Seven Steps to Heaven: One of Miles Davis' Most Overlooked Albums

Seven Steps to Heaven is an album that gets lost in the shuffle. Truth is, most jazz artists of the day would have died to record something of this quality.

I have really grown to love Seven Steps to Heaven, an album originally released in 1963, and at a time when Miles was in transition, struggling to find an equal voice to his trumpet on saxophone.

 1962 was a disaster, and Miles was trying his best to find a new band after tenor man Hank Mobley didn't work out. The rhythm section of Wynton Kelly, Jimmy Cobb, and Paul Chambers went on to form their own trio.

Miles Finally found a saxophonist in George Coleman, who may be the most underrated of all of the Davis sideman. A lot of people mention the Tony Williams, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter tracks with Coleman, but usually the 3 Lyrical Blues numbers are over looked. This is a big mistake, for these are very sparse quartet performances, with Miles owning the moment.

Also some very tasty piano work from Victor Feldman, "Basin Street Blues" and "Baby won't you please come home" are stellar ballad performances and really worthy of the Davis Legacy.

Of course the tracks "Joshua," a Victor Feldman penned tune, "Seven Steps to Heaven" and "So Far So Near" are all classics that foreshadow the arrival of Wayne Shorter and the exit of the very good George Coleman.

Pretty much after Seven Steps to Heaven, Miles would rarely every play this style of ballad again in the studio, which I think makes it a must have for a Davis collector.

Their are several classics on Seven Steps that became standards, the  title track, "Joshua", and "So Near So Far", yet the album does get lost between historical classics like Kind of Blue and Miles Smiles for instance.

The overlooked nature of the album proves how great Miles was.  For most other jazz musicians, an entire reputation could have been built on an album like Seven Steps to Heaven.