Customer Reviews

Black Beauty: Miles Davis at Fillmore West

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This April 1970 concert is the second of three 2 CD sets featuring Miles Davis at the Fillmore, the other two being It's About that Time (March '70) and At Fillmore (June '70). It is also the second in terms of musical quality; while it doesn't have the disjointed edits of At Fillmore, the replacement of saxophonist Wayne Shorter by the young and inexperienced Steve Grossman is a serious drag on the music. Grossman's playing on the soprano is unimaginative and in all likelihood you will just listen to the rhythm section during his solos. The rhythm section of Dave Holland, Chick Corea and Jack DeJohnette is still really exciting, whether they are riding a groove or engaging in free jazz conversations. Miles plays plenty of searing upper register trumpet on tunes like "Directions" but also takes a breather for a gorgeous duet with Corea ("I Fall in Love too Easily"). The performances aren't quite as tight or focused as those on It's About That Time, but they still burn. If you like this electric, intense approach to free jazz, then you will probably want to pick up Black Beauty.

Chick Corea's liner notes to this album point out the futility of aesthetic critiques when the music is, after all, sitting right there for a listen. And while I generally find a lot of value in "reviews" I think he has a good point with respect to a live improvisational experience like this album. Nobody can really tell you whether you'll love or hate or be indifferent to this album. It's just not that easily evaluated.

This music is sometimes beautiful and sublime and sometimes provocative or even intentionally atonal and harsh. If you're new to Miles Davis or merely curious, there are much safer bets that you'll enjoy his earlier works such as "Kind of Blue" or "Miles Smiles" or "Milestones." Here Davis' group is making full use of electric instruments and exploring the bounds of music without throwing the audience a lot of melodic lifelines to hold on to. Chick Corea's Fender Rhodes often sounds like an electric guitar. And, indeed, Corea's playing is in the spotlight for much of this double CD. I also think the rhythm section, particularly David Holland on bass, is exceptional.

This album is atmospheric and provocative. It's not always an easy listen. And some will find it outright grating, particularly if their ear is not accustomed to free jazz. Personally I find it haunting and strangely relaxing.

I find this album one of the most accessible of all the live Seventies stuff so far released - I liked it instantly I heard it. This is not difficult music to enjoy. Put it on and crank it up loud - a classic Miles funk groove bubbles up out of the hiss of the live recording and the distorted electric piano, and immediately you're immersed in the thick aural treacle of Miles' own particular brand of voodoo.

This is not smooth music. It is raw, earthy, confronting stuff, sometimes funky, sometimes beautiful, occasionally touching (like the brief echo from the past of 'I Fall in Love Too Easily'), but always hip, and always sexy.

A definite favourite that only gets better with repeated listenings.

Any fan of Miles's electric work is going to want these sets recorded at the Fillmore West about a month after It's About That Time was recorded at the Fillmore East. Apart from Miles moving off mic once or twice early on, it does sound as though the engineers are getting a handle on how to record this band live.

Miles's playing is extraordinary. He really rips it up, though it does sound like he kind of loses interest in a couple of places on the second disc. De Johnette and Holland are absolutely, positively the best rhythm section in the history of rock period. Their performances are much clearer on these sets than on the earlier Fillmore East sets. While the overall performance at the Fillmore East (that included Wayne Shorter) is markedly stronger and far more intense, De Johnette's and Holland's playing is a bit muddy - it's much cleaner here on Black Beauty. Holland is sounds fabulous on the track called Willie Nelson.

Steve Grossman's playing isn't so bad as other's have made out though it does sound a little thin after hearing Wayne Shorter blow his tenor to pieces on the Fillmore East release. Grossman is only heard on Soprano on Black Beauty. It is interesting to hear Chick encourage him on Directions, the opening track. When Grossman seems to stall, you can hear Corea chime in and start some dialog with him and get his solo moving again.

Chick's playing seems to have a lot more form on these sessions than on the other two Fillmore releases, lots of interesting stuff going on and his noodling around with the ring modulator device is kind of fun and spaced-out.

Airto's playing is also a lot easier to hear in the mix on this release than his playing on the earlier concert.

If I could rate this 4.5 stars I would because the earlier Fillmore East sets are so much stronger... they were downright savage. Black Beauty is still very good, it just isn't as good as It's About That Time despite its superior sound. Buy only after you purchase It's About That Time - Live at the Fillmore East.

Its About That Time documents the first appearence of Miles during a rock concert (he had been adding electronic elements live since 1968) but Black Beauty is on equal footing (even though it lacks Wayne Shorter) because it sounds more self assured. By this time Miles had decided he definitely want to appeal to a rock audience and rock out (in a free jazz kind of way) during his concerts, not because some producer manipulated him into it (as the many myths go)but because he wanted to make jazz that would reach out to the popular arena as well, not just a quiet, sit down audience at a jazz club. I don't have as much against Steve Grossman's playing as some reviewers. Sure, on this concert he's new but Miles' bands was all about recruiting new and young talent (remember Tony Williams started in his band at 17)and preparing them for their own careers. Miles playing is rock steady and assured even when he stops briefly for a standard. This was right before the easy availibility of synths in a live setting. However, Chick Corea more than makes up for it by connecting his Fender Rhodes (a legendary jazz electric piano) to a ring modulator and getting weird, disturbing squawks of feedback at a time when he was not afraid to take chances (near to his membership in the free jazz group Circle with Anthony Braxton). Frankly Miles was the one who made this possible. Miles was not a fan of free jazz but his live performances during the electric era were basically free jazz but still managed to remain melodic. He pushed all the members of his band to greater heights and encouraged them to take chances. This concert has to be taken as a whole and in that sense it completely works. Things only got freakier from there.

