Twang welcomes Tiggerlion, El Hombre Malo and Mike H back to the pod to continue the look at Miles Davis’s career from the departure of John Coltrane through the second great quintet, the embracing of electric instruments, drugs and his late period renaissance. There is much to cover and the team battle and beat the temptation to bottle it and accept there must be a part three.
The Afterword #83: The Milescast Pt. 2
by 57 Comments
Top work, Twang. Have you had any sleep or are you running on the last fumes of adrenaline? That was a very quick turnaround.
Somebody mentioned Tull and the dude’s spinning like a top.
Did someone mention Tull? I didn’t notice.
I’m running at bebop tempo. Hint….
You should only last a couple of minutes, max.
I forgot some unfinished business and that is Gil Evans.
In part one, I was critical of Gil, saying Miles Ahead, Porgy & Bess and Sketches Of Spain weren’t all they were cracked up to be, but, even worse, he distracted Miles from working with the best band he ever had, the Kind Of Blue band, resulting in it recording just part of another album. (We also, quite rightly, ignored Quiet Nights on this cast.) However, Gil was instrumental in Miles’s rehabilitation. He arranged the whole of Star People, a fine album, and the best track on Decoy. Miles described him as his best friend. Gil named his son Miles. They loved and supported each other for decades.
According to a session-ography I was looking at yesterday evening there are a couple of Miles/Gil Evans Orchestra studio sessions that have never seen the light of day. Autumn ’63 in Los Angeles and March ’68 in New York.
Miles and Gil worked together on one track “You And I” for Betty Davis’ Island album in New York, 1975. Miles directed the session and Gil did the arrangements and conducted.
After his supposed retirement in ’75, Miles did a session in New York, February 1978 for Columbia that has never been released, titles unknown and then some sessions May to July 1980, also in New York, that, apart from the track “Man With The Horn” have never been released. 9 other tracks from those sessions remain unissued.
I love this kind of detail. Thanks, Mike.
Wasn’t there a special concert after Gil’s death (in 1988) with Miles and luminaries?
I’ve got the 1978 recordings and they’re not much to write home about really. They are basic jazz funk workouts with Miles just playing organ. Larry Coryell was on guitar, with Japanese keyboard player Masabumi Kikuchi and drummer Al Foster.
There’s an excellent book on Miles’ latter period called ‘The Last Miles’ by George Cole. Plus a very informative website : http://www.thelastmiles.com/index.php
A second endorsement for George Coles’ book.
Tony Williams, 17, “strong right hand” LOL. @Twang, that comment was straight out of the Moose catalogue.
Ha ha, I picked up on that comment too. Whatever happened to Lenny Law.
Serious question – when does everybody get the time to listen to all these podcasts? I have about 323 bookmarked (is It Rolling Bob, Behind Closed Doors, Underworld etc etc etc) and have probably actually listened to about 6 episodes in total.
ps I am reliably informed the best podcast remains “Oh God It’s Saturday Again”, a weekly pod from a Mr Archie MacPherson from Fort William
I listen when out & about. Car journeys, Waitrose, jobs around the house, gardening, cleaning the car….
What is this out & about? Is that somewhere outside the house? Don’t like the sound of that
Yes it’s inconvenient but sometimes unavoidable.
Out and about may be as foreign to you as the other concept relevant to finding time – being organised. You need to download them onto your phone and have them at the ready when opportunity arises.Not that I do of course, not organsied enough. Used to be when I had a daily commute but now I’m retired, the more time I have the less I have.
This phone thing of which you speak – I gave that all up when I too retired. I am getting used to sitting at the table staring into space when all around me are checking how Fort William has got on against Wick Academy or whatever
But you could multitask and nod off to an AW podcast while sitting at the table staring into space.
Health & Safety Note: Best done in a chair with armrests, so that you don’t fall off the chair sideways and injure yourself.
But as Junior says I’ve now got so much free time I don’t have any free time
Another sterling effort lads and as ever I learnt some new stuff. Have come to the conclusion that there is much more Miles that I don’t like than I do like but what I like I really really like !
In A Silent Way is an extraordinary album and as mentioned was very much a precursor and influence on a lot of music since – the whole post rock scene certainly owes something to this as do certain strands of the ambient/new classical movement.
I posted a Feature on In A Silent Way on the 50th anniversary of its recording.
and that was a wonderful piece – thanks for sharing, amigo!
Great podcast, chaps. The term ‘genius’ is wildly overused – particularly with regard to music – but I think it’s an apt description of Miles, not just as a musician but also because of his ability to forge new directions in music and constantly innovate.
