Customer Reviews

At Fillmore: Live at the Fillmore East

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

These June 1970 performances are the third of three 2 CD sets of Miles Davis at the Fillmore. The other two are It's About That Time and Black Beauty (recorded at the Fillmore West). It features similar material to the other two, and features the same band as Black Beauty with the addition of Keith Jarrett on electric organ.

Like other Miles Davis albums of the 70s, At Fillmore features a lot of Teo Macero's tape manipulation and splicing. But whereas on Bitches Brew and In a Silent Way this technique was very successful, the edits here take music that was never coherent to begin with and make it even more confusing. At Fillmore was edited into four 25 minute medleys from the four sets Miles played on June 17-20. (Titled "Wednesday Miles", "Thursday Miles", etc.) This band could get cooking when they worked into a groove but who really needs a 40 second except of "Bitches Brew"? Another drawback of this recording is Keith Jarrett -- his playing is normally impeccable but here he throws off the equilibrium of the rhythm section. His organ freakouts are pointless and while it's amusing to hear him and Chick Corea duel on electric keyboards, the novelty wears off pretty fast. Most of Steve Grossman's soprano sax solos were edited out: not a big loss. Miles still plays great, and the longer performances, like on "It's About That Time" or "Willie Nelson", are the real highlights. The talented musicians are somehow able to raise this music above mediocrity, but not by much. This is one of the weakest of the 70s Miles Davis releases and shouldn't be picked up until after you've heard It's About That Time and Black Beauty.

Somewhere on the planet Earth, probably in some dusty warehouse in New York, is a box or metal canister containing about a half-dozen 2-inch magnetic tapes. On those tapes, in their pure form, are four nights of recordings of Miles Davis' stupendous band at the Fillmore East. Where are they? Why have they not been found?

It seems every outtake, every demo, every alternative version of every Miles recording of the electric era has been found and stuck onto a "complete....sessions" compilation.

Everyone seems to agree that the main complaint about Miles Davis at Fillmore is the unfortunate (if necessary) editing. Fix it!

Columbia/Sony, FIND THOSE TAPES! The performances were outstanding, the material excellent, the recordings top-notch. Let's finally hear the entire performances. THERE IS A MARKET.

For a guy who knocked free jazz, Miles sure let his young players have free reign. More so with his electric bands then the great quartet that disolved in 1969.

The Filmore East shows are clear evidence. These concerts were Miles and his new band fresh off In A Silent Way and B-Brew, and the shows contain snippits of both. But where they are pristine electric jazz in the studio, they are keybored freekouts here, with Chick Corea and Keith Jerret battling it out in a psychadelic noise tornado.

This album is not representative of the full shows, as Teo Marceo edited parts together, sometimes hamhandedly, from all four nights, one night per selection. Such were the limitations on vynal. One wonders if Sony has the full performances in the vaults, and if they can be issued.

Counterpoint to the wonderful freakouts are soft and sublte passages, particually when Miles solos. You can shut your eyes and see him under the red lights that night, turning hippies on to electric jazz confections.

The dynamics here between the players are incredible. Listen to how the bande free associates-musically and verbaly, on the start of the last track. Miles chimes in melodically, settles the young bucks down and then they all blast back into space. You could do this in front of a wide audiance in 1970.

You get the sense listening that the Miles and crew were figuring out this music while playing as much as the listeners were while hearing. This type of sound was new in those days, and the band probe the possibilites. What an edge this gives the album.

The same sequence of tracks was issued on Black Beatuy, recorded at Flmore West as opposed to these Filmore East recodings. Of the two, this is the more probative, played at slower tempos, with more of a curious edge than the rote set in San Fransisco.

Yeah, the album suffers from some poor editing, but it's worth having anyway jsut it to hear Miles play at his peak (for the music of this period). He plays with superb passion, power, attitude, soul and stunning imagination. The band is no slouch either. Just get it.

this album is an interesting experiment in tape splicing live performances from a four night run at the famous new york city venue. Bitches Brew had recently just come out at the time of this live show and most of the selections are from that grand and sprawling monster of a record. these performances were probably well worth their weight in gold without the meddling of the tapes. alot of the power and transitions are just lost because of the splicing. at times, it seems like the song just ends abruptly right when it was getting started. it's a confusing record and not one i can recommend except to the die hard fans. thankfully, there is a recording available that took place at the fillmore just a few months before these shows. Miles Davis "Live At The Fillmore East (March 7, 1970) It's About That Time" is a far superior recording that shows the band in all it's glory (and thankfully leaves the tape splicer at home).

Although the disc suffers from serious editing, it contains one of my favorite Miles' playing. "Directions", "It's about that time". Oh man. Miles is powerful here. Musically very expressive. Just get it.

Yes, it would be wonderful to have the complete recordings on CD for these performances by the very first "fusion" super-group. Until Sony gets off the dime and makes that happen all we have are these performances, a couple of tracks on The Complete Jack Johnson Sessions, and Call it Anything from the Isle of Wight. You can hear what this band sounded like in a complete performance at a site called "Wolfgang's Vault". Locate Miles Davis Tanglewood performance that is offered there. That performance does have Gary Bartz in place of Steve Grossman and it is phenomenal - Sony needs to get that one released!

I think some reviewers are being far too harsh about this release. I have all three of the Fillmore releases (It's About That Time, Black Beauty, and Miles Davis at Fillmore). While some of the edits are a bit abrupt - remember Teo did this with scissors and scotch tape - the performances here are absolutely smokin' and through the wall. Miles' solos are blistering! He never sounded better! I also do not understand all the complaining about Steve Grossman. He was certainly not among Miles'finest sax men in his ELECTRIC period - those accolades go to Shorter, Liebman (woah!), Bartz, and Fortune. But Grossman is in the company of greatness. He is still a very good player and I like his sound here (I admit he sounds too thin and reedy on Black Beauty). The recording quality on Miles Davis at Fillmore is also far better than the other two releases. I think this is a must have for those who love listening to Miles' late 60's early 70's music.

So... yeah, I want Sony to go to the vault and give up the goods on these historic performances, but until then... why deprive yourself? There is no reason why Miles Davis at Fillmore should be sitting at 3 stars.

[...]

The band was playing the music pretty well. There are great musical moments on here. And the fidelity is quite nice.

But the editing is abysmal. Teo and Miles must have been under the influence. In concept, it's crazy - they played roughly the same set on 4 consecutive nights, so present different pieces of each tune on each night but hardly ever a whole tune's length, with the editing as choppy and intrusive as possible.

Someday they will edit this music without the editing, the full sets. It will be wonderful. Meanwhile this is frustrating, and for completists only.

These concert recordings show a creative and inspiring band playing music that does not lose it's modernity 30 years down the road. Thr rhythm section of Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette lock into a superhuman pre-hiphop astro-groove. DeJohnette even offers some jungle style fills and accents under the psycho-tropic keyboards by Chick Corea and even Keith Jarrett. The editing chops some of the grooves too soon , but you will get the idea. These two discs are priceless music.

although this album is very far out there it is awesome. at first it can be hard to listen to and unlike the others of these five box sets, it is very open and unformatted. i did not like it the first time i heard it but each time i listen to it, it gets better and better. i found this album similar to bitches brew . not because much of bitches brew is played but because i also did not like bitches brew the first time i heard it. now it is one of my favs. miles sure knew what the hell he was doing.