Miles Davis - Bitches Brew Live

There's been a fair amount of activity over the past several months surrounding the 40th anniversary of the release of Miles' seminal 'Bitches Brew'.  Columbia released two different 40th Anniversary box sets, and also this single disc live album.

The material on this release come from two different shows.  The first 3 songs, totaling about 25 minutes, are from the Newport Jazz Festival in July 1969 - shortly before the band headed into the studio to record 'Bitches Brew'.  The remainder of the disc is the 35 minute set from the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival in August 1970, a few months after Brew hit the shelves.  The differences between the two sets are fascinating.

The 1969 band is Miles' "lost quintet" minus Wayne Shorter who missed the gig due to being stuck in a traffic jam.  Dave Holland is on acoustic bass here, and is lost in the mix to a certain extent.  Jack DeJohnette on the other hand is drumming like a madman, particularly on the opening 'Miles Runs the Voodoo Down'.  Without Wayne's sax, Miles takes the lead more than he otherwise would, and Chick Corea adds some nice keyboard work.  This brief set offers a glimpse into where the band was heading, although the destination was not yet fully in focus.

By the Isle of Wight gig in 1970, the music had been given a chance to stew a bit.  This set is a lot more dense, owing in part to the addition to a 2nd electric keyboardist in Keith Jarrett and additional percussionist Airto Moreira.  Wayne Shorter had left the band by this time, with Gary Bartz holding down the sax here.  Listening to the intensity of this set it's easy to understand why jazz purists hated 'Bitches Brew' and what it led to so vehemently, and also why Phil Lesh has spoken about how brutal it was to watch Miles' Brew band when they opened for the Grateful Dead in April 1970, knowing he and the rest of the Dead had to follow *that*.  (That lineup is represented on the 'Live at the Fillmore East: It's About That Time' double CD).  Corea and Jarrett play off each other very well here, with aggressive voicings almost sounding like electric guitar at times.  Holland is a much more present force, now on electric bass.  And Jack DeJohnette is, well, he's Jack DeJohnette!  Bartz offers some nice soprano sax, and Miles pulls it all together into a very intoxicating mix before a crowd of 600,000.

The Isle of Wight set has been available before, having appeared as a single 35-minute filler track on the 3 disc "Munich Concert", but the mix & mastering here is superior.

All in all this is an excellent CD, especially given it can be had new for about $10.  If you hate 'Bitches Brew', this isn't going to change your mind.  But for those of us who have been touched by 'Brew' (and I've said before that album changed the way I think about music) this is a nice document of the music Miles was playing live at the time.

Sky Architect - Excavations of the Mind

File this one under "Bands to Keep an Eye On".



Sky Architect is a young band based out of Rotterdam whose 2010 debut album "Excavation of the Mind" has created a bit of a buzz in the prog-rock community, and with good reason.  Clearly influenced by early 70's prog, these guys have distilled those influences and come up with a sound that doesn't nod too directly to any one of those influences.  There's a dash of Crimson here, a touch of Gentle Giant there, and some guitar work on the title track that almost had me checking the liner notes for an Andy Latimer guest appearance, but really the overall sound is unique and engaging.



In true prog tradition, there is the extended song suite (Deep Chasms Parts I to IV total nearly 20 minutes) lengthy tracks (The title track and The Grey Legend both clock in at around 12 minutes) and opaque yet intriguing lyrics.  The music is generally complex, with lots of shifting time signatures and songs with different sounding sections.  This really helps the music stand up to repeated listens as there always seems to be something new revealing itself.  The musicianship is top-notch as well.



The band already has their follow-up album recorded, slated for release mid-year.  I for one will be eagerly looking forward to it as this band has a lot of potential.

http://www.skyarchitect.com/

Available at Amazon.

