The birth of bands, and jazz/rock fusion - Miles best work

He was known as the Dark Prince

Was Miles the anti-Christ? Or was he just a swinging, experimental hedonist-man who did not readily suffer fools? I think that he got sick of people and labels. If you read some of Mile’s quotes, he mentions frequently that he didn’t imagine jazz being a “museum piece” or something that has to be looked at under glass. He also said that he was still playing, still trying to develop new things, and that legends were old men who couldn’t do it any more. Either way, I don’t imagine that he ever thought he would be considered something legendary. And yet he was. And maybe even embraced as a bit of a national treasure at the end.

Miles died in California on September 28, 1991. He won 8 Grammy awards, had songs in the top 100 in the jazz & R&B charts for 30 years, literally, from 1961 until the year he died. He started out with Bird and finished up with Prince – an interesting and multi-generational single name thing. His end was a continuation of the experimenting even more with funk and electronic music than he already had been doing. I think he just wanted to be with someone else as short as himself.

Miles was a changer, a musical shape shifter, in the early days experimenting with combinations of horn players in his various sections. He started out as a cool bopper, playing with Parker and moving away from Dizzy directionally. Then in the fifties he borrowed a page from the Gerry Mulligan Concert Band ideal, or did Mulligan borrow from Miles? Either way they were both toying with the size and layout of the horn sections. And then he became the master of the post bob cool, cool jazz and blues. The sixties never had it so good, Miles and the Beatles in the same time span.

In 1970 he won the Grammy for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Performance, for the seminal jazz/fusion work, “Bitches Brew”. The album that is said to have been the birth of rock and jazz-fusion, and perhaps it was. Chic Corea and Lenny White played on it, and they would go on to form Return to Forever with Stanley Clarke. Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter left Mile’s band soon after B. Brew to form Weather Report. John McLaughlin went on to become one of the masters. And of course Billy Cobham was and is one of the masters of Jazz-Rock Fusion. This album, if not the birth of a genre, was decidedly the birthplace of a lot of bands.

The Songs Themselves

1 – Pharaoh’s Dance – Zawinul Very early and electric Zawinul here. Joe brings the band in and introduces everyone to the idea. There is some nice bass clarinet from Bernie Maupin flirting with Zawinul. Bernie played with Miles and Herbie Hancock both throughout the years. He was no Eric Dolphy, but it is good stuff here. And then Ron Carter comes to the rescue and begins to establish, to truly establish the groove. Then about 4 minutes into the tune, Miles joins the fray. The solo on this song is fiery, and not at all muted. This is Miles at his finest. Not much experimental here, other than the entire song. What are different are the dual drummers, the harmolodic experience. They keep the groove steady, but it is a rock groove, it could have as easily been at a jam session of the Buffalo Springfield, or Santana. But Miles is setting the pace and the mood.

Then about half way through, they begin solos past Miles. Eleven minutes into the song and Maupin takes one, then McLaughlin and Zawinul and on and on. This is a 21-minute song. But like a hundred of Joe’s tunes, he brings us to a thrashing peak, almost disintegrating into musical anarchy before he sends us squarely home to the original groove. Joe has a way of making all better, of finding curious order in the madness, and he did so here – of course, with Miles soloing away...and then it falls apart, turns to dust, to powder. Perhaps at the end of it all, the Pharaohs simply turned to sand.

2 – “Bitches Brew” – Davis The beginning is spooky, it reminds me of the scenes at the beginning of the Planet of the Apes when they realize that things are terribly wrong. With the trumpet repeating, and echoing, not in a gentle way, but in a way so that it will disturb you – and Cobham is flying and streaking underneath it, and Hancock. This is a battle scene between Miles Davis and Billy Cobham. This is the first movement in a twenty-seven minute concerto.

After three minutes of that, the band kicks into the story. Again with the bass clarinet being the first to feed the monster, Miles borrowing Trane’s idea to use a bass clarinet to fill in the bottom and relieve some of the tension of his manic soloing. They float along and Miles solos, and plays the melody. First two songs give you a 45-minute carpet ride.

There is a lot of talking that was not edited out, conversations between band members and Miles providing guidance to the fellas. Eight minutes in now, and Miles has decided things are going to speed up and McLaughlin is going to solo a while.

Half way through, and the melody calms and quiets, but the tension is building. It is a full-blown keyboard solo, and it sounds like it is Zawinul again, but it is possible that it was Chic Corea. But the solo goes on and on and on, rambling and raging against all that is said and with conviction. Then all calms down, all is peaceful, and the bass clarinet is airing it out and causing a relaxing stir.