This has got to be one of Miles Davis' greatest recordings. The intensity of the playing and the superb group dynamics are unbelievable. No wonder this is a highly regarded recording among jazz musicians. The music is ahead of it's time and thus will be difficult for most to understand, hence the low ratings given to it by some other reviewers. My advice is to listen to it and give it a chance, and you may well find it impossible to stop listening to. It has gotten me on a high numerous times.

Like most live Miles albums from the fusion period, this is about kicking butt, taking names, and kicking a bit more butt on the way. Steve Grossman even takes some Coltrane mannerisms during his solo on Zawinul's exciting "Directions" (though Zawinul himself had left to form Weather Report, taking Shorter with him). I think that's pretty cool myself, since not only am I a massive Coltrane fan, it also allows Miles and the band to expand their horizons even further than they had already been stretched, which is impressive. And Chick Corea gets intense on that one. I mean, it's hard to tell he's playing keyboard at all. After that is a mutated "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down", sped up in comparison to the original arrangement and with more emphasis on the "rock" element (though interestingly there's not an electric guitarist on this album - I assume McLaughlin was with the Mahavishnu Orchestra at the time, which means Dave Holland's fantastic bass playing is a central part of the song), and barely noticeable other than a couple trumpet motifs. Sadly, the groove has been taken away, but it's still really good. Steve Grossman plays a cool solo, too. After that comes "Willie Nelson", a Jack Johnson outtake. If you ask me, it has too much of Chick Corea's annoying, harsh keyboards to justify the cool bass playing. And, just to satisfy the "My Funny Valentine" crowd, there's a minute-long rendition of "I Fall in Love Too Easily". And, for reasons unbeknownst to me, they dragged "Sanctuary" off of Bitches Brew - it was a bad song then, and it doesn't get much better in this incarnation, which is at least shorter. Much better is "It's About That Time", with (once again) a nimble Holland bass line. In a Silent Way is a hell of an album, you know, and "It's About That Time", with the funky ascending motif (specifically the funky ascending motif), is my favorite part of that album. After that comes the biggest disappointment of the night: "B*tches Brew", dominated by Corea's aggravating guitar-imitating synthesizer. And without the echo effect on Miles' trumpet (understandably difficult to reproduce in a live setting), the piece loses the menacing aura it had on the studio original. He also trots out "Masqualero" from Sorcerer, but unfortunately the electric treatment does not suit it well. A big surprise (to me, at least) from this album is "Spanish Key". I only like pieces of the original, but Miles infuses it with a quadruple shot of energy; Dave Holland's bass adds interest; and even Corea's wacked-out keyboards sound good, or at least fit the song. This is interesting, and it sure stands out, but it's nowhere near in the first rank of Miles' electric albums. (To me, that would be In a Silent Way, Live-Evil, Big Fun and the live Dark Magus. And yes, I've heard B*tches Brew, but only about half of it impresses me).

      An awe-inspiring live album, Black Beauty is basically Bitches Brew live. Recorded April 10, 1970 at Bill Graham's Fillmore West, just days after Bitches Brew was released, this recording captures Miles Davis' band at its most bizarre and psychedelic. Most fascinating of all is Chick Corea, who, at times, makes his electric piano sound like an electric guitar and deals out bursts of Hendrixian feedback and distorted squeals. They occasionally descend into chaos, much as they did on the Bitches Brew sessions, and Steve Grossman is a poor substitute for Wayne Shorter, but when they stick to the songs, they're brilliant. Previously only available as a Japanese import, this album is a fantastic look at live Miles Davis in a unique era when he was really pushing the envelope to explore new territory.

Miles wanted each live show to be a unique experience in itself. And in this concert Chick Corea drives the music with an electric piano being used like a rock band with a driving electric guitar player.

The energy is picked up by Steve Grossman, a much-maligned band member by critics, but who turns in a fantastic performance. The rhythm section of Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette and Airto keep the pace fast & Miles simply is.....well, Miles.

Hearing the band nearly 40 years later shows how ahead of the curve they were in 1970. And since then I don't believe too many bands have even been near that road.

BLACK BEAUTY is an extremely impressive and intelligent transformation of Miles Davis' studio-constructed BITCHES BREW and IN A SILENT WAY albums into a blistering onstage workout, with some of the trumpeter's greatest sidemen (if one could even call them that here) helping him to craft a sonic landscape by turns subtle, chaotic, funky, frightening and just plain otherworldly. Rather than attempt to replicate the haunting textures of BREW in concert, Miles, saxophonist Steve Grossman, pianist Chick Corea (whose performance alone is more than worth the price of these two discs), bassist Dave Holland, drummer Jack DeJohnette and percussionist Airto Moreira opted for an all-out assault in which post-bop, electric blues and free jazz alternately collided and coalesced to recreate each and every number performed from the ground up. The opening salvo of "Directions" immediately sets the scorched-earth mood of the evening, and there's scarcely a moment to breathe as the band proceeds to set fire to an astonishing "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down," "Willie Nelson," "It's About That Time," "Bitches Brew," "Masqualero" and "Spanish Key," softening up in the middle just long enough to offer a beautiful Davis/Corea duet ("I Fall in Love Too Easily") which morphs into an impassioned take on "Sanctuary." The result is an album fully as good as any of Miles' studio efforts from this period - and I know that's saying a lot - and a stunning reminder that jazz of any sort is, first and foremost, music of the moment.