S&D: Miles Davis in the 70s & 80s

Don Cheadle has as good a chance of pulling it off as any other actor I can think of

Anyone heard this yet btw?

www.amazon.com/Miles-Davis-At-Newport-1955-1975/dp/B00WNII7YS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437661465&sr=8-1&keywords=miles+at+newport

This series is always at least pretty good, and though I already have the early stuff here, the early 70s stuff looks very enticing.

Trying to keep expectations in check, but would really like this to be good.

― five six and (man alive), Wednesday, July 22, 2015 5:37 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yea def

is there a trailer for the film?

The Newport set is interesting, the highlight yeah is Berlin 11/1/73, which I already had a bootleg of. The sound is still oversaturated but that just adds to the intensity. Still digesting the whole box though.

No footage from the film that I've seen, just some on-set pics
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/on-set-photos-from-don-cheadles-miles-ahead-now-filming-in-cincinnati-after-successful-crowdfunding-campaign-20140721

The 1971 and 1973 material is the best of that Newport set, though the 1966/67 sets by the acoustic quintet are also pretty hot, and worth having because they fill in some of that band's middle era - all previous live recordings either came from the beginning (1965) or the end (late '67) of the group's life. So you got them still in exploding-standards mode, or going wild. Here, they're somewhere in between, and it's fascinating to hear the differences.

I wanted a whole set of the 1971 band, which only existed for a single European tour in the fall of that year. Oh, well.

yeah, 71 + 73 are unbelievably good -- 71 seems like Jarrett's peak w/ Miles. Crazy that he just stopped playing electric keys after that! dude was amazing.
66-67 sets are great too, holy crap what a band.

I was just wondering if the song Willie had an actual Willie Nelson song as its influence or if it was just more general. I have heard that it had some source in Miles listening to him in the late 60s/early 70s.

Miles loved Willie's vocal phrasing.

They had the same road manager for a while (Mark Rothbaum).

since i have spent such little time w/ 80s miles i appreciated this rundown in p4k: http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1078-a-guide-to-1980s-miles-davis/

the live in tokyo 1981 "my man's gone now" posted there is fantastic

It's a shame he apparently only felt like dealing with the Columbia albums. The Warner material is frequently stronger (I'm a big fan of Tutu and like Siesta a lot, too).

good to know, i haven't listened to either tutu or siesta

intrigued by the aura clip in there too

To me, Aura is easily the best thing he did in his comeback.

the citation of the vocal track on The Man With the Horn makes me wonder if he did enough of those to warrant a poll. Can think of at least two other instances (Birth of the Cool and Sorcerer) where there was a shitty, inexplicable track w a vocal tacked onto an album. are there others? why did Miles do this?

nothing like you has ever been seen before
nothing like you existed in days of yore

(has my vote)

why did Miles do this?

He was relatively adrift in 1962, which is part of why he did those songs with "that silly-ass singer, Bob Dorough," to fill out Quiet Nights. Why one of the songs from those sessions is on Sorcerer is a complete mystery. "Nothing Like You" was five years old at that point, and only two minutes long. A 38-minute Sorcerer without "Nothing Like You" would've been preferable.

Dunno the "why" about Birth of the Cool, other than that Kenny Hagood was in Dizzy's orchestra, and also sang on records by Bird and Monk.

Don't forget to include the rap tracks from Doo-Bop...

(whoops, none of the Dorough tracks appear on Quiet Nights)

Donno if it's true, but I've read that he blamed Gil for Quiet Nights belated release, belated enough to miss the commercial peak of the bossa nova-etc. trend. Also he thought Gil made it too bland, but I thought it was pretty good of its kind---good enough to associate with the previous Miles-Gil collabs, if def the mildest-mannered,at least in the Clark Kent sense (although I was then associating with this girl who had me listening to all this Getz/Gilberto stuff, so that may have made me too tolerant of QN). Which was the end of their official association, although eventually Gil was said to have contributed uncredited elements (for instance, "some patches," Miles said, re early switchboard-type synthesizer arrangements). Also, they resumed their friendship, and soon after Miles died, Gil said he had recently called and said he was finally ready to do their adaptation of Aida.
Um, anyway, Aura's orchestrations, provided by Palle Mikkelborg, seem like homage to pre-electric Gil, only more pastel---whole thing's pretty good though, even got McLaughlin in there, although not like he was on some of Miles' wildest late 60s/early 70s outings.
I like just about all of Miles' 80s albums---The Man With The Horn could be so smoove, uh-oh---except he also had pre-tasteful Mike Stern showing up periodically with these greasy mullet licks, so it was a Miles experience after all. And most of the others were better, like Star People was his kind of bluesy, You're Under Arrest and yeah xpostSiesta and Tutu, and the live We Want Miles with Al Foster kicking it out.

Also, they resumed their friendship, and soon after Miles died, Gil said he had recently called and said he was finally ready to do their adaptation of Aida.

Interesting, considering Gil died several years before Miles did.

Even *more* interesting, I say! (Gil really was quoted on that at some point)

ctrl+f "Live Around the World". I know it came out in the '90s, but contains late '80s recordings that are better than the studio versions (although it's been a long time since I've heard any of that stuff).

