The genius of Miles Davis

I remember seeing Miles Davis in concert just before his death in 1991; an emaciated, crouching, bird-like figure, whose ethereal trumpet sound remained among the most distinctive sounds of the 20th century. His extraordinary life – last month marked his centenary – is documented in Miles: Birth of the Cool, a compelling account with plenty of fascinating archive footage and narrative contributions from the man himself – his thin, rasping voice and obscenity-fuelled observations in stark contrast to the lyrical musical output of the 1950s and 1960s, before it reached a crescendo of electric rage in the 1970s. It’s all here, bearing witness to one of the century’s foremost artistic geniuses.

Luca Turin’s fragrant world

The chemist Luca Turin is best known for Perfumes: the A-Z Guide, co-authored with Tania Sanchez, which seduced a global audience with its brilliant epigrammatic descriptions of commercially available fragrances, some praised to heaven, others damned to hell. He now has a Substack, devoted to the same subject, which is just as witty, observant and dazzlingly original. A paean to the beauty of the ephemeral and inessential.

Alina Ibragimova, virtuosity unbounded

The Chiaroscuro Quartet is among the most compelling chamber ensembles, but I do occasionally think that its leader, Alina Ibragimova, is simply too much the virtuoso to be an equal in the musical conversation. And so she meets her match in the virtuosic form of the fortepianist Cédric Tiberghien. Their performances of early Beethoven Violin Sonatas – and the sublime Spring Sonata – are thrilling in their almost reckless risk-taking.