by JOHN SUNIER
A strong creative force seems always to be working within the pioneer jazz trumpet player Miles Davis. Noted jazz historian Leonard Feather says, "He has manifestly changed the entire course of an art form three or four times in 25 years--an accomplishment that no other jazz musician can claim." His changes of musical direction have often been wild and unexpected but have usually been followed by a major segment of the jazz world. Today, Davis keeps his position as a performer of unquestioned originality and deep influence on other players.
above: Gil Evans conducting Miles Davis and band during a 195 session in New
York.
There has probably been more written on Davis than on any other performer in jazz, so it takes some considerable audacity to attempt another summary of his career. But several factors have converged to prompt this piece: Miles' 1985 switch to the Warner Bros. label after 30 years of association with Columbia, his passing the age of 60. and, perhaps most important for Audio readers, the availability on CD of most of his great early sessions for Columbia, including his masterful collaborations with Gil Evans and his Kind of Blue, considered by many jazz critics to be the greatest modern jazz album ever made.
Miles Davis had his first group at age 16. He began as a be-bopper, influenced by Clark Terry and Dizzy Gillespie. His second phase was as the central figure in the justly famed Birth of the Cool session for Capitol in 1948. His third stage was as the leader of various small groups and as partner to arranger Gil Evans in the path breaking, large-scale orchestral albums Miles Ahead (1957), Porgy and Bess (1958), and Sketches of Spain (1960). Early intimations of New Age music were heard in Davis' fourth stage, in the '60s (which included In a Silent Way, for example). By 1969, he was already into his fifth stage, upsetting the entire jazz world with the jazz/ rock fusion of Bitches Brew, possibly the most influential modern jazz album ever. If there is a clear sixth stage, it would be funk/minimalism, such as is heard on On the Corner and Big Fun (1972-74) and The Man with the Horn, his big "comeback" album of 1981.
above: Collaborators on 1956's 'Round About Midnight LP (clockwise,
from top): John Coltrane, Paul Chambers (on bass, with Miles), Philly Joe
Jones, I Red Garland (on piano, with Miles).
Then in 1985 a new period began, when Davis signed an exclusive contract with Warner Bros. Tutu, released the next year, was the first result, making full use of modern musical technology with synthesizers, drum machines.
MIDI keyboards, and other processors. While some of its tracks continue the funk approach (though with more electronics than before), others seem to hark back to some of the great orchestral efforts with Evans.
The various phases of Davis' career have confused and confounded quite a few of his fans. He won over many with his gorgeous and compelling muted sound, but his tuneless and directionless electronic funk-beginning with Bitches Brew-lost him many formerly staunch listeners. Let's start out by considering those Davis albums which display the unquestioned originality of the star before he left a good part of his audience behind; then we can take a glance at some of the more noteworthy albums of his later years.
Davis' Columbia debut was the album 'Round About Midnight, recorded in New York in 1955 and '56 and titled after the Thelonious Monk classic " 'Round Midnight." Miles really jumped into his groove as a trumpet master, fully out of the shadow of Dizzy. The Miles Davis Quintet at the time consisted of John Coltrane on tenor sax. Red Garland on piano Paul Chambers on bass, and Philly Joe Jones on drums.
On the CD version (Columbia Jazz Masterpieces CK-40610), the digital remastering from the original mono analog tape is a great improvement on the original LP version in clarity and frequency range extension at both ends of the spectrum. But the real delight for audio buffs will be the thoroughly tasteful and convincing pseudo-stereo rechanneling that has been carried out here. The same is heard on other Columbia Jazz Masterpieces CDs made from mono originals.
Back in the days when rechanneling (nothing psychic about this!) was the rage. Columbia seemed to have a most successful process. I can recall a Fletcher Henderson LP from 1933 78s that sounded almost as if it had been recently recorded in genuine stereo.
Most of these rechanneled CDs sound so much cleaner and more wide-range than the LP versions that I wonder if some of the phasing and filtering tricks carried out in the process didn't disagree with the sensitive cutting-lathe head and cause distortions in the LP versions. However, results can vary: The Duke Ellington Uptown CD in this same series is much inferior to the original mono LP version. Columbia makes no mention whatsoever about rechanneling on the CDs' packaging, since "rechanneled for stereo" today is considered as foul an expression as "quadraphonic" and is likely to deaden sales. Yet I find the really successful rechanneling of classic mono tapes on CD to be a major attraction. Since most use minimal or no phasing tricks, the purists can always throw the mono switch on their equipment if they wish.
It's interesting to compare the 'Round About Midnight CD to an earlier greatest-hits LP which contains the same track of " 'Round Midnight." The LP merely pans most of the sound to the right channel--and that sound is so thin as to recall telephone-like quality, next to the wide range of the CD. The next four albums in the Davis oeuvre are the favorites of many of his fans. (The fact that for some of us they are indelibly associated with the "make-out music" of our youth has nothing to do with this, mind you!) These are the albums done with the innovative Gil Evans, whose original approach to jazz orchestration helped make this one of the most fruitful and influential phases of Davis' career.