Twenty minutes in and Miles comes roaring back in, playing trills and driving the title song to its ethereal, and echoing conclusion. This is a song that rings through the canyons, blasts into your mind, fills your senses.

3 – Spanish Key – Davis A heavier driving beat to start this one, again the bass clarinet giving everyone a flash back to Trane. This is a prettier melody, with Miles echoing again, a little. This one is Chic Corea driven, with hints of Chorizo smoke in the air and a lot of sauce.

And now the initial conclusion of the peace as the whole band begins to really pick up the pace. Three minutes in, again – but Chic’s keyboard is taking us in new directions. This is very reminiscent of some of the grooves from Light as a Feather.

Toward the middle Miles solos with a Matadorian flare, attacking the notes and the melodic concept. He let’s McLaughlin loose, and then takes it all back. This is a widely drum and rhythm driven song. It is possible that three drummers were playing overdubbed at once against one another. Very interesting.

4 – John McLaughlin – Davis Miles wrote a song for John, or gave John a vehicle, a place to roam free, and roam he does. This is shorter, but it is McLaughlin at his very best, free form improvisation, and a lot of movement of the chords beneath him. The bass clarinet pokes its head in the door about mid way through. The groove is becoming frenzied. This drumming reminds me a bit more of Cobham than anyone, and the descending stair way of the chords changes the layers under the improvisation from a vehicle to an escalator. An object of descent made available. This is a tidy and brilliant piece of music. The soloing is some of the best on the album.

5 – Miles Runs the Voodoo Down – Davis – The groove is slow and weird. Again two drummers are slowly and cautiously bringing together a building tempest. Miles comes in immediately and starts to play an excellent melody. His soloing is a lot higher. He works the upper register. Next is guitar work and that is part of the supposed rock element.

And then Shorter comes in with his soprano, and tells a short story, as Miles liked to say of him. He is a little squeaky compared with his normal melodic sound, but that is the nature of the song. And then Herbie Hancock takes us for a manic ride on the Fender Rhodes. There is a lot of crazy trading and the movement of the entire band is a madman’s scene. But they listen, and they move together like a small army. And then they bring it down slow and easy. Miles takes us out, a little gurgle here and there, and a lot of soul.

6 – Sanctuary – Shorter – As a composition of Wayne Shorter, you expect to get an unusual head. You expect to get a more melodic sound than much of what is on this album. And you expect Miles to have a smoother vehicle for his sound. And as the melody starts with just Miles, then it moves on to Miles and Wayne playing the duet that you expect – and it is just what you hope for.

This is one of the truly beautiful songs on the album, the best in terms of melody. The drums and percussion and layered beneath, and they don’t really have a steady feel until (you guessed it) three minutes into the song. And then the singing of the instruments really takes shape. As this album is about ebb and flow, this is one of the songs that builds and builds to climax, but the solos are not the key, the long tones are.

Wayne wrote long beautiful tones above a rapid fire percussive craze, and as they worked their magic, the melody was a simple, singular thing riding the currents above the storm. And then when Miles hits the eye of the hurricane appropriately half way through the storm of the song, it is just quiet, childlike musings. And then of course, they fly out of the other side, and back into the weather. At the end it is a flashing tempest, with blasts of wind and screaming lightening.
7 – Great Expectations – Davis & Zawinul – Sitar and percussion play in the beginning. The bass line is almost stolen from Peter Gunn. It is a variation on that theme. That theme remains the underlying emotion throughout the song. And the sitar adds a continuous layer of tension and mysticism. The trumpet and bass clarinet play the melody together as they go on. This is one of the more straight ahead tunes, while capped with mystical fortunes, it is a pretty regular and driving sound.

The trumpet solo is chirpings, and again, Miles seems entertained by it all. What soloing we do get is a lot of long tones. Zawinul takes a round, and plays a lot of computerish sounds, up and down scales. This is a very “Anderson Tapes” kind of tune.

8 – Orange Lady – Zawinul – Again the sitar starts things out, a singular line. Trumpet, and lots of chimes and bells and strange sounds in the background, the bass clarinet and sax and quiet forces play the melody. Then the sitar really sets the mood in the second half. Somehow this reminds me of Naima. There are some quichua noises, and they almost sound like moaning. I am sure that the Orange Lady is making the loving moaning sounds through the percussion.