Oops again, it was Tosca (although he did record a track titled "Aida"), and he *and* Gil blamed Columbia and Teo in particular for releasing QN, according to this:
https://books.google.com/books?id=H5r-mzXMJfEC&pg=PA186&lpg=PA186&dq=Miles+Davis+Gil+Evans+Tosca&source=bl&ots=QpEoGQ4JUm&sig=9W-NPppnIG-wSlPpAkhz1MSbEaw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwid7M7wh-zLAhUB6CYKHaQaAigQ6AEIKjAF#v=onepage&q=Miles%20Davis%20Gil%20Evans%20Tosca&f=false

Also mentioned in Ian Carr's Miles bio:
https://books.google.com/books?id=bE_JBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA488&lpg=PA488&dq=Miles+Davis+Gil+Evans+Tosca&source=bl&ots=b8MObg1_Cm&sig=c0ppP_IZLJagRPow3ahokac0O3w&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiYu6KxiezLAhXFNiYKHYQUC38Q6AEISTAK#v=onepage&q=Miles%20Davis%20Gil%20Evans%20Tosca&f=false

And Gary Giddens' Visions of Jazz
https://books.google.com/books?id=MH0btmTBccsC&pg=PA355&lpg=PA355&dq=Miles+Davis+Gil+Evans+Tosca&source=bl&ots=A-LmjGE1FJ&sig=TlYLL0MbEMEUST2ffIstRD0XYCk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiYu6KxiezLAhXFNiYKHYQUC38Q6AEITDAL#v=onepage&q=Miles%20Davis%20Gil%20Evans%20Tosca&f=false

And more irritably by Miles in various interview quotes.

and he *and* Gil blamed Columbia and Teo in particular for releasing QN, according to this:

Yeah, Miles refused to work with Macero for a time. It didn't last long, though, and Teo was back for Miles Smiles.

xpost, aren't there a couple live collections with almost the same title? I have the 2-LP Heard 'Round The World, an '83 reissue of Live In Tokyo, with Sam Rivers, and Live In Berlin, with Wayne Shorter---two great statesmen of space:
https://www.discogs.com/Miles-Davis-Heard-Round-The-World/release/1384693

I think so, I mean this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_Around_the_World_(Miles_Davis_album)

so Manohla Dhargis likes this new Don Cheadle/Miles biopic...? (I couldn't find the other thread where we discussed the trailer). I'm deeply skeptical to say the least.

I finally picked up a physical copy of Big Fun this weekend and that record should rate much, much higher in MD's discography.
It's wall to wall fantastic. I know that everything on it has since been reissued but for being a comp it's remarkably coherent.

I love Big Fun. Considering it was mostly recorded during the Bitches Brew sessions, it's a lot quieter and reserved. Also love Dave Holland's playing across the board on that stuff.

Great Expectations/Orange Lady is magnificent, just a shimmering jewel of a cut. Ife is like the mellow side of OTC, and Go Ahead John may be Macero's most out-there moment ever

I've been looking for "Big Fun" on CD but haven't come across it in the wild. I may just order it on Discogs.

To me, this would be the better buy.

agreed, so good

Those "Complete ________ Sessions" on Columbia / Legacy are so friggin' good across the board, but the Bitches Brew set is the one I've gone back to most frequently over the years. The In A Silent Way box is a very close second.

Recollections is 'the one' for me on the Big Fun set. But Go Ahead is something else again. De Johnette (and Macero's treatment of him) is insane.

I'm listening to the LP so I've not heard Recollections. I'll have to give it a listen.

To me, this would be the better buy.

― outside, you're never alone. (Austin), Tuesday, September 4, 2018 11:35 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

agreed, so good

― sleeve, Tuesday, September 4, 2018 11:39 AM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i was totally wondering about whether to buy this this weekend.. so thanks!!

(bb sessions box)

Especially at the price range it's currently going for on Discogs, it's worth every penny.

Today being the anniversary of Davis's birth, I wrote about AURA, a 1989 album that's never really clicked for me.

The next volume in the Bootleg Series has been announced; it's called That's What Happened 1982-85, and includes a disc of unreleased tracks from the Star People sessions, a disc of unreleased tracks from the You're Under Arrest sessions, and a live disc from 1983 (which is being released separately). I'm kinda excited. One of the previously unreleased 1985 tracks is a version of Tina Turner's "What's Love Got To Do With It":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-ZBl_rvmRE

https://www.discogs.com/release/24534968-Miles-Davis-The-Bootleg-Series-Vol-7-Thats-What-Happened-1982-1985

indeed.

A new remaster of Star People is the Vinyl Me Please "Classics" title for November.

I so wanted to like his eighties stuff...I love the attitude of going completely commercial and reconnecting with his audience, but I found it a chore.

I've always thought Star People was the weakest of the 80s albums, but maybe I need to revisit.

The Heat Warps blog has been posting a lot of great shows from, I think, the late 60s, and for sure on up to '75. In the 80s, I especially liked the fairly raw live We Want Miles[ and Aura, where he's with McLaughlin and The Danish Radio Big Band, feat. ace bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen: it's composed and arranged by Palle Mikkelborg, in the manner of Gil Evans, like if Miles and Gil got back together to make a *tasteful* update of their previous collabs, with a bit of electrification---real good for what it is.