Any collection claiming to be The Very Best of Miles Davis needs to be closely examined. These sessions from his Columbia Records days feature some orchestral Miles with Gil Evans, some funky poppish Miles, and a little straight-ahead mid-'60s Miles, but the package can hardly can be looked at as definitive or comprehensive. There are many gaping holes ? no Birth of the Cool or *****es Brew, and very little of the quintet with Hancock, Shorter, Coltrane, Adderley, Evans, etc. Better to pick an era and go for the whole enchilada instead of this surface-scratching "compilation."