Miles Davis's Disappearing Act
January 16, 2024 8:48 AM Subscribe
"As an artist, he dissolved into his work: not quite absenting himself, or not only that, but diffusing himself throughout. He moved in the direction of creating, let's say, systems that would self-generate music, or that he could switch on and switch off, with which he could engage and disengage. Once the system was in place, his job was to assemble its players and feed it bits of input. 'All I did,' he said in his autobiography regarding Bitches Brew (1970) and Live-Evil (1971), 'was get everyone together and write a few things.'" Ben Ratliff on the electric music of Miles Davis (NYRB; ungated).
The albums under discussion: In a Silent Way // Bitches Brew // A Tribute to Jack Johnson // Live-Evil // On the Corner // Big Fun // Get Up With It
The albums under discussion: In a Silent Way // Bitches Brew // A Tribute to Jack Johnson // Live-Evil // On the Corner // Big Fun // Get Up With It
I always start listening to this period of Miles with good intent, but tap out after a few minutes. It’s just too 70s coke party for me, although I do love the Herbie Hancock Headhunters stuff.
posted by The River Ivel at 10:31 AM on January 16 [3 favorites]
posted by The River Ivel at 10:31 AM on January 16 [3 favorites]
It does kind of lend itself to Herbie Hancock type noodling and then before you know it you’re listening to the Andre 3000 flute toot album.
posted by Artw at 10:38 AM on January 16 [6 favorites]
posted by Artw at 10:38 AM on January 16 [6 favorites]
This is an excellent excuse to share one of the sessions from Jack Johnson, where Sonny Sharrock on electric guitar/echoplex plays alongside John McLaughlin and absolutely strangles the weirdest possible sounds into the mix. I love it. Listen to the whole thing, but really the last ten min or so is deeply and awesomely weird
posted by GamblingBlues at 1:13 PM on January 16 [5 favorites]
posted by GamblingBlues at 1:13 PM on January 16 [5 favorites]
Surprised to hear this period in Miles' music characterized as coke-fueled noodling. Bitches Brew is a masterwork of improvised music, in my opinion, one that saw a remarkable collaboration between the Olympian musicians and a visionary producer, Teo Macero, who shaped the music into its final form, as the article describes. Chacun à son goût, of course, but that's an amazing run of albums whose creativity and influence are visible down to the present day.
posted by the sobsister at 1:14 PM on January 16 [8 favorites]
posted by the sobsister at 1:14 PM on January 16 [8 favorites]
Big fan of Bitches Brew, I used to be scared of that album when I would flip past it in my parents' collection of LPs. Later, blew my mind.
That said, he's no "McClintic Sphere"
posted by chavenet at 1:15 PM on January 16
That said, he's no "McClintic Sphere"
posted by chavenet at 1:15 PM on January 16
Bitches Brew is a masterwork of improvised music
It is, but I wouldn’t say it’s famously accessible, so I’m not surprised to hear people say they didn’t get it. In a Silent Way is probably a better starting point. Jack Johnson too, actually.
posted by atoxyl at 2:01 PM on January 16 [1 favorite]
It is, but I wouldn’t say it’s famously accessible, so I’m not surprised to hear people say they didn’t get it. In a Silent Way is probably a better starting point. Jack Johnson too, actually.
posted by atoxyl at 2:01 PM on January 16 [1 favorite]
On the Corner is the one for the real heads, of course. That was a great bonding album for me (mostly into heavy psych and noisy rock and shoegaze and electronic music at the time) and my college roommate (into jazz and country and blues and bluegrass).
posted by atoxyl at 2:09 PM on January 16
posted by atoxyl at 2:09 PM on January 16
On the occasion that I have to make the Mad Max run from LA to San Francisco, up the 5, A Tribute to Jack Johnson is my music of choice.
posted by chromecow at 2:16 PM on January 16
posted by chromecow at 2:16 PM on January 16
Surprised to hear this period in Miles' music characterized as coke-fueled noodling
That’s not exactly what I said, but… yeah, it’s massively coke fueled noodling. Bitches Brew and other albums from this period do prove that Miles, as pointed out in the linked article, was a brilliant band leader who could get different sidemen in a room and make them produce something amazing. He did it for Kind of Blue, and even the Walkin’/workin’/steamin’ album period proves the same thing. But where Kind of Blue sounds good, it’s a rare record from this period that has the same longevity. Parts of On the Corner, and In a Silent Way, sure, but in general the later, more nose candy flavoured albums don’t hold up.
posted by The River Ivel at 3:21 PM on January 16 [1 favorite]
That’s not exactly what I said, but… yeah, it’s massively coke fueled noodling. Bitches Brew and other albums from this period do prove that Miles, as pointed out in the linked article, was a brilliant band leader who could get different sidemen in a room and make them produce something amazing. He did it for Kind of Blue, and even the Walkin’/workin’/steamin’ album period proves the same thing. But where Kind of Blue sounds good, it’s a rare record from this period that has the same longevity. Parts of On the Corner, and In a Silent Way, sure, but in general the later, more nose candy flavoured albums don’t hold up.
posted by The River Ivel at 3:21 PM on January 16 [1 favorite]
Bitches Brew is a masterwork of improvised music
It is, but I wouldn’t say it’s famously accessible, so I’m not surprised to hear people say they didn’t get it. In a Silent Way is probably a better starting point. Jack Johnson too, actually.
