Miles Davis: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 7: That’s What Happened 1982-1985

In 1955, Miles Davis and his quintet could show up in the Van Gelder studio, pretend they were playing a club set, and reel off song after song in marathon sessions to close out his contract with Prestige Records. By the early 1980s, not only the music, but recording technology and production techniques had changed radically. By the time the music on the latest installment of The Bootleg Series, Vol. 7: That’s What Happened 1982-1985 was recorded, as John Scofield relates in his commentary in the 48-page booklet, Miles “would record the rehearsals and the gigs and listen to everybody’s solos - including his own - and take the parts he liked and have Gil Evans transcribe the solo. Then that would become a new tune ... The tapes were always supposed to be running ... ”The three disc package presents two CDs of previously unreleased fragmented jams from sessions for the Star People, Decoy and You’re Under Arrest albums, with the third disc devoted to the sextet’s performance at the Montréal Jazz Festival in July 1983. Molding a finished piece from a pre-existing song is considerably different than jamming in the studio and trying to come up with something good. While there are plenty of fine moments sprinkled through the selections on the first two discs, it’s not too surprising that the most satisfying performances are the alternate takes of Time After Time and Human Nature, the nine minutes of the full studio session for Time After Time, and the sole take of the Tina Turner hit What’s Love Got To Do With It. To a Miles Davis devotee, every scrap is worthy of hearing, which I wouldn’t dispute. But when this box set gets pulled off the shelf, it’s likely to be those tracks that get played the most. The booklet includes reminiscences by Scofield, bassists Darryl Jones and Marcus Miller, guitarist Mike Stern, and drummer Vince Wilburn, Jr., plus an essay by the late Greg Tate, along with numerous photos of Miles and the band on stage. The concert on disc 3 was performed just a couple of weeks after the session that produced Freaky Deaky, the piece that ends disc 1. The live set features songs from the Star People album. The consistently exciting guitarist John Scofield gets a lot of solo space, as does a boisterous Bill Evans on saxophone. The thumping rhythm team of Darryl Jones on electric bass and Al Foster, a stalwart on drums, brings the funk. Miles himself spends a lot of time directing the flow from his keyboards, popping out for beautifully nuanced trumpet solos. Edits of Speak (That’s What Happened) and What It Is totaling around eight minutes were issued on the Decoy album, but this is the first release of the complete show. While the set list remained fairly consistent between the summer of 1982 and the end of 1983, the dynamic Creepin’ In, which closes the show with Evans on flute and a bass solo by Jones, was played just this one time. Over the course of 78 minutes, there are a few moments of the band treading water while waiting for the next wave of inspiration, but the enthusiastic audience never seems to mind. And if electric Miles Davis music is your thing, you won’t mind either. Recommended. 

Columbia/Legacy 19439863852; Collective personnel on Discs 1 and 2: Miles Davis (tpt, kybds) J.J. Johnson (tbn) Bill Evans (ss, ts) Bob Berg (ss) Mike Stern, John Scofield, John McLaughlin (g) Robert Irving III (kybds, drum pgm) Marcus Miller, Darryl Jones (el b) Al Foster (d) Vince Wilburn, Jr., (d, drum pgm, perc) Steve Thornton, Mino Cinélu (perc) Disc 1 (66:19): Santana (1/1 or 1/2/83)/ Minor Ninths, Part 1/ Minor Ninths, Part 2 (10/20/82)/ Celestial Blues, Part 1 Celestial Blues, Part 2/ Celestial Blues, Part 3 (10/20/82)/ Remake of OBX Ballad/ Remake of OBX Ballad (full studio session) (10/11/82)/Freaky Deaky, Part 1/ Freaky Deaky, Part 2 (6/30/82). Disc 2 (61:43): Time After Time (alternate)/ Time After Time (full studio session) (1/26-29/84)/Theme From Jack Johnson (right Off); Intro (1/27/84)/ Never Loved Like This (studio session demo) (1/84)/ Hopscotch (slow)/ Hopscotch (fast) (12/27/84)/What’s Love Got to Do With It (12/26/84)/Human Nature (alternate) (12/26/84)/ Katia (full studio session) (1/85). Disc 3 (78:36), Miles Davis (tpt, kybds) Bill Evans (ss, ts, fl) John Scofield (g) Darryl Jones (el b) Al Foster (d) Mino Cinélu (perc); Montréal, July 7, 1983; Speak (That’s What Happened/ Star People/ What It Is/ It Gets Better/ Hopscotch/ Star on Cecily/ Jean-Pierre/ Code 3/ Creepin’ In. www.legacyrecordings.com

