The Unassailable Miles Davis, or, To Know Him Is To Love Him

Actually, that photo is from somewhere around 1989-90; it's from the same photo session that yielded the album cover of Doo-Bop, which was released in 1991. This is a picture of Miles in the late '60s/early '70s:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-jd80_x84iUE/TqSYqpD-UhI/AAAAAAAAAjU/SVSe7pWG5xU/s1600/miles-davis3.jpg

Based on the sunglasses, I'd guess that photo is '73/'74; he's wearing the same glasses on the cover of Get Up With It.

lol thought he looked old, Google lied to me

i guess he does have muscles on the cover of jack johnson too, but he sure looks like a skinny motherfucker in a bunch of photos from later in the decade

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Observer/Pix/pictures/2010/9/2/1283425873645/Miles-Davis-Muhammad-Ali-006.jpg

ok fuck this biopic shit and let's change the subject:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IJDi1gQZu8

I ran across this at my local library:

http://www.amazon.com/Live-Europe-1969-Bootleg-Series/dp/B008YCMM2A
MD Quintet live in Europe 1969.

It is as awesome as you would expect with generally good-to-very-good sounding recordings.
Also the dvd is a nice bonus.

lol
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CLu5mk4VAAAJ0nW.png:large

who is spc

sony pictures classics

pics look crazy but kent jones loved it, fwiw

haha, i was posting because of the "iconic singer" bit in the release...

Script notes:

-- Love the outline, just curious: Does he have to play trumpet? Not a problem, we can keep it, it's just ... you know how people get all puffy-cheeked when they play trumpet? Kinda gross. Just a thought.

iconic singer is funny cos i don't think MIles was supposed to talk above a whisper for years. Apparently he had throat surgery after he had nodes on his larynx or something and I think he lost his temper at somebody during a 2 week or something period that he was supposed to rest his voice. Shouted and wrecked his ability to talk, or so the story goes.
I wonder what his singing would have been like otherwise. Might have been an interesting aspect to hear him vocalise as well

Don Cheadle's last two tweets:

1. It wouldn't be entirely correct to call this a biopic

SteveKUVO ‏@SteveKUVO 3h3 hours ago
Denver's East High grad @IamDonCheadle debuts #MilesDavis biopic in NYC this Oct. http://www.downbeat.com/default.asp?sect=news&subsect=news_detail&nid=2783 …

Don Cheadle ‏@IamDonCheadle 3h3 hours ago
@SteveKUVO Not a biopic, but thanks for the shout out!

2. but it's totally fair to call miles a singer

Subliminal Threat. ‏@tallblackguy 2h2 hours ago
Does @IamDonCheadle know that the studio putting out his film thinks Miles Davis is a singer?
0 retweets 0 favorites

Don Cheadle @IamDonCheadle
@tallblackguy He was. Listen to singers talk about his playing.
10:30 AM - 6 Aug 2015

I always loved Miles' singing on his album of Jack Johnson covers.

kent jones loved it, fwiw

Kent Jones also loves the Zemeckis movie recreating the WTC wire walk fwiw

lmao xp

I just started going through Amazon reccommendations and found out that there was a date from the Japanese tour that gave us Agharta & Pangaea, recorded 12 days earlier. It just came out on Hi hat last month. Hadn't heard anything about it as far as I can remember.

the tokyo shows? must be a european import/bootleg. i think that's basically the kinda label hi-hat is.

Disc 1
Sorry, slightly out, must have got the 12 from it being 22nd or something, still somewhat fluey, like.
This i sthe Amazon description plus some info supplied from a review

On his tour of Japan in early 1975, Miles Davis presented some of the most searing, electric fusion ever heard in concert. The performances on this 2CD set, FM broadcast, hail from a January 22 gig at Shinjuku Kohseinenkin Hall in Tokyo. Staged ten days earlier than the February 1 shows at which his Agharta and Pangaea LPs were recorded, this includes some songs not contained on those albums, and spotlights one of the most adventurous bands Davis assembled.
1. Prelude & Funk (21:47) 1st set
2. Maiysha (15:45) 1st set
3. Ife (18:21) 2nd set

Disc 2

1. Mtume (4:11) 2nd set
2. Turnaroundphrase (5:19) 2nd set
3. Tune In 5 (4:06) 2nd set
4. Untitled (10:26) - actually "Hip Skip" 2nd set

So slightly out that I can't edit properly so Disc 1 appears above where it was supposed to.

always thought that gig was June 19th 1975, will check when I'm home

all those gigs have been on DIME for years afaict

JUst found that I have it already from Dime or somewhere. Just about to have it come on.

