Miles November 7, 2007
Posted by Tom Moore in : Uncategorized , add a commentMiles Davis, one of the greatest of musicians, has now been gone for sixteen years, but more and more of his recorded legacy is becoming available to listeners. I first became aware of Miles in 1972, and had the pleasure of hearing him play live in a small club in Boston in 1975 (with the band that was featured on his recording Agharta). What turned me on to Miles was the brief period in which guitarist John McLaughlin played with his band, and in particular the double LP set Live Evil, released in 1971, and which, amazingly enough, was in the collection of my local public library. Much of the material on the set was taken from the final night of a club date by the Davis band at the Cellar Door in Washington DC, December 16-19, 1970. Now, decades later, fans finally get to hear six CDs worth of what really was played at the club. McLaughlin only appears on the last two discs, from Saturday night. The regular band was made up of Davis, Gary Bartz (alto and soprano sax), Keith Jarrett (Fender piano and organ), Michael Henderson (electric bass), Jack DeJohnette, drums, and Airto Moreira. Davis actually plays very little, leaving his sidemen to carry the load. What is simply astonishing is the inventiveness and interaction of the long segments in which Jarrett improvises over the telepathic support of Henderson, DeJohnette, and Moreira. Moreira is particularly adept at playing where the other musicians aren’t, and in responding with his almost vocal cuica (a Brazilian friction drum) to the wah-wah trumpet of Davis. This collection is fundamental - the music it presents belongs to one of the high points of jazz in the last fifty years.
Miles Davis: The Cellar Door Sessions 1970 - CD 15434
Just out November 2, 2007
Posted by Tom Moore in : Uncategorized , add a comment
Just out: the new article by our Prof. Jacqueline Waeber on the Souvenirs, op. 15, of Charles-Valentin Alkan.
