Miles Davis - Dark Magus (rel. 1977, rec. 1974)

One more Electric Miles Friday post for now, and probably the most ferocious-sounding live document of his career, besting even Agharta for sheer sonic assault.  With most of the band in place who would travel to Japan the following year for Miles' pre-retirement period concerts, the music on Dark Magus was recorded in March 1974 at Carnegie Hall, NYC.  The recordings wouldn't be released for another three years - or 23 years, for the world outside of Japan.

In his liner notes for the eventual 2-CD reissue, saxophonist Dave Liebman recalls being inducted into Miles' band with only the barest of preparation for what they were going to play - a fragmentary vamp here, a listen to the densely layered grooves of a Sly Stone record there - and the rest would just be led by Miles on stage.  A full-throttle thrash of drums introduces Moja Part 1 - the original four LP sides were simply named after the numbers one to four in Swahili.  Miles is in full wah-pedal trumpet and smears of Yamaha organ mode, and new guitarist Dominique Gaumont burns through Hendrix-style solos.  This calms down just a little in Moja Part 2, which eventually fades into a spacious atmosphere of reved-up drum machine from James Mtume.

 

Things get funkier for Wili Parts 1 & 2, then Disc 2 kicks off in similar fashion to Agharta with another storming jam, before again petering out via drum machine into the organ riff from Calypso Frelimo.  Drum machine weirdness skitters all over the slowburning start to Nne Part 1, which is nominally sub-titled Ife, but as on Live-Evil, only resembles that piece occasionally, and is a dark, atmospheric slow exploration.  The final stretch of Nne is another belter, to close out one of Miles Davis' most uncompromising, thrilling releases.  Dark Magus is sometimes described as "jazz metal" in latterday appraisals, and why not.

Disc 1 link

Disc 2 link

pw: sgtg

Miles Davis at SGTG:
Conception
Walkin'
Blue Moods
Bags' Groove
Miles Ahead (with Gil Evans)
Sketches Of Spain (with Gil Evans)
Quiet Nights (with Gil Evans) 

A Tribute To Jack Johnson

Live-Evil
On The Corner

In Concert

Big Fun
Agharta

Miles Davis - On The Corner (1972)

Someone mentioned late 60s-70s Miles in the comments recently, which made me dig this one out.  When On The Corner got its Columbia Legacy reissue in 2000, it became my introduction to Miles Davis' electric period - and holy crap, what a choice for diving into his post '68 journey to the outer limits of jazz fusion.  Already getting a hammering from establishment jazz critics for setting his sights light years farther than theirs, by 1972 the James Brown/Sly Stone-influenced Davis cared less than zero with On The Corner, its straightahead funk cacophony and its cartoon cover by illustrator Corky McCoy (Miles' idea being to appeal to a younger African-American audience).

If On The Corner was meant to be a record to groove to, that's not exactly easy at the outset, as the odd rhythm (the sixteenth-notes on the hi-hat are the key to following it) cuts in mid flow.  The title track - the first three minutes of the opening suite - is the kind of full-on fury that would lead to scorching live documents like Dark Magus and Agharta a few years later, with John McLaughlin's guitar and Collin Walcott's sitar wah-wahing like fighting lions.  Even as the larger 20-minute track opens up to give a bit more space, the subsequent sections deftly spliced by Teo Macero (wonder if he was ever aware of Tago Mago?), the groove doesn't calm down until the very end.

The head-shaking of the jazz critics continued as the rest of the album - that's 34 minutes - proceeded to hinge around one single bassline.  I must admit on early listens this did make me tune out, particularly on the 23 minute Helen Butte/Mr Freedom X - big mistake.  To follow these tracks closely is to hear infinite variations from the assembled players (Miles himself sticks mostly to electric organ, in his Fela-like lead shaman role), and an abundance of clever editing and other studio trickery, influenced by both Stockhausen and Paul Buckmaster  Essential, life-affirming deep groove music that the rest of the world is still catching up to.

link