Have been going to lots of the livest of gigs recently but can't really find any good footage to back up my recommendations. Most of it has been more on the rocknroll side of things so probably lacks the plucked bass grooves you long for J*m.
Nevertheless, would highly recommend.
Traams for youthful exuberance plus the ability to deliver a varied and satisfying set in 30 minutes. Stabil Elite for what happens when Germans embrace yacht rock and focus their live shows on grooves.
On the more chin/beard stroking end of things, saw these guys last year and they were "Nice" in the best Fast Show Jazz loving way.
Ha, yeah, I went more as a treat for my Pops though it turned out he also only really likes the hard and fast parts too. This is why I don't usually attend jazz shows.
Side note, my Frau came along and afterwards confided that she looked up after 5 minutes to see the guy in a polo neck in the row in front swaying to the sax with his eyes closed and realised in horror that it was going to be one of those types of shows. I asked her whether it had changed her mind about the pretension levels of these kinds of jazz musings and she just confirmed that she was glad she'd given it a go once....,
Saw The Zombies do O&O in full the other night. 50th anniversary show! They opened with a set of other songs, older and newer.
The first two songs were tough times because of the general shock of seeing very old men on stage rocking out, as well as some unfortunately heavy blooze vibes.
But after that, the material and the vibe were gravy. And the performance of O&O was just so perfect and magical.
I didn't listen to their new album from 2015, but this is on it and it's a really solid track. This is a good indication of how good they still are at playing AND how old they look (/insert Zombies looking like zombies joke, if you want)...
Junior said: Thread hijack, what say you on the Miles in general? Visionary or talented self marketer with a top ear for collaborators?
Good question.
Visionary with a top ear for collaborators. Visionary enough to not want to pigeonhole his style, to embrace other genres of music and hear how he could sound amongst it. Brave enough to risk his entire reputation and career by shifting styles because he was genuinely bored of playing the same stuff, no matter how good he was at it. To be battered by critics but then later apologised to. But also wise enough to recruit the correct people, people who would enable this sound, and hear where Miles could fit in - not try and do it all himself.
I don't think marketing or money was a driver for him at all, he just always had his ears open for the contemporary sounds. Not all of it works for me of course, but everything ain't for everyone. For example, I am not mad keen on Wayne Shorter over George Coleman whereas everyone else is. For me, that band had a perfet Coleman-shaped hole, wheras Shorter - granted, a more rounded musician - didn't fit as well. Again, his game is kinda not the droids I am looking for. "On The Corner" - a Strut sacred cow, it would appear. For me, some more emperors new clothes. Miles was out of it during this period and to me it sounds it.
Herbie of course has also tried the same style-shifts, with varying results. The thing with Herbie is, he never leaves his past behind, so even when he was at the height of his electro days in the mid-80s, he would still go to japan and do trio jazz gigs. I'd say Herbie has also chosen his collaborators...hmm... Less-well than Miles. Although some have been inspired. Norah Jones on Joni's "Court and Spark"? On paper it was a finger-crucifix for me but they hammered it.
Junior said: Thread hijack, what say you on the Miles in general? Visionary or talented self marketer with a top ear for collaborators?
Good question.
Visionary with a top ear for collaborators. Visionary enough to not want to pigeonhole his style, to embrace other genres of music and hear how he could sound amongst it. Brave enough to risk his entire reputation and career by shifting styles because he was genuinely bored of playing the same stuff, no matter how good he was at it. To be battered by critics but then later apologised to. But also wise enough to recruit the correct people, people who would enable this sound, and hear where Miles could fit in - not try and do it all himself.
I don't think marketing or money was a driver for him at all, he just always had his ears open for the contemporary sounds. Not all of it works for me of course, but everything ain't for everyone. For example, I am not mad keen on Wayne Shorter over George Coleman whereas everyone else is. For me, that band had a perfet Coleman-shaped hole, wheras Shorter - granted, a more rounded musician - didn't fit as well. Again, his game is kinda not the droids I am looking for. "On The Corner" - a Strut sacred cow, it would appear. For me, some more emperors new clothes. Miles was out of it during this period and to me it sounds it.