I started with Bitches Brew and it immediately grabbed me, swept me off to a place that I still haven't quite returned from. Late night radio show (university days). We'd dropped some acid and I guess I had an urge to try something I'd never heard before. It was the vinyl era (early 80s). The station did a good job of staying on top of what was new and cool but they also had what we called the Yellow Section, sort of hard to get at. All older stuff that had been deemed too cool to let go.
It must've been a more or less random grab. Though I had heard of Bitches Brew, how it had pretty much rewired jazz, pissed of a lot of oldtimers. One look at the cover told me I definitely needed to do some exploring. I recall being surprised at how easy it was on my psychedelicized ears. Like travelling in space, expecting a somewhat hostile planet, getting something else. Though it was definitely still alien.
posted by philip-random at 4:01 PM on January 16 [5 favorites]
It is, but I wouldn’t say it’s famously accessible, so I’m not surprised to hear people say they didn’t get it. In a Silent Way is probably a better starting point. Jack Johnson too, actually.
I started with Bitches Brew and it immediately grabbed me, swept me off to a place that I still haven't quite returned from. Late night radio show (university days). We'd dropped some acid and I guess I had an urge to try something I'd never heard before. It was the vinyl era (early 80s). The station did a good job of staying on top of what was new and cool but they also had what we called the Yellow Section, sort of hard to get at. All older stuff that had been deemed too cool to let go.
It must've been a more or less random grab. Though I had heard of Bitches Brew, how it had pretty much rewired jazz, pissed of a lot of oldtimers. One look at the cover told me I definitely needed to do some exploring. I recall being surprised at how easy it was on my psychedelicized ears. Like travelling in space, expecting a somewhat hostile planet, getting something else. Though it was definitely still alien.
posted by philip-random at 4:01 PM on January 16 [5 favorites]
So thanks to this thread, I went out today and bought Get Up With It, Live-Evil, Jack Johnson, and Big Fun. I had Bitches Brew and On the Corner. Stupid me has to go back and get In a Silent Way. Not a real Mileshead, but listening to Bitches Brew lately has warmed me to his music. Thanks for the thread!
posted by njohnson23 at 6:16 PM on January 16 [3 favorites]
posted by njohnson23 at 6:16 PM on January 16 [3 favorites]
Parts of On the Corner, and In a Silent Way, sure, but in general the later, more nose candy flavoured albums don’t hold up.
How do they not? I'm not a jazz aficionado so I probably don't know what I'm talking about but Bitches Brew is one of my all time favorite recordings and has remained so since I first heard it about 3 decades ago. It's true I did some nose candy once in awhile back in the day but I don't think that's the whole reason I and many other people like the album
posted by treepour at 6:28 PM on January 16 [1 favorite]
How do they not? I'm not a jazz aficionado so I probably don't know what I'm talking about but Bitches Brew is one of my all time favorite recordings and has remained so since I first heard it about 3 decades ago. It's true I did some nose candy once in awhile back in the day but I don't think that's the whole reason I and many other people like the album
posted by treepour at 6:28 PM on January 16 [1 favorite]
That’s not exactly what I said, but… yeah, it’s massively coke fueled noodling.
So, I didn't mischaracterize your view, then. And I have no idea wtf "more nose candy flavoured albums" means. Miles was, reportedly, doing lots of cocaine at least as far back as Ascenseur Pour L'Échafaud. That was in 1961. So, is Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet a "nose candy flavoured album"?
[edit: closing sentences removed to lower my temperature in this exchange]
posted by the sobsister at 7:26 PM on January 16
So, I didn't mischaracterize your view, then. And I have no idea wtf "more nose candy flavoured albums" means. Miles was, reportedly, doing lots of cocaine at least as far back as Ascenseur Pour L'Échafaud. That was in 1961. So, is Steamin' with the Miles Davis Quintet a "nose candy flavoured album"?
[edit: closing sentences removed to lower my temperature in this exchange]
posted by the sobsister at 7:26 PM on January 16
Put me in the Bitches Brew/Live Evil/coke-fueled noodling camp, apparently.
posted by aspersioncast at 4:45 AM on January 17 [1 favorite]
posted by aspersioncast at 4:45 AM on January 17 [1 favorite]
If this is a vote, Big Fun is my preferred Davis 70s jam phase recording.
Personally I have mixed feelings about his jam stuff. It really is just random noodling at times. But when it's good, it's good.
Also, I think Aura (1989) is under-rated.
posted by ovvl at 7:40 AM on January 17 [2 favorites]
Personally I have mixed feelings about his jam stuff. It really is just random noodling at times. But when it's good, it's good.
Also, I think Aura (1989) is under-rated.
posted by ovvl at 7:40 AM on January 17 [2 favorites]
Big Fun is my preferred Davis 70s jam phase recording.
released in 1974 but two of the tracks (everything on the album is at least twenty minutes long) go back to time of Bitches Brew (1969). A third, the madly mad Go Ahead John, was recorded in 1970. And Ife, perhaps my all-time fave Miles Davis piece, was recorded in 1972.
A great, great album.
posted by philip-random at 3:04 PM on January 17
released in 1974 but two of the tracks (everything on the album is at least twenty minutes long) go back to time of Bitches Brew (1969). A third, the madly mad Go Ahead John, was recorded in 1970. And Ife, perhaps my all-time fave Miles Davis piece, was recorded in 1972.
A great, great album.
posted by philip-random at 3:04 PM on January 17
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posted by Artw at 9:02 AM on January 16 [9 favorites]