Miles @100 - A Celebration Through Albums (4)

Day three of our celebration of Miles Davis at 100. See day one and two here.

By Stef Gijssels

The year 1970 marked an extraordinary turning point in Miles Davis’s career and artistic evolution. He transformed himself from a jazz musician into a figure with the presence — and attitude — of a rock star. His music became increasingly exploratory and electric: wah-wah trumpet effects, fractured and layered textures, electric piano, electric bass, and organ all became central to his sound. Equally important were the relentless rhythms, the unrestrained improvisations, and the trance-like length and density of the performances. It represented a complete break from conventional jazz harmony, moving instead toward something more primal, ritualistic, and less bound by eclectic convention. While many jazz purists rejected this new direction, rock audiences embraced it enthusiastically.

He performed with an exceptional list of musicians in this year, all of which individually became famous in their own right, and some of them created the most popular fusion bands of the seventies and eighties: the John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra, Chick Corea's Return to Forever, and Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter's Weather Report. Miles Davis opened the door to something else completely. 

The Cellar Door Sessions 1970 (Columbia, 2005) 

My preferred album by Miles Davis is without a doubt "Bitches Brew", followed by "In A Silent Way", discussed before. From the same period are a few other excellent albums, including this compilation released in 2005 only. It was recorded live over a few nights in December 1970 at The Cellar Door, a club in Washington DC. The six-CD box comprises six of the ten recorded tracks, some of which have already officially been released as part of "Live-Evil". 

With its six hours of music, this album is guaranteed to give you an overdose of the Miles of that period: lengthy tracks, improvisations, brutal yet quality interplay, some moments of fun even. You get five different versions of "Directions" (also called "Call It Anything" on the triple vinyl of the Isle of Wight Rock Festival of 1970) and "What I Say" (on Live-Evil),  four versions of "Honky Tonk", also called "Funky Tonk" on "Live-Evil", and two versions of "It's About That Time" (from "In A Silent Way"). Some parts of the improvisation and "Inamorata", were also used on "Live-Evil" and called "Inamorata and Narration by Conrad Roberts". 

So much for the factoids, but it's about the music and that is absolutely stellar, as is the quality of the recording. Some call this "fusion" or "jazz rock" but those are truly deceptive classifications for this period in Davis's career. Yes, there is a strong and solid rhythm section, yet the themes and the improvisation are as open as jazz can be, with solid interplay for sure, but still far away from the soulless over-polished technical pyrotechnics of so much of fusion music. The pieces are long, and actually some performances move from one piece into the next without a break, it's a continuous never-ending party of great music, raw at times, offering the level of spontaneous creation that cannot happen without some raw or noisy overall sound. The fun part of the many versions is that it allows you to compare the freedom that the musicians have in their performances, and the difference in their collective rendition of the same music.

The band are Miles Davis on trumpet, Gary Bartz on saxes, Keith Jarrett on electric piano and organ, Michael Henderson on electric bass, Jack DeJohnette on drums, Airo Moreira on percussion (except disc one), and with John McLaughlin joining on guitar for disc 5 & 6 (recorded on December 19, 1970). 

A stellar band at the height of its skills, and music that is relatively unique in its sound and quality. It's a lot to digest, a huge meal of exquisite ingredients. 

A Tribute To Jack Johnson (Columbia, 1970)

This album was recorded right after "Bitches Brew", in April 1970, and was conceived as a soundtrack for a documentary by Bill Cayton about the heavyweight world champion boxer Jack Johnson.

It contains two lengthy pieces, performed by two different line-ups: Right Off" has Miles Davis on trumpet, Steve Grossman on saxophone, John McLaughlin on guitar, Herbie Hancock on organ, Michael Henderson on bass, and Billy Cobham on drums, and "Yesternow" has Miles Davis on trumpet, John McLaughlin and Sonny Sharock on guitar, Bennie Maupin on bass clarinet, Chick Corea on electric piano, Dave Holland on bass, and Jack DeJohnette on drums.

The two tracks are heavily post-produced, a kind of collage by producer Teo Macero, whose "cut and paste" approach of different jam sections and solos are brought to a new level. The collage is not always really audible although some radical rhythm changes in the pieces indicate some artificial interventions. 

