Sketches of Spain 50th Anniversary!

On this day in 1960 Columbia Records released Sketches of Spain by Miles Davis. The album teamed Miles up with arranger Gil Evans again, whom he'd worked with on Birth of the Cool and Porgy and Bess. With Sketches use of strings and more formal song structure many consider it Miles Davis' most accessible work. The compositions themselves derive from Spanish folk songs and flamenco music, which Miles Davis had recently begun listening to thanks to an anthology brought back from Spain for him by the actress/model Beverly Bentley. When Sketches of Spain was released Downbeat magazine gave it five stars, calling it one of the most important musical triumphs of the century.