This song is like a free way, moving to the rising tide of Mile’s melodies. The long tones and strength of his playing are truly on display on this song. As the sitar and the forces of the triangles and bells and quichua move like a flow of glassy lava underneath, they take over. The song picks up pace, as many of these do.

This is really a sitar and trumpet song together, a brilliant composition.

9 – Yaphet – Davis – The sitar starts the groove, with the eerie flowing lines that it provides underneath it all. And then the drums come in, and all of a sudden we have a real, live song. And Herbie Hancock is playing along over the top of it all. And Miles begins his melody. This one is not fraught with pain, just a simple movement of sound.

Ron Carter takes them in a new direction now, moving things off of go. The trap set breaks away, and we are left with tabla caring for the drive. And it builds again into a gradual frenzy. The band comes back, and plays their way out with Miles talking a bit at the end. “Some of it.”

10 – Corrado – Davis – At the very beginning we are treated to a little give and take between Miles and the sound booth. I don’t think Miles was amused. Producer - “Is this going to be part two?” Miles – “It’s going to be part nine, what difference does it make?” Producer – “all right all right, it’s going to be part something.”

It does sound like a variation on the Orange Lady at the beginning, and then as the band kicks it into high gear, it is obviously an extension of what they had been doing during all of the sitar/rock/gaudy melodies parts of these sessions. Miles is in rare form though, flowing through trills, and squeals and lots of psychedelic motion. The bass clarinet is playing a heavy hand under it all. There is a lot of soloing, and the drumming sounds like Cobham, flying back and forth, keeping the movement alive. “Let’s hear some of that….funny…..okay.” Miles talks at the end again, very nice.

11 – Threvere - Davis Here we have Miles giving us a song with a big, fat organ playing in the background. The underlying moodiness of this album is created by the sitar, triangle, bass clarinet and tabla as undertones. All of that is riding on a wave of gigantic organ sounds. Larry Young was the organist on this song, and led a merry chase. There are Phantom of the Opera moments, but always a progressively building melody.

12 – The Big Green Serpent - Davis This is a quiet number, but a little more bebopish than much of the record. The head seemed to be taking off at the beginning, but then it stalls. This is also one of the shorter songs, meaning not longer, not Wayne. There is some interplay between Young and Corea, and then Wayne does come in playing Soprano and hinting, as always, at his genius.

Then he and Miles begin playing the head again, just a peek of what they always did in the past, a little touch of it. But the interplay between Soprano and Trumpet is endearing to be certain. This song is deeply minimalist.

13 – The Little Blue Frog (1st Version) - Davis Here we have a little wa-wa guitar riffing along, with the sitar singing in the background, just laying down an idea. Then the keyboard starts, joined by electric bass, and then discussion. The drum starts a soft single touch, bop, bop, bop, bop – straight ahead 4/4 time. And then Herbie starts playing a melody, an idea of one – or is it Joe? Then Miles comes in and solos for a few minutes, really sparse, just blowing some notes.

And then it is time for Shorter. As avant-garde as Miles wanted this creation to be, Shorter just grooves along, playing the kind of solo work that he has always done, a part of the whole, and yet so very much himself. He lapses into his post-bop cool, and then rips through some scales and figures, soulful to the core. And then the bass clarinet takes a turn. Finally it is just the percussionists, leading us to the end, to the final quiet ending. And Miles and Wayne finish the song as a duet, in its entirety, like making love.
Engineer – “do you want to hear it before this last take?”

14 – The Little Blue Frog (2nd Version) - Davis Here we have the second run at this song. It is a quieter version, more refined in some ways, but still Miles and Wayne playing the melody together. Heavy use of triangle and the guitar is playing it’s gentle riff, and then getting a bit frenzied. Five minutes in McLaughlin started to hint around about playing fiery and getting his action started hard-core, but it quiets back down. This is steady, lonely and peaceful all at once. The ebb swells periodically, but it never really takes off, and Miles ends it.

15 – Lonely Fire - Davis Here is a song from the Finding Forrester soundtrack. At least a piece of it was played. This is another symphony, a twenty-one minute joyride through experimental tones. Miles plays the melody at first and then hands off to Shorter, who then hands off to Maupin. They go one by one through the gate, and then tag and Miles takes it again. There are bouncing, wooden sounds coming from the percussionists, and a steady ringing from the sitar. And then Wayne takes it away. It is easy to imagine a quiet, desolate place, and the fire warming you. This song does warm if you concentrate and meditate on it.

