around” – a song recorded by Jimmy Dean, Dean Martin and others).

The album also features “Our Song,” a new composition by contemporary country music hitmaker Chris Stapleton.

Willie Nelson – First Rose Of Spring Track Listing

First Rose of Spring (Randy Houser, Allen Shamblin & Mark Beeson)
Blue Star (Willie Nelson & Buddy Cannon)
I’ll Break Out Again Tonight (Sanger “Whitey” Shafer & Doodle Owens)
Don’t Let the Old Man In (Toby Keith)
Just Bummin’ Around (Pete Graves)
Our Song (Chris Stapleton)
We Are the Cowboys (Billy Joe Shaver)
Stealing Home (Marla Cannon-Goodman, Casey Beathard & Don Sampson)
I’m the Only Hell My Mama Ever Raised (Wayne Kemp, Bobby Borchers & Mack Vickery)
Love Just Laughed (Willie Nelson & Buddy Cannon)
Yesterday When I Was Young (Hier Encore) (Charles Aznavour & Herbert Kretzmer)
Willie Nelson & Family will appear as special guests on Stapleton’s “All-American Roadshow” on two dates this year: Globe Life Field in Arlington, Tex. on March 14 and “A Concert for Kentucky” at Kroger Field in Lexington, Ky. on April 25. by Best Classic Bands Staff