Sky Architect - Excavations of the Mind

1. Deep Chasm (Part. I) (3:38)
2. Deep Chasm (Part. II) (8:03)
3. Deep Chasm (Part. III) (0:42)
4. Deep Chasm (Part. IV) (6:44)
5. The Grey Legend (12:11)
6. Russian Wisdom (5:04)
7. Excavations Of the Mind (11:43)
8. Gyrocopter (2:53)

Nucleus - Elastic Rock

I honestly had never heard of Nucleus until a couple of years ago when I heard 'Elastic Rock', which blew me away.  Here was some music that was really right in my sweet spot - kinda jazz, kinda rock, very fluid with some nice improvisational touches.

Led by Trumpeter Ian Carr, Nucleus burst onto the music scene in 1970 with 'Elastic Rock'", their debut.  They proceeded to turn heads at the Montreux Jazz Festival that year, and closed out the year with their 2nd release 'We'll Talk About it Later'.

'Elastic Rock' has a great relaxed groove to it, mining territory somewhat similar to Miles' 'In a Silent Way' (one of my all-time favorite albums).  Relying a bit less on grooves and more on compositions, many of the tracks here flow seamlessly from one to another making the CDs 13 tracks feel more like a couple of extended song-suites.  There's no wankerrific soloing for the sake of soloing here, every note seems to make the right statement, and every solo seems last precisely as long as it should.

The title track floats along dreamily, while "Twisted Tune", based on a pretty simple riff that just sort of expands itself, has moments that remind of early 70's Dead - especially guitarist Chris Spedding's faux-pedal steel sound.  This is probably my favorite track on the CD.  "Torrid Zone" is another strong track, and probably is the closest echo of Silent Way on this album.  But really it's kind of meaningless to pick out favorite tracks here, they way the album was laid out makes it much less a collection of songs and more a cohesive 40 minute work.  It's a shame these guys didn't get more recognition on this side of the Atlantic.

'Elastic Rock' and 'We'll Talk About it Later' were re-released as a two for one package.  'We'll Talk About it Later' is excellent too - well the first 5 tracks are anyway, the last two feature some very ill-advised vocals.  Most of my music listening is done on my computer or on my iPod, but if I were a CD guy I'd take the first 5 tracks of 'We'll Talk About it Later' and burn it on a CD at the end of 'Elastic Rock' - that would be about 75 minutes of killer early fusion.

Elastic Rock:
01. 1916
02. Elastic Rock
03. Striation
04. Taranaki
05. Twisted Track
06. Crude Blues, Pt. 1
07. Crude Blues, Pt. 2
08. 1916 (Battle of Boogaloo)
09. Torrid Zone
10. Stonescape
11. Earth Mother
12. Speaking for Myself, Personally, In My Own Opinion, I Think…
13. Persephone’s Jive

Eivind Aarset - Sonic Codex

After lots of early '70s fusion/jazz over the last couple of weeks (the CTI box set, and healthy doses of Billy Cobham, Freddie Hubbard and some others) it was time to drag myself back into the current millennium.

Enter Norwegian guitarist Eivind Aarset.  I posted before about his excellent "Live Extracts" CD from last year.  Currently I'm diving into his 2008 release "Sonic Codex".  Many of the compositions on "Live Extracts" were originally released on "Sonic Codex", and the contrast between the studio and live treatments of the songs is very interesting.  Where "Live Extract"s excelled was in the use of dynamics, combining very quiet, ambient passages with insane industrial crescendos.  "Sonic Codex" on the other hand provides more in the way of varying textures, reigning in the dynamic range just a touch.

One of the things about Aarset's music that appeals to me the most is his ability to make his guitar sound like anything but a guitar.  (Here's some good information about his gear - I'd hate to have to set up / pack up that mess every night).

