RACKING UP THE MILES
Great box set captures 20 years of Davis at Newport
The world can’t get enough music from Miles Davis.
Today, Legacy Records will release the 18th (!) box set from the seemingly depthless trove of the legendary trumpeter.
That’s more boxes than any other legend — beyond even Frank Sinatra, who boasts 16, and Bob Dylan with 15.
It’s clear why Legacy keeps filling the aisles with Miles. Ten of his sets have shot into the Top 10 on Billboard’s jazz chart, despite hefty price tags for packages that commonly contain either four or five CDs.
The latest bulk release — “Miles Davis at Newport 19551975” — does more than most such boxes to prove the planetary breadth of Miles’ work. The four CDs collect two decades worth of his performances from the world’s best-known jazz fest. It’s such a successful brand that some “Newport” performances actually occurred in Berlin, Switzerland and Lincoln Center.
The new set showcases six different bands led by Miles, dispersed through eight editions of the fest.
The first CD kicks off with a performance so pivotal it got Miles signed to Columbia Records 50 years ago. It features a band assembled exclusively for that event, including Thelonius Monk, Gerry Mulligan and the rhythm section from the Modern Jazz Quartet. Together, they capture the exciting transition between cool jazz and hard bop. Miles’ gorgeous trumpet lead in “’Round Midnight” shows both the depth, and the alacrity, of his playing at the time. It’s by far the most formal of any performance in the set.
Disc one also chronicles a 1958 Miles date at Newport, R.I., when he performed with the sextet that helped shape the hard bop touchstone “Kind of Blue.” That band included John Coltrane, Bill Evans and Cannonball Adderly. The performances have appeared on earlier discs, but given the two-sax interplay between Coltrane and Adderly, plus Miles’ wily work on “Fran-Dance,” they’re worth repeating.
Disc two collects shows from 1966 and ’67, when Miles led his second great quintet. This one included Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter and muscular drummer Tony Williams. The ’66 show featured some melodic pieces that dated back a decade, like “Stella by Starlight.” By ’67, the band’s familiarity allowed it to experiment more. You can hear the difference by comparing the ’66 version of “Gingerbread Man” with a wilder run at the piece one year later. Compare, as well, the “’Round Midnight” from ’55 on the first disc with the more open-ended take 11 years after.
Those recordings included from ’69 and ’71 cover the fusion masterpiece “Bitches Brew.” The 1969 set was performed a year before that album’s release. The later versions arrived one year after it came out. Live takes on pieces from “Bitches” abound — from shows at the Fillmore and the Isle of Wight, plus an entire box devoted to that album’s outtakes. But Miles never performed songs the same way twice, so these still carry surprises. Better, the two “Bitches” shows feature distinct bands. The one from ’71 boasts many different players
from the original studio recordings. The take on “What I Say” manages to be both manic and musical, aided by Gary Bartz’s acrobatic sax.
To me, the most exciting recordings come from 1973 and ’75, on the set’s third disc. Here, Miles recast his trumpet as a sputtering wah-wah blare. His performances amount to aural impressionism, delivered with the intensity of brutalism. The cuts represent the hardestrocking side of Miles, epitomized by his use of two electric guitarists, Pete Cosey and Reggie Lucas. Listen and reel as the ax-men snipe at each other in two runs at “Tune In 5.”
During “Untitled Original” the band pushes far into funk, encouraged by Michael Henderson’s thundering bass and the Afro-soul percussion of Mtume. It’s light years ahead of the cool of the first set, creating a form of free-jazz entirely of Miles’ own design.