Miles Davis
Content
Miles davis preffered to put together performances and recoridngs in
the most casual way possible, letting things fall into place
spontaneously. Some of his classic recordings stem form his groups
first moments with the pieces, moments when written misc was
notably absent or imcomplete. Bill evans, in his liner notes for the
album kin onf blue under scored this point: miles conceived these
settings only hours before the recording dates and arrived with
sketches which indicated to the group what was the be played.
Therefore, you wil hear something close to pure spontaneity in these
performances. The group had never plyed thes pieces prior to the
recordings and I think without exception the first complete
performances of each was a “take”
Davis led at least three classic ensembes: the quintet in fifty five to six
with Coltrane, red garland, pauil chambers, and philly joe jonesm the
sextet of eight ot nine with cannonball, Coltrane, bill evans or wynton
Kelly, chamber, and jones or jimmy cobb, and the quintet….dasfeach
group reached the ghighest levels of ensemble skill not through
preplanning, but through great sensitivity to one another’s ideas and
impules they usually avoided unison theme statements, transistios,
and endings, unless they were esay to learn and rembmer(such as the
thwo chord riff of so what, the background patern for al blues,o r the
generally known transition in round midnight), so extensive writing and
rehearsig was unnecessary.
A typical caseis his 1956 recording of the old pop song bye bye
blackbird. It begins with red garland alone playing an introduction,
chambers and jones enter to start the theme chorus while davis skates
casually but expressively over their two bet accompaniment, and
garland reacts sympathetically to davis phrases. The theme ends with
the ubitquitous two measure break, and davis continues n with his
solo, now more aggressibely accompanied in four by his perfectly
synchronized rhythm section. When he finishes, Coltrane enters for the
first time, his solo lasts for two choruses, and then garland solos for on
eand a half choruses. Davis returns to remind us of the theme and then
leads the rhythm section into a universally understood coda. The
preparation for this recording could have been no more than davis
announcing the title and key, and counting off the tempo. Yet because
eacho player knew the piece, knew from previous experience what
kinds of rhythms and texture to play, and knew each others musical
habits, the performance came toegher brillianty. \
Themgreatmsectet of 59 reached an historical pinnacle of ensemble
jazz in the album kind of blue, see 57 59, 960 97, 120-23, 160,) by
using the same casual approach to performance organization. The
blues pieces Freddie freeloading and all blues, the harmonically
expressive blue in green, the scale oriented so what, and the quietly
magnificent flamenco sketches are as central to the jazz tradstion
asbeethovens string quartets are to the European chamber music
tradition. Every stuedent of jaz should ownt his recording. Flamenco is
one of the several in the davis sextet repertory that sees to provide a
scalar rather than chordal basis for imprivisation. Tin this piece which
has no theme, there are five segments in each chorus: one each in c
major, ab mixo, bb major, d Spanish Phrygian, and g dorian. Each solo
is a different length because the players decided spontaneously how
long to say in each tonality. Te outline of the piece is a follows :
Evans intro: 4 mesures
Davis solo 4+4+4+8+4
Cotltrane: 4+4+4+8+5
Adderly: 8+4+8+8+4
Davis : 4+4+4+8+2
The piece has a quiet impressionistic character throughout, due in
large measre to the bittersweet harmonies and gentle touch used by
evans both in his comping for others and in his ravel like solo. Cobb
stays on brushes and chambers plays a quiet, suportic part, mostly on
beats 1 and 4. Davis plays two expressive solos, using his harmon
mute, and the saxophonists maintain the mood beautifully in their
solos.
Adderleys solo on flamenco sketches, dicussied in chapter 4 is filled
with stunningly beautiful improvised melodies and exhibits a sensitive,
almost telepathic teamwork among adderly and his compists. The
transition to each new key(or chord_ occurs flawlessly whether afte 4
or 8 measures in the previous key. Admittedly eye contact or other
visual cues might have helped them make these transitions. But other
elements could not have been cued visually. The rhythmic give and
take, at first bettern cannonball and evans (m6 and 7) and then among
all four players (8-12 and 18-31), is subtle but unmistakable. The
gentle cat and mouse game they play with the meter, shifting between
four four and 88 is group improvisation at its subtle best: it makes
adderleys solo the rhythmic high pointo fhte performance.
Year after Coltrane leaves.