The percussion is really featured, moving through forms and styles. The melody is simple, and even the solos are – just an endless changing ebb and flow of percussion.

And then 15 minutes or so into it, another movement starts with a straight ahead hard rock beat (hard rock for 1969). It isn’t like metal or thrash, just a steady hard forced groove. And in the midst of that wonderful feeling comes Wayne Shorter playing his solo and taking the song to a new realm. This followed closely on the heels of what has to be a Zawinul solo.

And then at the end Miles makes a bunch of munchies sounds with his mouth. It is a really strange eating sound.

16 – Guinnevere – Crosby The sitar begins with gentle strumming, and then the rest of the band begins to invest itself in yet another endless jam. In the course of the introductory part of the groove, bells are used, alerting us to the location of the drunks, undoubtedly.

And then Wayne and Miles play the melody together, real long tones and real gently. The sitar bounces and stretches behind them. It is an old form played on a new song with a completely different set of instruments.

There are always four distinct voices on keyboard on this record – Chic Corea who plays with a particular kind of flare and chord structure, very recognizable. The second is Joe Zawinul, who tends to drift toward a more experimental sound, toward a broader sound and wider chords. Larry Young, the strange jazz yoda of the Organ. He was wilder than Jimmy Smith, but just as ever present, and Miles used him a lot. And then finally Herbie Hancock, who you can’t mistake for his flurries and ultra-jazzbo sound, he was the one who really took Miles band through the 60s. This song, like many others features several of them at once.

Everyone adheres to the flow, and this sounds like a hard-core jazzer on keyboards. But the melody flows, and the solos do as well. The movements don’t change drastically on this song. The Quichua tells a story at the end, varying between laughing sounds, moaning sounds and tears. It takes over in a quiet way, and talks to the trumpet, who then steps back in a guides things again. It is very different to have the percussion so boldly featured, but that is what this song was truly all about. And then speaking again;
Miles – “Sock it to me, sock it to me!!”

17 – Feio – Shorter And so we have Shorter pranking us all. Feio is Brazilian Portuguese for ugly. This one kicks off with a simple bass line, and lots of snippets of other instruments.

And of course, after three minutes of touches, the intro is over and the sax and trumpet begin to play a bit of the head. It is not what you’d normally expect to hear, and there are endless guitar screeches. Then some crazy keyboard work, but this is Shorter’s song and he goes about it with his normal flash and style. The sax work is amazing. And then more talking:
Teo – “ring, ring, ring, ring, ring, sock it to me.” And then the munching, lip sound again, and then Miles says “Teo, please don’t say that man!!” There is a lot of laughter.

18 – Double Image - 1 – Zawinul This song could have been taken right off of “I sing the Body Electric.” It has a distinctly Weather Report like feeling to it. There is a lot of interplay with the keyboard and trumpet. Zawinul is definitely stepping away from the Cannon Ball days with this work. Songs like this; the jams are the grist of the jazz mentality in many ways.

19 – Recollections – Zawinul Here is another song from Finding Forrester, a gentle touch. This has some of the most gentle guitar and sax work of the whole album. Just moving together and swinging. It is a really beautiful melody. There is nothing obscure about this song - it is extremely approachable. Just a quiet tapping on the drums and the occasionally squiggly sounds from the keyboards – and Miles with his mute, playing in that sly way of his. This song never really takes off, a bit at the end. It is mostly a very lovely, and drawn out ballad.

20 – Take it or leave it – Zawinul This is like a variation on the Recollections theme, with the same instrumentation, and the same idea. This is a 2-minute song, and the solo is all Miles. It is there and it is gone, like the brushing of your lover’s lips, tasty, and fleeting. This is a tiny stocking stuffer. Miles – “I’m gonna use that somewhere Teo.”

21 – Double Image – 2 - Zawinul Hard, distorted guitar with the quichua talking back and forth, this song is a dialog between the two. Two trumpets doing their own harmony above it all, the melody is a contrast to the really Zep like guitar lines. The trumpet and UFO keyboard sounds above that screechy guitar is an interesting final thought, a last stanza in this madness.

And In The End

It is possible, likely that a lot of this album was fueled by various controlled substances. There has been a lot written about it, it is simply a definitive, seminal work. It is a lot easier to understand than you might think. You just have to be ready for whatever lead instrument may happen to be in Miles’ favor on a given day. And so I say, go your way and posses this land, it lead to glory. This is as good as it gets.