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 - In Concert (1973)

For this double-live helping of electric Miles, we're in the dark, dense funk of the On The Corner era. Just under 90 minutes of smoking-hot dankness was drawn from a concert in New York City on 29 September 1972, and packaged in another eye-catching Corky McCoy cover drawing.  When originally released on vinyl, the four sides had no track titles, although the two records were sometimes known as "Slickaphonics" and "Foot Fooler" from the illustration captions on the inner sleeves.

Transferring to digital does give us individual track divisions and titles, but doesn't really clean up the album's notoriously murky sound - arguably though, the fuggy mix sort of works in favour of Miles' music at this point in time rather than against it.  A full-steam Rated X gets Disc 1 into gear, before Honky Tonk highlights Reggie Lucas' guitar and the noisy smears of Miles' wahed-trumpet.  On the old second side of the LP, the Theme From Jack Johnson kicks up a gear again, with plenty of solos for Miles and Carlos Garnett, then the groove changes abruptly to Black Satin from On The Corner.

Most of Disc 2 is taken up by a lengthy Ife jam, although the identifying bassline from Big Fun doesn't make an appearance until halfway through.  It's a nice long midtempo stretch for everyone in this future-funk band to pile on solos and effects pedals, and probably the highlight of the album for me.  Right Off/Sanctuary takes us to the end, in another fast and furious free-for-all.

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

Big Fun
Agharta

Miles Davis - Agharta (1975)

Miles Davis, 1975 - in constant pain from multiple health problems, about to bow out for the rest of the decade - and piloting jazz funk/fusion into its most scorching solar orbit, with flares of avant-garde electronica spitting everywhere. Miles and afro-futurist crew landed in Japan early in the year, and taped two concerts for future release in one day at Osaka Festival Hall.  The evening show was called Pangaea on release, and is pretty good; the afternoon show became the mindblowing Agharta.

Like 'Tatu' from the previous year's Dark Magus concert, Agharta thunders in with a breakneck funk vamp that continually gets derailed by Miles crashing down on the electric organ, so that everyone can regroup and charge ahead again.  He's on organ at least as much as trumpet in this era, colouring the music with massive discordant smears, whilst Pete Cosey on lead guitar shares the limelight by coaxing unearthly guitar sounds through an EMS Synthi serving as an effects unit.  After over half an hour of this (the Japanese CD used here corrects the botched track division from the 90s US release) we get to mellow out a bit with the queasy lounge groove of Mayisha from Get Up With It, but even this is soon taken over by a cracking Hendrix-esque solo from Cosey before calming down again.

The second disc here is one continuous track, starting out by jamming on the Theme From Jack Johnson, before a lengthier respite in an eerie, swampy mid-section based on Ife from the album Big Fun.  There's even a blink-and-you'll-miss-it throwback to So What from Kind Of Blue, before the final section cranks up the volume again if not quite at as frenetic a tempo as earlier in the show.  Percussionist James Mtume is the star of this final stretch, but basically every one of the 97 minutes of Agharta is exhilirating, essential groove.

Disc 1
Disc 2