Number of Discs: 1
Label: Hollywood Records

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Trumpeter Mark Isham's Miles Remembered: The Silent Way Project is another in a slew of Miles Davis tributes released in the late 1990s. It follows Miles tributes by Wadada Leo Smith and Henry Kaiser (Yo Miles!) and producer Bill Laswell (Panthalassa) in looking back specifically on the great trumpeter's electric period of the early 1970s. Purist fans of this part of Miles's career might be a little put off by Isham's live recording, as the Silent Way Project is more his own interpretations of several themes from the period than a collection of unerringly faithful versions. The title track, for example, is almost unrecognizable as Isham and his band veer off into ambient territory after the initial opening theme. Also, the overall vibe the band generates is in truth closer to the slicker sound of Miles's 1980s recordings than it is to the dense and heavily percussive leanings of the albums that originally contained this material.
Still, there are plenty of worthwhile moments here that will appeal to fans of Miles's '70s period, from the
all-out guitar-driven crash of Jack Johnson to the
avant-funk of Ife and Spanish Key.
--Ezra Gale

Reviews
Wire (7/99, pp.53-4) - "...the quality of playing provokes...interest, and the post-recording studio tweaking is easy on the ear..." Jazz Times (9/99, pp.81-2) - "...hits the mark....[an] incendiary tribute." Q Magazine (7/99, p.118) - 3 stars (out of 5) - "...tasteful and well-intentioned...

Number of Discs: 1
Label: Sony

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Originally released: 1976

Number of Discs: 1
Label: Indent Series

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Number of Discs: 1
Label: Varese Records

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Number of Discs: 1
Label: Arista

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Number of Discs: 1
Label: Varese Records

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Number of Discs: 1
Label: Varese Records

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Granddaddy of the Hollywood studios, Paramount Pictures is rightfully proud of its century of contributions to both American cinema and the art of film scoring. But the first disc of this 43-track double-CD anthology merely hints at the studio's musical peaks, blithely skipping through its first seven decades in just 17 tracks. Indeed, the package as a whole seems more interested in marketing its post-'70s catalog of hits and blockbusters than it does in paying real homage to history and roots. Even rarities like Double Indemnity and the Lost Weekend are served up via modern budget-line rerecordings, as is Ennio Morricone's epochal Once upon a Time in the West). Contemporary recordings of Aaron Copland's rare score to the Heiress and Franz Waxman's great Sunset Blvd. fare better, but soundtrack fans may miss the originals. The studio's rich pop-crossover successes in the '60s are documented via Breakfast at Tiffany's "Moon River" and excerpts from Romeo and Juliet and Love Story, while successful franchises like Star Trek and Raiders also get their due. Too often the '90s-focused second disc only underscores some uncomfortable trends in contemporary scoring--orchestral nervous tics punctuated by booming crescendos, treacly piano Muzak--and makes one wonder if the music of the Rugrats Movie and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider are really film music milestones.
--Jerry McCulley

Number of Discs: 2
Label: Sony

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Number of Discs: 1
Label: Varese Records

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Number of Discs: 1
Label: Hollywood Records

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Number of Discs: 1
Label: Polygram Records

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Number of Discs: 1
Label: Milan Records

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Number of Discs: 1
Label: Imago Records

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Number of Discs: 1
Label: Varese Records

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Music scores from the world's best known film composers, including James Horner, Elliot Goldenthal and many more.

Isham contribution:
Nell, film score Welcome To Robbinsville
Composed by: Mark Isham
Performed by: American Film Orchestra

Number of Discs: 1
Label: Intersound Records

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Number of Discs: 1
Label: Windham Hill Records

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Number of Discs: 1
Label: Madacy Records

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Grammy Nomination!

Number of Discs: 1
Label: Windham Hill Records

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Number of Discs: 1
Label: Varese Records

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Track listing:

Originally released in 1983, Mark Isham's enduring solo debut captures his graduation from gifted trumpeter with groups like Rubisa Patrol, Group 87, and, most visibly, Van Morrison, to composer with a more versatile and ambitious body of work. On Vapor Drawings, Isham's trumpet and flugelhorn are augmented by synthesizers, piano, soprano sax, and electronic percussion in a series of layered, atmospheric tone poems that nod to Philip Glass and Steve Reich, as well as to European classicism and Eastern modalities. Deemed a new age record as much for its label home as for any intrinsic musical elements, this music is cinematic in scale and drama, especially on its best-known track, the majestic On the Threshold of Liberty, which anticipated Isham's prolific output as a major film composer in the intervening years.
--Sam Sutherland

Number of Discs: 1
Label: Windham Hill Records

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Music scores from the world's best known film composers past & present, including Jerry Goldsmith, Danny Elfman, John Debney, Thomas Newman and many more. Isham contributes Blade & Life As A House

Number of Discs: 4
Label: Varese Records

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Number of Discs: 1
Label: ECM

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