The Set List

Best of 2007, Long Songs: Miles Davis

The countdown of the Top 10 long songs of the year continues:

6. Miles Davis - "Mr. Foster" (from "The Complete On The Corner Sessions," Columbia Legacy) 15 minutes, 16 seconds

Recorded Sept. 18, 1973. "Mr. Foster" unfolds like a blaxploitation score, Dave Liebman's tenor growing from a weep in the darkness to a declaration of resilience. Wah-wah'ed guitars and Al Foster's pulsating cymbal rides  dominate the track; Miles doesn't make a full statement until more than six minutes into the piece and his full-bodied playing gives the tune its shape over the last nine minutes. Rather than using Liebman's pronouncements as a starting point, he invests the tune with an air of caution before wandering to find a place to add heavy punctuation. It's a lean tune more rhythmically defined than melodically. Astonishing, therefore, that musicians stay the course for the full 15 minutes; more astonishing that this has never been released in any of the multitude of Miles resissues until now. 
Very cool footage can be streamed here.

Miles, Monk, Monterey and More

Six historical recordings from the Monterey Jazz Festival in Northern California are being issued as part of the fest's 50th anniversary celebration. The CDs are of a Louis Armstrong 1958 performance on the fest's inaugural night; Miles Davis Quintet in 1963; the 1964 edition of Thelonious Monk's quartet augmented by bassist Steve Swallow; Dizzy Gillespie's sextet in 1965; Sarah Vaughan in 1971; and a "Live at the Monterey Jazz Festival" sampler. Discs will be released Aug. 21 by Concord Records and Monterey Jazz Festival Records.
The six titles are the first fruit from a 10-year project in which original analog tapes have been transferred to digital files. More releases are planned for 2008.

Is There Anything Better Than a Miles Davis Box Set

Ever since Columbia Legacy started taking the completist approach to the works of Miles Davis, they have hit one home run after another. Miles with John Coltrane; Miles and Gil Evans; the Plugged Nickel shows; the Silent Way and Bitches Brew sessions; Montreux concerts; live shows in the '60s; and the Herbie Hancock-Wayne Shorter band - all of them 4- and 5-star releases. On Sept. 18, Columbia Legacy will release the six-CD "Complete On The Corner Sessions," a look at the revolutionary funk album that would have a strong influence on hip-hop in the late 1980s, especially on the Beastie Boys. This was Miles' electronic twist on what Duke Ellington called the “jungle sound.” His band was made up of musicians trained not in the basics of jazz, but on the new sounds of James Brown and Sly Stone.

This is Miles with his groove on, a landmark album that jazz critics have pooh-poohed for decades. This is the truly changed Miles, the thoroughly modern Miles, and one that continues to generate debate nearly 40 years after the initial sessions.