Herbie of course has also tried the same style-shifts, with varying results. The thing with Herbie is, he never leaves his past behind, so even when he was at the height of his electro days in the mid-80s, he would still go to japan and do trio jazz gigs. I'd say Herbie has also chosen his collaborators...hmm... Less-well than Miles. Although some have been inspired. Norah Jones on Joni's "Court and Spark"? On paper it was a finger-crucifix for me but they hammered it.
I think it's easier for us to contextualise that whole 'On the Corner' era after the fact i.e. having the whole catalog to examine chronologically after the fact... but Miles whole electric period must have been a hard pill to swallow for a lot of people at the time. It's hard to imagine that this was how he was trying to 'commercialise' himself. The idea that records like Bitches Brew were seen as trying to appeal to the rock market seem bizarre to me. It just shows you how times have changed. I couldn't imagine anything like that charting nowadays... I remember inter-railing around Europe in the late nineties with just that tape in my walk-man trying to make sense of that record. Slowly but surely I grew to adore it but you really have to spend time with it...
But in short I agree with you bar the fact I ride hard for On the Corner and I probably need to explore Coleman's contributions in closer detail.
Junior said: Thread hijack, what say you on the Miles in general? Visionary or talented self marketer with a top ear for collaborators?
Good question.
Visionary with a top ear for collaborators. Visionary enough to not want to pigeonhole his style, to embrace other genres of music and hear how he could sound amongst it. Brave enough to risk his entire reputation and career by shifting styles because he was genuinely bored of playing the same stuff, no matter how good he was at it. To be battered by critics but then later apologised to. But also wise enough to recruit the correct people, people who would enable this sound, and hear where Miles could fit in - not try and do it all himself.
I don't think marketing or money was a driver for him at all, he just always had his ears open for the contemporary sounds. Not all of it works for me of course, but everything ain't for everyone. For example, I am not mad keen on Wayne Shorter over George Coleman whereas everyone else is. For me, that band had a perfet Coleman-shaped hole, wheras Shorter - granted, a more rounded musician - didn't fit as well. Again, his game is kinda not the droids I am looking for. "On The Corner" - a Strut sacred cow, it would appear. For me, some more emperors new clothes. Miles was out of it during this period and to me it sounds it.
Herbie of course has also tried the same style-shifts, with varying results. The thing with Herbie is, he never leaves his past behind, so even when he was at the height of his electro days in the mid-80s, he would still go to japan and do trio jazz gigs. I'd say Herbie has also chosen his collaborators...hmm... Less-well than Miles. Although some have been inspired. Norah Jones on Joni's "Court and Spark"? On paper it was a finger-crucifix for me but they hammered it.
Cheers for the considered answer J*m. From my scant knowledge I think he also got lambasted by purists bitd for his use of cutting and pasting sessions together to get the most complete performance? An approach that makes absolute sense to me but I think gave people a chance to challenge his "ability". Too lazy to google verification though.
I like On The Corner but I came at it from entirely sideways rather than a progress through Miles' career to this point (for many years I think the only Davis releases I was really familiar with were my beat up copy of Bitches Brew and my cassette of OTC - those crazy days before people's entire discographies were available at a click).
I'm with Gibbo on the lack of Coleman knowledge, I will get familiar.
Booker Ervin would have been incredible in that Miles band but it never happened. I wasn't aware of him at all before The Strut, I think it was Horseleech who dropped the science on me. More of a groove/pocket soloist, that was where he was at. If you are going to go hard, that's what you need. None of this ethereal shifting-chord palaver like ESP and such.
Comments
what do I enter into a YouTube search to see it?
"
"
The Nth Power 11/15/14 Bear Creek Music Festival - FULL SET"
Nevertheless, would highly recommend.
Traams for youthful exuberance plus the ability to deliver a varied and satisfying set in 30 minutes.
Stabil Elite for what happens when Germans embrace yacht rock and focus their live shows on grooves.