Coming to public attention for his arranging stint with Claude Thornhill, Evans was preoccupied with providing an exciting orchestral setting for the new sounds of jazz. What he had in mind was something light-years away from the Charlie Parker with Strings type of approach that was previously heard. Evans added new instruments (such as French horns) and new colors to the makeup of the orchestra, but he also freed modern jazz from the constrictions of big-band swing that often restricted the projection of his tonal and rhythmic concepts.
above: John Coltrane (center) with Davis and Paul Chambers (partly
hidden).
above: Pianist Bill Evans, who played on Kind of Blue.
Davis wanted to further the ideals of the path-breaking nine-piece band he had developed; for his first album experiment with a big band, both he and producer George Avakian wanted Evans' participation. The basic conception of Miles Ahead came from Davis; within the framework he provided, Evans developed the musical details, eventually producing the remarkable textures of a large jazz orchestra with some very classical influences.
The orchestra grew to 19 jazzmen, and Davis played flugelhorn instead of his customary trumpet. Evans arranged the 10 tunes that make up the album into a sort of suite, with no interruptions between the selections. The spirit of Duke Ellington is heard in many places, even though the only tune associated with him is Dave Brubeck's homage, "The Duke." Davis' lyricism is very evident in this session; the French jazz critic André Hodeir referred to it as tending "toward a discovery of ecstasy," particularly in the many slow-tempo songs on the album.
With this 1957 experiment a brilliant success, the Davis/Evans collaboration turned the next year to an orchestral approach to Gershwin's great folk opera, Porgy and Bess. Again, the influence of the Duke is in evidence, but Evans' unique approach in arranging, combined with Davis' powerful creativity, takes things in a different direction.
Not only the musical but also the literary implications of Gershwin's opera are sensed. The album's success is due in no small part to what Evans called "a new breed of cats" in the orchestra-classically trained musicians, such as Gunther Schuller, who could perceive the continuity of Davis' magnificent solos in relation to the structure of the orchestral backing.
The third of this great trio of jazz and symphonic orchestra masterpieces came two years later, in 1960. And what a blockbuster it was! Sketches of Spain had been presaged by the track "Blues for Pablo" on Miles Ahead, as well as by some tracks on the 1959 small-group session Kind of Blue.
Miles felt a basic closeness with the musical temperament of Spain and its flamenco-based rhythms: on Sketches, it seems almost as if he had actually been born of Andalusian gypsies but happened to pick up a trumpet instead of the traditional guitar to express his tortured musical soul.
above: Artists appearing on Davis' In a Silent Way (clockwise, from upper
left): Dave Holland, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Herbie Hancock, John McLaughlin.
A moody, dark, and dramatic Spanish sound characterizes the five works on Sketches. Evans and Davis had listened to many flamenco recordings prior to the sessions, as well as Falla's ballet "El Amor Brujo" and other 20th-century Spanish music. The track "Will o' the Wisp" comes from the Falla ballet, and the longest track is based on the center movement of a guitar concerto by the Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo. Miles had no trouble improvising around Rodrigo's fiercely mournful minor-key melody, and the result is musical perfection unrestrained by the bounds of traditional musical categories.
In the middle of this four-year large orchestra phase. Miles took a break and returned to a sextet situation, with Bill Evans as the pianist. Julian "Cannonball" Adderly on alto sax. John Coltrane on tenor sax. Paul Chambers on bass, and James Cobb on drums. This 1959 session, Kind of Blue, is the number-one jazz record ever, according to many jazz critics. The settings were conceived by Miles only hours before the recording sessions and are close to pure, spontaneous improvisation.
Every single track is a first take, even though this group had never played any of the pieces prior to the sessions! "All Blues." basically a series of five scales, is the longest cut on the album: Miles played each scale as long as he wished until he ran through the series-almost like the sparse "game plan" for an avant-garde classical piece. With its improvisations over a bed of repeated rocking rhythm. "All Blues" previews later Davis work in the funk/extended-noodling area.
Miles Ahead, Porgy and Bess, Sketches of Spain, and Kind of Blue are all available on CD as part of Columbia's Jazz Masterpieces series (CK-40784, CK-40647, CK-40578. and CK-40579, respectively). Some had already been issued on earlier CDs, making for some interesting comparisons. Isn't it amazing that, only about five years into this format, we already are seeing reissues of earlier CDs?
On the CD of Kind of Blue, the primary improvement is the removal of the annoying hiss that is present on the LP version. In addition, the string bass sounds a bit tighter and less sloppy in the lowest frequencies. It's like the sound of a properly damped subwoofer compared to one that isn't. However, the piano 9D this CD takes on a somewhat wooden quality compared to the LP version played on a top-quality turntable.
On others of these CDs. the sonic improvement is drastic. The original CD issue of Sketches of Spain was easily surpassed by an old prerecorded open-reel tape version of the album without any noise reduction. This older CD had as much hiss as the tape, a restricted dynamic range, weak bass, and that familiar sonic veil over the entire orchestra. It sounded as if it were mastered from a partially erased master tape played on a badly maintained deck with dirty heads. The new Jazz Masterpieces CD is clean and wide-range, and most of the hiss is gone. It's as if all of the music has come out into the Spanish sun.