While waiting for Miles to arrive, McLaughlin starts the first track by a rock-ish guitar vamp, and is joined by Cobham and Henderson on bass and drums. Apparently Herbie Hancock happened to be around the studio that day, so he joined too. It was not yet meant to be recorded, yet it was. The trumpet just joins after a few minutes and the piece gets its full voice. As the Miles Davis website explains: "“Right Off” (the opposite of the catchphrase of the day, “right on”) travels a long path, including a moment (18:44) when McLaughlin repeatedly hammers a riff from Sly Stone’s “Sing A Simple Song”, and into a series of ringing power chords, a searing saxophone solo, and further guitar ribaldry. “Yesternow” (the very title balancing past and present) opens with a more spaced-out feel, includes a snippet of “Shhh/Peaceful” from In A Silent Way (Miles literally sampling himself!)"  

Both tracks are excellent, post-produced, collaged or not. The music is hypnotic as is most of Davis's work of that period, yet it adds the specific political message of civil rights in the USA. Even if this theme is omnipresent in his work implicitly, here it becomes a real message. The album ends with the voice of Brock Peters, speaking on behalf of Jack Johnson in the documentary. “I’m Jack Johnson, heavyweight champion of the world! I’m black! They never let me forget it. I’m black all right. I’ll never let them forget it.” 

Miles Davis writes in the liner notes: “Johnson portrayed Freedom… the more they hated him, the more money he made, the more women he got and the more wine he drank.”

Freedom is to be liberated from the shackles of preconceived notions, of conventions, of racist history. 

This music is Freedom. 

Live At Fillmore (Columbia, 1970)

Recorded live at the Filmore in June 1970, this album takes advantage of the success of "In A Silent Way" and "Bitches Brew". The show contains much of the material of both albums, again with a great band of Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett on electric keyboards, Steve Grossman on saxophones and flute, Dave Holland on bass, Jack DeJohnette on drums, Airto Moreira on percussion. The music is edited to allow for all major compositions to be represented on this double vinyl. Tracks move almost seamlessly into one another. At the same time, you never know about what was edited: "Miles was in the habit of kicking off tunes before the previous one had ended, overlapping in into another, making it difficult to pull out discreet performances", and even stronger, making the band follow suit instantly. 

The sound quality is excellent, and fans of the electric Miles should definitely check it out. 

Live-Evil (Columbia, 1971)

Recorded between February and December 1970, "Live-Evil" ends the phenomenal year of Miles psychedelic jazz style. 

The entire cast of musicians is actually rarely a complete band, but an ensemble that changes on every track. Miles Davis on trumpet, Gary Bartz, Steve Grossman, Wayne Shorter on sax, John McLaughlin on electric guitar, Keith Jarrett on organ, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and Joe Zawinul on electric piano, Michael Henderson, Dave Holland and Ron Carter on bass, Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette and Hermeto Pascoal on drums and vocals, Airto Moreira and Khalil Balakrishna on electric sitar. 

The label describes the album appropriately: "it bulges at the seams in its effort to contain all Miles was up to the year before—the crazy diversity of experiences in 1970. (The sounds) ranged from rock-band abandon spilling off of small club stages, to ambient jams and mood pieces crafted in the recording studio. He was working a wider sonic mix than ever—wah-wah trumpet (within the album’s first minute!) and Indian sitar, electric guitar and electronic keyboards, whistling and vocalizing and shouts, spoken poetry and the “speaking” of the Brazilian cuíca all over. The music is a crazy psychedelic mix—not jazz or rock or funk. Not this or that. Willfully kaleidoscopic and boldly futuristic."

It is a strange album, with many different styles and unexpected twists and turns. It is not a "live" album as its title might suggest, but rather an collection of musical pieces of which some were recorded live. The core of the album is made of three very long tracks "What I Say" (phenomenal!), "Funky Tonk", and "Inamorata", tied together with shorter and more subdued interludes. 

The album ends with a poem by Conrad Roberts

"Inamorato 

Mission: music, masculinity

Master of the art: music

Who is this music that which description may never justify?

Can the ocean be described?

Fathomless music

Body of all that is

Live ever lastingly

Men, initiate

Inamorato, your music art tomorrow's unknown known life

I love tomorrow"