I think I can beat El Hombre as I saw Miles when I was a schoolboy in 1967 at the Jazz Expo at the then Hammersmith Odeon. That was the Second Great Quintet and the music was stunning. However, the thing I most remember was that Miles played the first half and the second half was Archie Shepp’s free jazz ensemble. About half the audience walked out but those who remained really got into it and gave the band a standing ovation.
I also saw Miles when he did his “comeback” at Hammersmith in 1982, with Mike Stern on guitar. He was a bit shaky but got a tremendous reception. Personaaly I preferred the band with John Scofield on guitar.
On top of that I arrived for my first ever trip to the USA on the exact same day as Miles died!
Great to hear so many albums discussed in such loving detail. My personal top 3 Miles albums are :
E.S.P., Filles de Kilimanjaro and In A Silent Way.
Bravo guys – pretty detailed stuff. Way to make me feel like a civilian.
Now you know how I felt…
Here’s a lovely little oddity from Miles’ career – how did Green Gartside manage to persuade him to provide the lovely little solo in this song? There again Miles could always spot the tang of a great melody.
I bought the 12″ for a quid last weekend. Very tasty.
Miles did a cover of another Scritti song on one of his last 2 records,Perfect Way is on Tutu
At one point there was a plan to do a contemporary Pop covers album. Human Nature (Michael Jackson), Something’s On Your Mind (D Train) and Time After Time were on You’re Under Arrest. I wonder, @Mike-H, if anything else is in the vault?
Milescast 2 Playlist. Only four plus hours long!
Brilliant job Tig. I hadn’t got to it, evidently!
Paraphernalia off Miles In The Sky is the track George Benson played on:
https://youtu.be/_Mp2Pq3_PoU
Listened to this last night. I’ll try to post more on this tomorrow when I’ve more time, as there’s a few things I’d like to add.
Any news, @JQW?
Sorry, tied up with various things, including a laptop repair. Will try to get something out by the weekend.
Finally got to listen. Now another 5 fucking albums I have to buy. Gits
May I ask, which ones?
Outside of Kind Of Blue, most of my Miles appreciation has developed from this place and this ‘cast was no different. Hadn’t heard most of what you talked about this time so went out (digitally speaking) and got the Jack Johnson (fantastic), Big Fun and On The Corner, to which I’ve yet to get to get an opportunity to have a listen (Sadly, GLW more Take That than any kind of jazz)
Great value! The wonderful thing about Miles is that you can buy hours and hours of fabulous money for very little money.
Hours and hours of fabulous money going cheap is exactly what I want! How much would, say, a couple of hundred quid till next weekend set me back?
Cush. (Again.)
Anyone would think I’m hung over.
Been out on the razz, eh? I hope you didn’t get Pimm’s on your blazer.
Sadly, no psychotropic substances were involved but I did have a late night. 😉
Psyschotropic…. Qu’est-ce que c’est?
Mind altering.
Oh come on feller, I know what it means. Anyway I would have said Pimm’s was psychoactive but not psychotropic. But then I haven’t “done” any for years.
You don’t find yourself singing “Qu’est-ce que c’est? Fa-fa-fa-fa-fa…” immediately after anyone says psycho-something with two syllables?
Or are you… *shudders*… normal?
No. I’m sadder than that.
Was that someone’s door squeaking throughout or Miles squealing sorrowfully on his instrument from beyond the grave?
An enjoyable and informative listen anyway. I nearly bought a Miles record.
Very enjoyable listen, thanks, I learnt a lot.
Particularly the comment that Teo Macero was cross at the mammoth sets coming out, in that he had selected the right stuff.
Whilst from the earlier period, having excitedly purchased then listened to all of Freedom Jazz Dance, I’m not sure it needed to see the light of day. Maybe one track but all of it??
I suspect Teo was a bit miffed that is wasn’t him who’d been asked to compile those boxes.
He was willing enough to scrape together one or two collections of leftovers for Columbia when Miles was still alive but had gone over to Warners.
I agree that most of the big boxes could have been boiled down to two CDs or less, except for The Complete Filmore, Jack Johnson (needs 3 CDs) and On The Corner which needs 6.
Catching up on the pods and this one covers what is possibly my favourite Miles era.
It’s perhaps not the albums I play on a Sunday morning, but it’s the ones I find the most satisfying and can find new things in even after ten or fifteen years.
In A Silent Way is probably my favourite of his. He’s an endlessly fascinating artist and he’s enriched my love of music.
Very interesting chat! Thanks @Twang, @Tiggerlion, @Mike_H and @El-Hombre-Malo!
I’m still hoping @JQW posts his thoughts. It’s not too late!
Oh, forgot about it. I did start to knock off some notes, but after one full page hadn’t even got to In A Silent Way. May get back to it later this week.
Wow!
Hello @JQW! Any progress?