Being in the studio gives Aarset the flexibility to overdub in additional sounds/textures, and makes for a great listening experience - this is an excellent CD to listen to through headphones, especially those with a nice large soundstage.  The CD kicks off with "Sign of Seven," the guitar sounding like some sort of muted vibe or tuned PVC pipe before bulding to a powerful climax - if Robert Fripp tried to record something that was a bridge between his ambient "Soundscapes" and Crimson prog-rock it might sound something like this.  "Quicksilver Dream" tracks a more spacey/ambient path before the middle-eastern tinged "Drøbak Saray".  "Still Changing" effectively mixes in some banjo (ambient banjo!) while  "Black Noise/White Silence" takes the unique approach of starting out as an intense Hendrixian take on a free jazz type jam (with Wetle Holte's drums even sounding a bit like the Experience's Mitch Mitchell), before eventually dissolving into a serene ambient passage.  The CD closes with "Return of Black Noise" reprising  the imagery of "Black Noise/White Silence" before transitioning into "Murky Lambada".

I really enjoy all of Aarset's releases, but I think Sonic Codex may be his strongest effort yet.  It is available for online purchase in FLAC format at Gubemusic.com, or as a CD from Amazon.


1. Sign Of Seven
2. Quicksilver Dream
3. Drobak Saray
4. Cameo
5. Still Changing
6. Black Noise/ White Silence
7. Family Pictures Iii
8. Sleeps With Fishes
9. The Return Of Black Noise & Murky Lambada

Billy Cobham - Spectrum

After listening to much of the CTI box set a few times I'm still marveling at the versatility of Billy Cobham's drumming, sounding  right at home in a variety of styles.  That got me thinking about his great Spectrum CD, so I naturally had to drop that onto my iPod's playlist for this week.

Cobham assembled a terrific band for this 1973 release.  On keyboards is fellow Mahavishnu Orchestra member Jan Hammer, who in addition to some signature synth work provides stellar work on he Fender Rhodes.  On guitar is the late Tommy Bolin (the track "Le Lis" features John Tropea on guitar).  Bolin's playing is excellent throughout, with great tone and a fiery intensity when appropriate.  Rounding things out is Lee Sklar on bass, who lays down a solid foundation.  There are also guest appearances by Joe Farrell (soprano & alto saxophone, flute), Jimmy Owens (flugelhorn, trumpet), and Ron Carter (acoustic bass).

My personal favorite track is Stratus, the main riff is one of those things that I have trouble getting out of my head - in this case it's a good ear worm.  But there really are no weak tracks here, which is good as the disc clocks in at only 37 minutes.  And while Cobham is a tad more restrained here than he was with Mahavishnu Orchestra, he still cranks out some intense percussion.  This is a must have for fusion fans.


1.  Quadrant 4 — 4:20
2.  a.  Searching for the Right Door — 1:24
     b.  Spectrum — 5:09
3.  a.  Anxiety — 1:41
     b.  Taurian Matador — 3:03
4.  Stratus — 9:50
5.  a.  To the Women in My Life — 0:51
     b.  Le Lis — 3:20
6.  a.  Snoopy's Search — 1:02
     b.  Red Baron — 6:37

CTI Records - The Cool Revolution

I'm normally not a big fan of compilations - they too often feel like a patchwork.  But the new 4CD compilation "CTI Records - The Cool Revolution" is a welcome exception.

CTI records was formed in 1970, and for the better part of the decade was home to a number of big name jazz artists.  Jazz purists would probably dismiss much of the labels output as "commercial", while defenders would call it the body of work of jazz artists looking for ways to keep jazz relevant in a music scene that was increasing rock-oriented.  Stuart Nicholson's fine book "Jazz Rock - A History" does a good job looking at the changing jazz scene over the late 60's and early 70's, and covers many of the CTI artists.

The four discs are house in a vinyl-LP sized gatefold cover - a nice way to evoke the early 70's heyday of the label.  The front cover features 16 of the labels most famous album covers arranged in a grid, with another 16 on the back.  A nice booklet contains generous liner notes, including detailed information on each track (recording date, artists in the session, and a thumbnail of the album the track is from). The package is nothing short of superb.

