Miles Davis at Montreux: 1973-91

It's impossible to overstate the importance of Miles Davis—although lately it has been a lot easier to do so. In recent years, the market has been inundated with Davis recordings in the form of double-CDs, box sets and steamer trunks of albums. All have forced jazz consumers to discriminate between what they purchase and what they leave behind. By default, the consumer has had to separate Davis' periods into those that matter and those that matter less. For example, I've often taken a pass on the '80s, viewing this Davis decade as a noisy experiment that missed the mark and lingered too long.

After watching Miles! The Definitive Miles Davis at Montreux DVD Collection: 1973-1991 (Eagle Vision) I can tell you that making such delineations about Davis or writing off his '80s years is a mistake. Understanding and appreciating the music just takes a little focus and some patience.

As evidenced by this 10-DVD box, there's much to hear and admire about Davis during his electronic jazz-funk years. These discs are proof that once you get beyond Davis' grim, humorless stage persona and odd, disco-Popeye stagewear, you come face to face with art.

As for substance, there's good and bad here. First the good. The set's direction and sound throughout are first rate. Cameras move about freely on stage, putting you as close as you'd want to be to the performers. You also are in Davis' face much of the time, enabling you to see virtually what he's thinking before he blows a note.

And while the music may not be everyone's cup of tea, it's still Miles Davis, which means there's enormous tension, energy and intensity. His note choices and where he places space makes him one of jazz's prettiest and most agile thinkers, even at this late date. Among the set's highlights are interviews with Herbie Hancock, Carlos Santana and others on Davis. And there are superb renditions of Something's on Your Mind, Time After time, Human Nature and Lake Geneva.

There's also a disc featuring Davis just two months before his death playing Gil Evans' arrangements from the Birth of the Cool sessions and from Davis' orchestral recordings for Columbia. Though the orchestra on stage in '91 and Quincy Jones' conducting seem clunky and uneven, you still get to hear Davis delivering spare smarts in spite of his illness and weakness.

On the down side, a definitive box is going to be complete, so you do wind up with afternoon and evening performances with playlists that are all but identical. Though Davis was a creative genius, similarity is going to creep in whenever a routine is needed.

I wish Davis had taken on more pop material like Time After Time and Human Nature. There's a special connectivity and lyricism whenever Davis has adapted pop tunes throughout his career, and these two tunes simply weren't enough for me. For kicks, I would have loved to have heard Davis record Michael Jackson's She's Out of My Life, DeBarge's All This Love and the Talking Heads' Girlfriend Is Better. I'm sure everyone has a similar list.

Then again, this set does succeed in forcing you to suspend preconceived notions about Davis' late period and grasp how he deftly integrated rock, James Brown, George Clinton and John Coltrane into one big electronic jazz stew.

JazzWax DVD: You can find Miles! The Definitive Miles Davis at Montreux DVD Collection: 1973-1991 (Eagle Vision) at Amazon.

JazzWax clip: Here's Miles Davis playing Human Nature at the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 14, 1985...

 

Comments

[Bill Kirchner]

For those who write off Miles in the '80s, the CD "Miles Live Around the World" (Warner Jazz) is must listening. It was compiled from gig tapes after his death by his keyboardist Adam Holzman.

On that CD is a 13-minute 1988 version of "Human Nature" that is much superior to the rather perfunctory video you show above. By that time, Miles had figured out what he wanted to do with the tune, and largely turned it into a feature for alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett, who there delivers a jaw-dropping performance.

[T.K. Tortch]

Bill's comment above that ". . . Miles had figured out what he wanted to do with the tune, and largely turned it into a feature for alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett. . ." is part of Mile's talent that allowed him to endure as long as he did. He was a good talent-spotter, and even though he had more than a little ego on him, he let the talented run with it where it would enlarge the music.

Of course, that involved taking risks with the not so talented!! As Marc notes, there's a lot of so-so stuff to root through. I remember back in the mid '90's an early electric/funk Miles date - maybe "Dark Magus"? - was reissued and augmented with unreleased live material. A lot of it wasn't very memorable.

But there again, Miles always sounded smart when he actually played, as though he was showing the other chuckle-heads on stage how it was done, and with minimal effort!

[Rab Hines]

Try as I might, I just can't get enthused about this period of Miles. I bought (and almost got through) the 20 CD Montreux set, and the couple of times I saw him in performance was from this period; but he just doesn't move me.

A great article, though. As usual.

Thanks