Customer Reviews
Overdose on Castanets - By: AfterTheEvent, 14 Aug 2008 
I originally bought this album as a boxed set of three LP's, Kind of Blue, Porgy & Bess were the other two. It tends to be loathed by "true believers" largely, I think, because it was one of the most popular. Therefore: it was a sore trial to the sort of deaf elitists that you find at Jazz & Orchestral music events. (People who clap harder as the music gets worse.)
It does have it's faults, the over use of castanets, which is like adding atmosphere with ketchup. The gushing orchestration which pervades the collection like cheap perfumein dance-hall. Occasional shrieking trumpet - where MD definitely looses the thread.
It's still a great album & well worth a listen. It maybe the weakest of the three albums mentioned. It's still worth five stars.
Vastly overrated; mostly quite dull - By: T. Russell, 16 Jan 2008 
'Sketches of Spain' is one of those albums that, for some reason, has been talked up so much over the decades that it has now become something that people buy, & say they love, simply because that's what's expected.
A lot of Davis' albums fall into this category - 'On The Corner' is another good example - an almost unlistenable album that many self-conscious music-lovers profess to 'get' when,in reality, they would only be able to tolerate listening to it a few times before putting it away for good (in a smugly conspicuous position, I might add)in the hope that they can impress their friends by owning it.
OK, I'm being a bit extreme here, 'Sketches of Spain' is far from unlistenable;in many places it is very tender & beautiful,in others there is superb tension & release, but it is most certainly NOT one of the all-time greatest jazz records.
More often than not it is tedious, & Davis' playing too unfocused - as though he wasn't quite sure exactly what to playin parts. The orchestral accompaniment at times is just brilliant, but at others strays too far into muzak territory or abstraction just for the sake of it.
I guess it's a mixed bag really.
If you want to hear the best that the Davis-Evans collaboration produced you'd be far better off with 'Miles Ahead' or 'Porgy & Bess', & if you want to hear Spanish classical/folk music rendered perfectly, then get hold of a few decent recordings of music by Rodrigo (there are a few budget-priced CDs on Naxos which are a good start).
If you're a big Miles fan then you'll no doubt want to own this - it is certainly a distinctive discin the whole Davis canon - but don't try to fool yourself or convince others that it is worthy of the 5 stars that every man & his dog throw at it.
miles en espanol - By: Franz Bieberkopf, 02 Sep 2007 
This is a great rendition of various Spanish pieces,most notably "Concierto de Aranjuez" by Joaquin Rodrigo.Miles & Gil Evans seem to really enjoy this,and while it's not as cutting edge as "Kind Of Blue",it's great fun.By the by,Rodrigo,when he heard Miles' version,hated it.No pleasing some people!!
Miles fuses the sounds of Spain with American Jazz - By: Jay, 19 Mar 2007 Sketches of Spain is one of my favorite of Miles Davis' fusion works. Here, he fuses the sounds of Spain with American Jazz. It's not nearly as radical as much of his fusion work, but it's not likely to be heard on an elevator either. If you've enjoyed Miles' easiest-to-listen-to-albums (for example, Kind of Blue, Birth of the Cool), & you want to be challenged just a little more, take a listen to Sketches of Spain.
Pictures Of A Master - By: Gavieboy, 31 May 2006 When I got this album it camein a three pack which included Kind of Blue & Porgy & Bess; this is fundamental Jazz; another classic from this man; whos life I have now adopted as god status; this is the man that got me into to Jazzin a massive way, this & its two companians are the three greatest Jazz albums from Davis & up there amoungst the best ever recorded