CTI had a house sound due in part to Rudy Van Gelder's engineering on many of the sessions.  It's a testament to the "CTI sound" that these discs flow so nicely.  Between the consistency of the superb recording & engineering, and the fact that many of the artists played on each other's recording, there is a surprising level of cohesiveness to these discs.  These discs were remastered from the original analog tapes, and the sound is warm and inviting.

And then there is the music, because after all that's what it is all about.  The collection is broken into 4 discs: "Straight Up", "Deep Grooves/Big Hits", "The Brazilian Connection" and "Cool and Classic".  As with any collection there will always be room for disagreement about tracks selected vs. those left out, and I'm not familiar enough with the entire CTI catalog to be able to make those kinds of judgments.  All I can say is that there is a hell of a lot of good music here.  I have a handful of the albums that these selections were culled from, but this compilation has really piqued my curiosity about some of the other artists that I had certainly heard of, but haven't really heard much music by.  With so much good music I hate to just pick a few to highlight, but the alternative takes on Miles Davis' "So What" on Disc One (one by Ron Carter, the other by George Benson) show how differently artists can interpret the same piece.  Airto's rendition of "Return to Forever" has long been a favorite of mine.  New to me is Johnny Hammond's excellent take on Carole King's "It's Too Late".  Jim Hall's superb "Concierto De Aranjuez" closes the collection out, clocking in at 19:18 and worth every second.  And of course there's Deodato's hit with the funkified "Also Sprach Zarathustra".  (As an aside, I consider the use of "Zarathustra" in Hal Ashby's 1979 political satire "Being There" one of the most inspired uses of popular music in a movie ever.  If you've seen the movie you know the scene.  If you haven't, it's highly recommended and is probably Peter Sellers' finest performance).


Another potential surprise for some listeners is just how versatile a drummer Billy Cobham is.  He appears on a dozen of the 39 tracks, covering various genres with ease.  Anyone only familiar with Cobham from his pyrotechnic work with the Mahavishnu Orchestra should be duly impressed by his sensitive touch on some of these tracks.

Oh, and for Fender Rhodes lovers, this collection is the shit.

Here's an excellent, in-depth review on All About Jazz.

A+.

Erik Truffaz - In Between

Wow, so far this month the only thing harder than finding time to listen to music has been finding time to write about it!  But with Christmas having come and gone I'm working on a couple of posts now.

First off is one of my Christmas finds, Erik Truffaz's excellent 2010 release "In Between".

The overall vibe of  "In Between" is melancholy.  The CD starts strongly with my favorite track, the 10 minute "Secret of the Dead Sea".  This track sets the stage for both the general vibe of the album as well as the sonic soundscape - the keyboards are up front, providing a nice base for Erik's trumpet.  In fact Benoit Corboz's keyboard work is superb throughout, both as more of a moody layering as it is on "Secret of the Dead Sea" as well as on the funky Rhodes-driven "Lost in Bogota".

Two tracks feature the vocals of Sophie Hunger, the original "Let Me Go!" and a Bob Dylan cover, "Dirge".  Both tracks are pleasant, if not the highlights of the album.  Sophie has an interesting voice, I'll have to check out some of her own work.

All in all "In Between" is a strong work in the "Nu-Jazz" genre, generally a little more somber and understated than a lot of music in that niche.  A good recording to take in during the late evening with the lights down.

Erik Truffaz - "In Between"
01 The Secret of the Dead Sea (10:08)
02 Let Me Go! (featuring Sophie Hunger) (3:12)
03 Mechanic Cosmetic (5:48)
04 Fujin (4:10)
05 Dirge (featuring Sophie Hunger) (3:42)
06 In Between (4:39)
07 Lost in Bogota (5:09)
08 Balbec (6:13)
09 BC One (4:29)
10 Les Gens Du Voyage (5:08)
11 Giuseppe (2:49)
12 Dead Sea Stones (3:20)