Also have 23rd and a couple of Febrary dates.

kent jones loved it, fwiw

Kent Jones also loves the Zemeckis movie recreating the WTC wire walk fwiw

― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Thursday, August 6, 2015 1:37 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol ty for this. i can't tell if it's building on a simmering jgl-centric dispute between us. i actually noted this when it got announced for nyff & it made me check my reflex cynicism! i'm pretty curious.

wrong thread?

here's the info for the Tokyo show I have:

Miles Davis
June 19, 1973
Shinjuku Kosei Nenkin Hall
Tokyo, Japan

Disc One:
1. Turnaroundphrase - 12:46
2. Tune in 5 - 9:23
3. Right Off - 1:20
4. Funk - 10:44
5. Unknown F - 10:42

Disc Two:
1. Ife - 22:15
2. Agharta Prelude - 9:48
3. Zimbabwe (faded during Mtume conga solo) - 13:33

Musicians:
Miles Davis - trumpet, organ
Dave Liebman - tenor & soprano saxophones
Pete Cosey - guitar, percussion
Reggie Lucas - guitar
Michael Henderson - bass
James "Mtume" Heath - congas, rhythm box, African percussion
Al Foster - drums

Source:
pre-FM broadcast reel

Lineage
Reel >? >bootleg CD > CDR >EAC >FLAC Frontend

so '73, not '75

No that hi hat is from the same tour as Agharta/Pangaea in 75. I was listening to the circulated bootleg last night.
It's one of a few dates from that tour I have.
Also got a couple of NYC from the same year.
He retired for a few years at some point that year.

Also forgot to mention there's video of I think the Tokyo show from that 73 tour. I know I had it, not sure if I still do.

www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/davis-miles-live-in-tokyo-1975-2cd/HH.012CD.html

1/22/75 was out previously as
http://www.plosin.com/milesAhead/Disco.aspx?id=AnotherUnity

So is this 1-22-75 set on HiHat worth buying? Amazon prices for it are ok; mainly wondering about sound quality, since it's FM broadcast (like a home tape?)

of course would also be nice if the performances are distinctively good

Is it worth getting if you've already got Agharta and Pangaea? (I've got 80s Japanese imports of Dark Magus and Black Beauty, for that matter; not lacking for this era of Miles, but could use some more, if it's good)

Everything from that era is good, for Pete Cosey as much as (if not more than, sometimes) for Miles. I have that concert under the title Another Unity.

First clip from the Cheadle bio-pic:
http://www.indiewire.com/article/don-cheadle-tries-to-hit-the-right-notes-in-new-clip-from-nyff-closer-miles-ahead-20151008

I'm already ia at seeing an AKG d112 bass drum microphone being used to mic a trumpet section (and several decades before that model of mic existed).

https://media4.giphy.com/media/TbGwrJaWc9fLG/200_s.gif

I hope somebody got fired for that blunder.

lol, they probably wanted that vintage ribbon mic look and that was the closest thing they had lying around.

I can't tell a whole lot from that clip, but I can't say it looks bad.

The casting still bugs me; Cheadle looks more like Sammy Davis Jr. than he does Miles. I would have preferred to see Michael Wright as Miles. But I guess it's Cheadle's project, so...

idg why anyone makes these movies, they're so pointless

I'm not big on insisting on the actor who looks the most like the subject, but Cheadle's presence/bravado might be a bit lacking.

I'd rather just watch some stock footage of real miles myself. actors playing musicians have mainly been mediocre to absolute shite in recent history.

yeah it's not exactly a rich tradition. Kurt Russell did a good Elvis and Kilmer is v funny as Jimbo but ... yeah that's all I got

Angela Bassett did a good Tina Turner

Movies about fictional musicians are nearly always superior to movies about real ones, probably because the writers can't fall back on "and THAT was the moment where THAT THING happened!" and the actors can't fall back on trying to do an impression.

the writers can't fall back on "and THAT was the moment where THAT THING happened!"

I hated this so much about that recent Brian Wilson movie

I'm not crazy about big sweeping trying-to-be-accurate biopics; much prefer either an idiosyncratic approach or a focus on a specific short time period. Not that those kinds of films don't often suck too (last days eg)

Or that horrific vh1 movie where Lennon and McCartney hang out circa mid 1970s

In terms of Miles's best known collaborators, I'm guessing maybe Dave Holland, who has some shows in NYC a week later. (He, DeJohnette and Jason Moran played an amazing show together last year in Woodstock.) Could even be Ron Carter - I don't think he has anything booked. Maybe Herbie Hancock? He's playing Newport on August 6 so he could definitely make it. John McLaughlin would be amazing - he's supposed to be retired, but I don't think a one-off performance would be out of the question.

Your comment reminded me about a question that entered my head yesterday: What kind of guitar was John McLaughlin using on IASW?

This thread claims it's a Duo-Sonic, citing compelling evidence from Robben Ford. There's also this picture of JM with Tony Williams:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_dVPBBf9Ti6M/TRJIDo5T5PI/AAAAAAAAAIU/k7Yh8hr_2Vo/s1600/Lifetime+7.JPG

on the other hand:

You played an acoustic with Lifetime?!

In the beginning, but it was tough because Tony's such a powerful drummer and Larry was pulling these weird sounds out of the organ. It was loud and sometimes would start to feedback, and it's hard to play when the guitar is freaking out. But, for example, [Davis'] In A Silent Way -- that's a Hummingbird, just a pure acoustic with a pickup.

xxp turns out the special guests are Carlos Santana and Cindy Blackman Santana.

“And more surprise guests will be joining Carlos, Cindy and Jack at the show. It’s going to be an amazing night at UPAC!”

To this day I still check the official store hoping for a miracle restock of the On the Corner sessions box. Still haunts me that I missed the brief window they came up for sale again a few years ago.

I stupidly passed on them that time.

I don't need the fancy box or anything, but man I would love a repress.