 

Miles Davis & John Coltrane: The Bootleg Series, Volume 6: The Final Tour

While all of the material on The Bootleg Series, Volume 6: The Final Tour, credited to Miles Davis & John Coltrane, has been issued on various bootlegs over the years, this is the first official release for music from the spring 1960 European tour by the Miles Davis quintet - the trumpeter’s first Continental tour with his own group. Tenor saxophonist John Coltrane, in the process of getting his own band together, didn’t really want to go, but Davis could be persuasive. Some extra money from tour producer Norman Granz certainly didn’t hurt. Historian and journalist Ashley Kahn offers a lot of details in his extensive notes for the 32-page booklet, which also includes both on and off stage photos from the tour. The quintet’s European jaunt began in Paris on March 21 (heard on disc 1 & part of disc 2), and ended in Stuttgart on April 10. The Copenhagen show of March 24, the only show taken from the “original radio source,” fills the rest of disc 2. Two concerts in Stockholm on March 22 are on the third and fourth disc, with a 6-minute radio interview with Coltrane as a bonus at the end. 

At this point, Miles was fifteen years into his career, with major successes behind him. He had already established a pattern of his music changing and developing. Coltrane was a comparatively late starter, and while his music was changing rapidly in this period, he was headed in a different direction than Davis. On every song in this set, we hear Coltrane bursting out of the chord changes, trying everything all at once with an unusually harsh sound and a newly fractured style of improvising. Besides the utter rawness and grit of Coltrane’s horn as he stretches out, even drawing some catcalls in Paris, it’s the total aplomb and maximum swing imparted by the rhythm section of pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb that’s truly impressive. Wherever ‘Trane goes, they’re right there with him. To put things into historical perspective, note that at Coltrane’s last recording session before this tour, in December 1959, he had recorded original compositions including Like Sonny, Harmonique, & Naima, with the same nonpareil rhythm team. After returning to New York after the tour, the next sessions that the saxophonist did were with Don Cherry in June and July for The Avant-Garde on Atlantic. When Miles went on another European tour in the fall, Sonny Stitt took over on saxophone. 

While Coltrane is tearing it up night after night, Miles Davis stays as cool as ever, improvising at length in tip top shape. The quintet concentrated on a fairly limited repertoire for these shows, with So What, On Green Dolphin Street, and All Blues each making multiple appearances. The sound is excellent mono, with the Paris show having the best instrumental balance. Much more than a mere collection of live recordings, The Final Tour is history in the making, and invaluable documentation of the incendiary sounds generated by these giants of modern jazz. Not to be missed. 

Columbia/Legacy 88985448392; Miles Davis (tp) John Coltrane (ts) Wynton Kelly (p) Paul Chambers (b) Jimmy Cobb (d); Paris, France, March 21, 1960: Disc 1 (61:04): 1st concert: All of You/ So What/ On Green Dolphin Street; 2nd concert: Walkin’. Disc 2 (71:04): Bye Bye Blackbird/ ‘Round Midnight/ Oleo/ The Theme. Copenhagen, Denmark, March 24, 1960: Introduction by Norman Granz/ So What/ On Green Dolphin Street/ All Blues/ The Theme (inc.). Stockholm, Sweden, March 22: Disc 3 (36:24): 1st concert: Introduction by Norman Granz/ So What/ Fran Dance/ Walkin’/ The Theme. Disc 4 (52:24): 2nd concert: So What/ On Green Dolphin Street/ All Blues/ The Theme/ John Coltrane Interview. legacyrecordings.com