Sheets of sound on sids ahead
Round midnight yousee a return of budo
the most casual way possible, letting things fall into place
spontaneously. Some of his classic recordings stem form his groups
first moments with the pieces, moments when written misc was
notably absent or imcomplete. Bill evans, in his liner notes for the
album kin onf blue under scored this point: miles conceived these
settings only hours before the recording dates and arrived with
sketches which indicated to the group what was the be played.
Therefore, you wil hear something close to pure spontaneity in these
performances. The group had never plyed thes pieces prior to the
recordings and I think without exception the first complete
performances of each was a “take”
Davis led at least three classic ensembes: the quintet in fifty five to six
with Coltrane, red garland, pauil chambers, and philly joe jonesm the
sextet of eight ot nine with cannonball, Coltrane, bill evans or wynton
Kelly, chamber, and jones or jimmy cobb, and the quintet….dasfeach
group reached the ghighest levels of ensemble skill not through
preplanning, but through great sensitivity to one another’s ideas and
impules they usually avoided unison theme statements, transistios,
and endings, unless they were esay to learn and rembmer(such as the
thwo chord riff of so what, the background patern for al blues,o r the
generally known transition in round midnight), so extensive writing and
rehearsig was unnecessary.
A typical caseis his 1956 recording of the old pop song bye bye
blackbird. It begins with red garland alone playing an introduction,
chambers and jones enter to start the theme chorus while davis skates
casually but expressively over their two bet accompaniment, and
garland reacts sympathetically to davis phrases. The theme ends with
the ubitquitous two measure break, and davis continues n with his
solo, now more aggressibely accompanied in four by his perfectly
synchronized rhythm section. When he finishes, Coltrane enters for the
first time, his solo lasts for two choruses, and then garland solos for on
eand a half choruses. Davis returns to remind us of the theme and then
leads the rhythm section into a universally understood coda. The
preparation for this recording could have been no more than davis
announcing the title and key, and counting off the tempo. Yet because
eacho player knew the piece, knew from previous experience what
kinds of rhythms and texture to play, and knew each others musical
habits, the performance came toegher brillianty. \
Themgreatmsectet of 59 reached an historical pinnacle of ensemble
jazz in the album kind of blue, see 57 59, 960 97, 120-23, 160,) by
using the same casual approach to performance organization. The
blues pieces Freddie freeloading and all blues, the harmonically
expressive blue in green, the scale oriented so what, and the quietly
magnificent flamenco sketches are as central to the jazz tradstion
asbeethovens string quartets are to the European chamber music
tradition. Every stuedent of jaz should ownt his recording. Flamenco is
one of the several in the davis sextet repertory that sees to provide a
scalar rather than chordal basis for imprivisation. Tin this piece which
has no theme, there are five segments in each chorus: one each in c
major, ab mixo, bb major, d Spanish Phrygian, and g dorian. Each solo
is a different length because the players decided spontaneously how
long to say in each tonality. Te outline of the piece is a follows :
Evans intro: 4 mesures
Davis solo 4+4+4+8+4
Cotltrane: 4+4+4+8+5
Adderly: 8+4+8+8+4
Davis : 4+4+4+8+2
The piece has a quiet impressionistic character throughout, due in
large measre to the bittersweet harmonies and gentle touch used by
evans both in his comping for others and in his ravel like solo. Cobb
stays on brushes and chambers plays a quiet, suportic part, mostly on
beats 1 and 4. Davis plays two expressive solos, using his harmon
mute, and the saxophonists maintain the mood beautifully in their
solos.
Adderleys solo on flamenco sketches, dicussied in chapter 4 is filled
with stunningly beautiful improvised melodies and exhibits a sensitive,
almost telepathic teamwork among adderly and his compists. The
transition to each new key(or chord_ occurs flawlessly whether afte 4
or 8 measures in the previous key. Admittedly eye contact or other
visual cues might have helped them make these transitions. But other
elements could not have been cued visually. The rhythmic give and
take, at first bettern cannonball and evans (m6 and 7) and then among
all four players (8-12 and 18-31), is subtle but unmistakable. The
gentle cat and mouse game they play with the meter, shifting between
four four and 88 is group improvisation at its subtle best: it makes
adderleys solo the rhythmic high pointo fhte performance.
Year after Coltrane leaves.
Sheets of sound on sids ahead
Round midnight yousee a return of budo