On the more chin/beard stroking end of things, saw these guys last year and they were "Nice" in the best Fast Show Jazz loving way.
Some meandering ish that I lack both the time in my day and the music-scholar intellect to ever get.
I like the Miles 64 stuff. I mean, basically...
Side note, my Frau came along and afterwards confided that she looked up after 5 minutes to see the guy in a polo neck in the row in front swaying to the sax with his eyes closed and realised in horror that it was going to be one of those types of shows. I asked her whether it had changed her mind about the pretension levels of these kinds of jazz musings and she just confirmed that she was glad she'd given it a go once....,
Saw The Zombies do O&O in full the other night. 50th anniversary show! They opened with a set of other songs, older and newer.
The first two songs were tough times because of the general shock of seeing very old men on stage rocking out, as well as some unfortunately heavy blooze vibes.
But after that, the material and the vibe were gravy. And the performance of O&O was just so perfect and magical.
I didn't listen to their new album from 2015, but this is on it and it's a really solid track. This is a good indication of how good they still are at playing AND how old they look (/insert Zombies looking like zombies joke, if you want)...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Steps:_The_Complete_Columbia_Recordings_of_Miles_Davis_1963–1964
Tell him to get this.
BURNIN' 'EM! QUICK AND NIMBLE. I GO CRAZY WHEN I HEAR A CYMBAL
AND A HIGH-HAT
AT A SOUPED-UP TEMPO
Tony Williams was about 17 on these gigs, I shit you not.
No he does not, and consider this bought.
Thread hijack, what say you on the Miles in general? Visionary or talented self marketer with a top ear for collaborators?
Visionary with a top ear for collaborators. Visionary enough to not want to pigeonhole his style, to embrace other genres of music and hear how he could sound amongst it. Brave enough to risk his entire reputation and career by shifting styles because he was genuinely bored of playing the same stuff, no matter how good he was at it. To be battered by critics but then later apologised to. But also wise enough to recruit the correct people, people who would enable this sound, and hear where Miles could fit in - not try and do it all himself.
I don't think marketing or money was a driver for him at all, he just always had his ears open for the contemporary sounds. Not all of it works for me of course, but everything ain't for everyone. For example, I am not mad keen on Wayne Shorter over George Coleman whereas everyone else is. For me, that band had a perfet Coleman-shaped hole, wheras Shorter - granted, a more rounded musician - didn't fit as well. Again, his game is kinda not the droids I am looking for. "On The Corner" - a Strut sacred cow, it would appear. For me, some more emperors new clothes. Miles was out of it during this period and to me it sounds it.
Herbie of course has also tried the same style-shifts, with varying results. The thing with Herbie is, he never leaves his past behind, so even when he was at the height of his electro days in the mid-80s, he would still go to japan and do trio jazz gigs. I'd say Herbie has also chosen his collaborators...hmm... Less-well than Miles. Although some have been inspired. Norah Jones on Joni's "Court and Spark"? On paper it was a finger-crucifix for me but they hammered it.
I think it's easier for us to contextualise that whole 'On the Corner' era after the fact i.e. having the whole catalog to examine chronologically after the fact... but Miles whole electric period must have been a hard pill to swallow for a lot of people at the time. It's hard to imagine that this was how he was trying to 'commercialise' himself. The idea that records like Bitches Brew were seen as trying to appeal to the rock market seem bizarre to me. It just shows you how times have changed. I couldn't imagine anything like that charting nowadays... I remember inter-railing around Europe in the late nineties with just that tape in my walk-man trying to make sense of that record. Slowly but surely I grew to adore it but you really have to spend time with it...
But in short I agree with you bar the fact I ride hard for On the Corner and I probably need to explore Coleman's contributions in closer detail.
I like On The Corner but I came at it from entirely sideways rather than a progress through Miles' career to this point (for many years I think the only Davis releases I was really familiar with were my beat up copy of Bitches Brew and my cassette of OTC - those crazy days before people's entire discographies were available at a click).
I'm with Gibbo on the lack of Coleman knowledge, I will get familiar.
Thanks for posting.
GJ