Miles Ahead is especially fascinating sonically. Although the original LP version had been "electronically re channeled for stereo." the new CD sounds like genuine stereo. I didn't have a scope handy to check the Lissajous pattern, but there are definitely instruments on one channel that aren't on the other. The overall clarity and depth of this CD is greater than the other rechanneled mono ones. This session dates from 1957, just a year before the introduction of the stereo disc and several years after a few record companies began issuing prerecorded stereo tapes. Some forward thinking labels were already recording in stereo, just to be prepared. Could this be one of those records where different instruments were multi tracked on two channels for later mix down to mono, something like those earliest Beatles albums were? But then, the LP came from a mono source … Did Columbia simply go to more effort in remixing this new CD issue than they had for the LP?
Two delightful, lyrical albums came out of the 1960s, the next period of Davis' work: Someday My Prince Will Come (1961) and In a Silent Way (1969). John Coltrane was still part of the quintet on the first, with Wynton Kelly and Hank Mobley. The title tune is the first and also the longest of the set, and three Davis originals are also heard. Columbia producer Teo Macero, another innovator in jazz and a composer in his own right, is responsible for both albums; Miles dedicated "Teo" on the first to him. Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab licensed the master of Someday My Prince Will Come from Columbia some time ago and issued it on CD (MFCD828). It is far superior to the Columbia LP version, with a crystalline clarity and depth that put it in the same sonic category as the aforementioned Sketches of Spain CD. In a Silent Way, probably the last of the albums featuring the "old Miles," is available as a Columbia Jazz Masterpieces CD, CK-40580. It boasts only two lengthy tracks, both laid-back but full of pent-up emotion. The personnel featured Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and Joe Zawinul on electronic keyboards; Wayne Shorter on tenor sax; John McLaughlin on guitar; Dave Holland on bass, and Tony Williams on drums. Rock fans were, by 1969, already picking up on Miles, and some were trying to imitate him, but there was little warning for the complete departure into the strong rock flavor of his epochal session later that year.
That session was Bitches Brew, a double-LP (and now double-CD) set that changed jazz more than anything that Davis had done prior to it. The album is often given credit for spawning the entire jazz fusion movement, which has brought jazz to a wider audience. Davis was joined by 10 top sidemen on the album, including Chick Corea on electric piano. Bennie Maupin on bass clarinet, Wayne Shorter on soprano sax, and a four-man drum and percussion section. While undeniably path-breaking. Bitches Brew turned of many of Davis' fans with its strong rock element. Some called it mindless and tuneless funk with lots of annoying noodling-around.
Be that as it may, the electrified phase of Davis art is beautifully captured in the sonics of the Bitches Brew CDs (Columbia Jazz Masterpieces G2K-40577). My earlier version of the album happened to be the prerecorded cassette rather than the LP. There is no contest the CD has far snappier transients, wider dynamic and frequency ranges, and less hiss-in fact no hiss is noticeable at all on these later analog albums transferred to CD.
Corea's electric piano has an edge to it that's often dulled on many recordings of this instrument. The fancy footwork in the stereo effects--such as hearing Davis' trumpet speaking from the right channel, and then an instant later its processed reverberation coming from the left-is a kick. Perhaps with this improved sonic presentation, more people would have found Davis' experimentation more palatable back when Bitches Brew was first released.
Davis many recordings since that historic album have broadened on the same funk/rock theme, with the recent addition of heavy synthesizer use. His foray into pop and rock has even included cover versions of songs by Michael Jackson and Cyndi Lauper (on You're Under Arrest, available on a CBS CD, CK-40023). In his first album for Warner Bros., 1986's Tutu (available as a Warner CD, 25420-2). Davis dives into synth-pop, with his muted trumpet sailing over varied and often orchestral-sounding electronic and percussive back grounds. On some of Tutu. Davis seems to be getting away from his re cent shrieking and atonal mewling and back to a feeling similar to what he achieved on the Gil Evans collaborations. Most of the selections on Tutu were composed by his young bassist, Marcus Miller; while the tunes are nothing special. Davis' trumpet always is.
Some of his old-time lyricism is returning, even with real melodies and legato playing. "Portia" is an example of this, reminding one of Sketches of Spain at some points. It's slow and dreamy. and even the percussion is melodic. Not all the Tutu tracks are like this, however. Some are simply funk, with sneezing and buzzing electronics galore.
The tracks are built up with drums, drum machines, and keyboards, with Miles soaring over them (even though he was probably crouched over with the bell of his horn near the studio floor). There are guest contributions from electric violinist Michael Urbaniak, keyboardist George Duke, several percussionists including Paulinho da Costa, and assorted synthesizers by Jason Miles and Bernard Wright. Davis' virtuosity here is astonishing, and those of us who prefer the Sketches of Spain phase will be using our CD players' programming facilities to select only those tracks on this CD which remind us of that earlier album, while hoping for more like them the next time around.
(Audio magazine, Apr. 1988)
Also see:
The Audio Interview: Clive Davis: Finding Songs For Singers (July 1985)
Fitting Revivals--The Mosaic Reissues (Jun. 1986)
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