Miles Davis - In A Silent Way

wow @ teo:

Teo Macero: Miles would record his stuff, and then he’d just leave. He would sometimes say, ‘I like this or that,’ and then I’d say: ‘I’ll listen to it and I’ll put it together. If you like it, fine, if not, we’ll change it.’ So I was the one with the vision. Miles also had a vision, but he wasn’t really a composer, he didn’t compose in an organized way. It was happenstance. He played with these great musicians, and when they had played enough, I was able to cut out the stuff that wasn’t good, and piece something together from the rest. When we began editing In A Silent Way we had two huge stacks of 2” tape, 40-something reels in total. They were recorded over a longer period. It was one of the rare times Miles came to an editing session, because I’d told him, ‘This is a big job, you want to get your ass down here.’ So Miles said, ‘We’ll do it together.’ And we did. We cut things down to 8 ½ minutes on one LP side, and 9 ½ on the other, and then he said to me, “That’s my record.’ I said, ‘Go to hell!’ because it wasn’t enough music for an album. So I ended up creating repeats to make it longer. A lot of the stuff we cut was bullshit, and some of it is put out on this new boxed set. I raised hell at Columbia the other day and told them it was ridiculous they’re putting this bullshit out.

lol 'repeats to make it longer' somewhere stanley crouch is just sooooo vindicated, he thinks

brb gonna go remove all the C's from some records

the 18 minute version would probably be amazing.

well since the repeats were added it should be easy to recreate

loooool

while we were standing in the hallway John came over and whispered to me, ‘Can I ask you a question? I answered, ‘Sure’. He then said, ‘Herbie, I can’t tell... was that any good what we did? I mean, what did we do? I can’t tell what’s going on!’

In A Short Sweet Way xp

The Down Beat review (by Martin Williams, iirc) took the repetition to be a sloppily-overlooked technical error.

so he noticed that it was verbatim, that's sharp

Gleefully anticipating the Sony Legacy 60th anniversary "Miles' Cut" Silent Way 7" already.

followed by the box set of bill laswell remix 7"s

slightly off-topic: Bobby Previte put together an orchestra that plays Miles' electric stuff. A clip:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrEwbgzSeog

Miles At The Fillmore - Miles Davis 1970: The Bootleg Series Vol. 3 4CD Box Set To Be Released March 25

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrEwbgzSeog

so intensely, maniacly focused on such minimal material

jon l otm

and then he said to me, “That’s my record.’

^^

because this record never ever gets old and there are no substitutes for it

― j., Wednesday, February 5, 2014 11:12 AM (9 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

^^^

^^^^

^^^^
x3

Not sure it's been mentioned in the thread but there was an excellent article on Stereogum by phil freeman about the best and worst of Miles Davis in which he mentions how part of the album is just the first part repeated - literally replayed. I can get my head around the studio work, but I find the idea of repeating the same section just really hard to parse. What was the decision behind that? How do others justify it?

wow @ teo:

Teo Macero: Miles would record his stuff, and then he’d just leave. He would sometimes say, ‘I like this or that,’ and then I’d say: ‘I’ll listen to it and I’ll put it together. If you like it, fine, if not, we’ll change it.’ So I was the one with the vision. Miles also had a vision, but he wasn’t really a composer, he didn’t compose in an organized way. It was happenstance. He played with these great musicians, and when they had played enough, I was able to cut out the stuff that wasn’t good, and piece something together from the rest. When we began editing In A Silent Way we had two huge stacks of 2” tape, 40-something reels in total. They were recorded over a longer period. It was one of the rare times Miles came to an editing session, because I’d told him, ‘This is a big job, you want to get your ass down here.’ So Miles said, ‘We’ll do it together.’ And we did. We cut things down to 8 ½ minutes on one LP side, and 9 ½ on the other, and then he said to me, “That’s my record.’ I said, ‘Go to hell!’ because it wasn’t enough music for an album. So I ended up creating repeats to make it longer. A lot of the stuff we cut was bullshit, and some of it is put out on this new boxed set. I raised hell at Columbia the other day and told them it was ridiculous they’re putting this bullshit out.

― festival culture (Jordan), Tuesday, 18 February 2014 20:50 (8 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

How do others justify it?

because it sounds fucking amazing!

dl that literally has been known and liner-noted and factoided about this album since forever

justify it? like… what, are you mad about not getting your money's worth? bored that you're hearing the same sounds again? (do you also only play the record once?)

(they're not the same, if you're hearing them repeated - let alone after other sounds intervene)

The whole repitition thingy makes it all sound very classical. Bach would also always just go back from the beginning.

how did bach justify that

He was paid by the minute.

hey hey hey, don't get me wrong - i love it, and there's a strange feeling similar to a 'rewind' in dance music. but shit, i hadn't relaised it was just the first part played over again; I thought they were just playing it very very similarly.

hang on, so is it the same or not?

also, i mean, if there was so much stuff cut out of it, it surprises me that they'd just repeat a whole part of the record again... but yeah, i didn't know if they altered the repeated part or not - as in you get to the end of Benefit of Mr Kite and it just starts playing the first three songs from Sgt Peppers all over again or whatevs...

well if you eat the same breakfast next monday you had this monday, is it the same or not

i don't throw up last monday's breakfast and eat it again?!

what i'm asking is - are the two parts EXACTLY the same or are they different? I've never been able to tell.

I think the amazing thing about the record is that Miles had only met John McLaughlin for the first time the evening before, and invited him to the session the next day. Such a chance thing, and yet the music is unimaginable without his contribution.

McLaughlin's playing on those few Miles records is some of the best work he ever did imo.

yea i agree.

i've found it very difficult to get into mahavishnu orchestra. i put on birds of fire here and there but i never make it through.

are the two parts EXACTLY the same or are they different?
they're exactly the same

but you're different

Love that Miles supposedly told McL, a technician supreme, "Play like you don't know how to play," so Go Ahead John had to unravel himself on the spot.

It worked!

Marcos you should listen to him on a Wayne Shorter record called Super Nova, which also features Sonny Sharrock, similar "I don't know how to play" type playing from him.

they're exactly the same

― tylerw, Friday, November 14, 2014 3:17 PM (14 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

but you're different

― tylerw, Friday, November 14, 2014 3:20 PM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Love this. I think this nails it.

^^^ Yes

whoa, great post

http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/newseventsimages?p_image_type=mainnews2012&p_image_id=23110

^^^^^^^^^^^^

lol

Just realized that this is one of those albums I have managed not to listen to in about 15 years. Crazy. (I listened to it so much between the ages of 16 to 25 that I basically have it internalized, but still ...). Gotta get a new copy I think.

Every time I try and play this back in my head today, it starts seguing into a short French horn section on Beach Boys' Smile.

Hah. Sounds pretty great actually.

the "complete" box set from these sessions is definitely not as compelling and cohesive as e.g. the complete jack johnson stuff. but i still enjoy it.

this album was one of my proper introductions to jazz, back when i was in high school, and it's hard not to cherish it for that reason alone.

i mean, i heard plenty of jazz before that, but i didn't really seek out whole albums, and some of the stuff i had been exposed to previously was a little jive (like wynton marsalis).