Customer Reviews

Complete In a Silent Way Sessions

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This 3 CD box set covers recordings from September 1968 to February 1969; as such it covers a lot more than the actual In a Silent Way sessions, but nevertheless illustrates how Miles and his cohorts moved from the spontaneous abstraction of the Second Great Quintet to an ethereal sound that merged jazz, rock, and R&B. If you want to hear this transition, pick up the box; if you don't feel the need, all you really need is the eventual remaster of the original album. So it's for hardcore Davis fans only, but those fans will be very pleased.

Disc 1 opens with the first session to include bassist Dave Holland and pianist Chick Corea. The languid, bluesy "Mademoiselle Mabry" and the furious boogaloo "Frelon Brun" are essential tracks from the classic album Filles de Kilimanjaro, and should really be heard in that context. Of the next four tracks, "Two Faced" is a lengthy post-bop exploration while the last 3 tracks are somewhat cheesy boogaloos (especially "Dual Mr. Anthony...") salvaged by genius of the musicians. The last track, "Splashdown", has never been previously released.

Disc 2 is where the music really starts to move to new territory. Joe Zawinul's composition "Ascent" is a beautiful though slightly unfocused tone poem, a clear predecessor of "In a Silent Way" and "Orange Lady". If you like the shimmering keyboard trio sound of In a Silent Way, you'll love this. On the other hand both takes of "Directions" fuse jazz improvisation with a pounding rock backbeat; though live performances of this tune are more intense, this version definitely has its charms.

Disc 2 continues with the actual In a Silent Way sessions and the first appearance of guitar virtuoso John McLaughlin: an amusing though inessential bossa nova version of Zawinul's "In a Silent Way"; the take of "In a Silent Way" that eventually appeared on the album; and Teo's original mixes for "It's About That Time" and "Shhh/Peaceful". The latter is a real surprise and gem -- it was originally a harder-hitting piece and Tony Williams played more than just the hi-hat!

It's disc 3, though, that makes this package worth it: first, two previously unissued tracks with the In a Silent Way lineup plus Joe Chambers on drums. "The Ghetto Walk" is a grooving, bluesy piece not unlike the Bitches Brew material, while "Early Minor" is a gorgeous ballad in the Silent Way mold. And then the original In a Silent Way album. If you haven't heard the delicate beauty of this album, you are really missing one of jazz's masterpieces.

Davis fans and collectors won't need any convincing to purchase this essential boxed set. The music maintains a consistency that is totally at odds with the manner that most of the material was previously issued (in bits and pieces over several decades). To hear the music in chronological context--and newly remastered for best possible sound--reveals even more detail regarding Davis' recording methods circa 1968-1969 than one gets by listening to the tracks scattered across a number of albums.

To me this set's most striking aspect is the manner that the actual SILENT WAY album selections are presented. As with many Miles fans, I have been supportive of Teo Macero's extensive editing of the sessions for the original album, recognizing that the reorganizing process he employed has aesthetic value in of itself. Yet I maintained a wish to hear the SILENT WAY tracks as originally recorded. They are presented as such here, and it is great to hear them presented as relatively "pure" performances that is consistent with the remainder of the material on this set (for completeness, the album mixes are also heard at the end of disc three).

Usually I hesitate to recommend box sets to non-fans. Yet if you can afford it, I'd say pick up this three-disc set rather than the single-disc version. For those bored with alternate takes, this set is relatively free of them (note the alternate SILENT WAY take is radically different from the album version). Although most of the tracks are quite long by most artists' standards, virtually from start to finish the music is vital and creative. And for electric-era Miles, the music has a relative sense of calm and focus (meaning the listener can approach it as a challenge AND/OR as something to relax to).

In a Silent Way was one of the first jazz albums I ever bought, about 15 years ago, and it remains one of my favorite. Hearing the original tracks in their entirety is a revelation. You can see why they were edited for the original release, those tracks make for a totally different listening experience than the original extended versions and yet both are simply wondeful.

The remainder of the material is just as great as you'd expect from this era Miles. I have most of the tracks from other albums (Files de Kilamanjaro, Circle in the Round, Directions) but here they appear unedited and in context of the other music being created at the time. Hearing these tracks on the original release, like Directions, amidst a bunch of tracks from various stylistic periods, the music never quite clicked for me. In contrast, hearing it now in the right context, the music never sounded sooooo good!

If you have any interest in this acoustic to electric transitional period of Miles career, you'll love this box set. A must buy!

This set documents a singularly important moment in Miles' career, when he discovered a shimmering beauty lurking within the context of layered electrical instruments. He apparently became enamored with the Fender Rhodes electric piano, experimenting with it on his own even as he assigned it to Herbie Hancock, and then augmented his group with Chick Corea and Joe Zawinul on same. The late addition of John McLaughlin (under some interesting circumstances) to the fateful February 18, '69 session proved magical, not just because of the guitarist's amazing grace, but more importantly, Miles' immediate recognition of the possibilities of the unique instrumentation and his ability to realize this truely new direction, in the studio that day. (Of course, Teo Macero's later brilliant manipulation of the basic tracks is the stuff of legend.)
So why buy the box set instead of the single disc? The included contemporary tracks by this group are charming, displaying subtle nuance that would later be lacking from the more muscular presentations live at the Filmore, etc. And disc 2, with the original manifestations of "directions" and the raw "silent" material, is radiant beyond belief. It's like has never been produced before or since.
If you're just getting your feet wet with Miles, the single album is a great place to start (along with Kind of Blue). For those with a strong appetite for the beginnings of his last great creative burst, the boxed set, with it's excellent annotation, is a satisfying feast.

Once again, an incredible box set from Columbia; this one chronicles Miles' slow shift from the sound of his second quintet to what his detractors would call "droning, wallpaper music." And to be honest, disc 1 almost falls into that category from time to time.

Disc 2 is where things start to pick up. Directions 1 & 2 are very engaging (a slower, funkier groove than his live versions), and the rehearsal of In a Silent Way, while riddled with little mistakes from Miles, is really quite beautiful, milking the chords for all they're worth. As has been stated, The Ghetto Walk is the best of the newly found tracks, rounding out the set as something that appeals not only to Miles fanantics (those sad individuals hell-bent on owning every little oddity--like me).

In a Silent Way is easily my favorite album of all time, and this set is given ample justice by Columbia. A special note must be given to the liner notes and session breakdowns, which are extremely well done, complete with interviews from everyone involved, while proving once and for all that In a Silent Way was a slowly evolving sound, not a radically different approach to music-making as people thought in '69.

My recommendation: Better git this in your soul!

So what is good about this. Well, its Miles and so the music is fab. This is my first taste of the tansition period from the hard-bop quintet to the fusion maddness (cool madness!). It is great to listen to and I am sure the previously unreleased material that was edited to form A Silent Way adds something extra, although not a huge amount, to the whole experience. Certainly the addition tracks are well worth hearing.

But. Lets not get carried away. In the end, most of the material is available elsewhere and most of you lot reading this will end up with tracks that you have already got. Here are my moans...

I am not a huge fan of the 'box-set' culture that pervades jazz music in particular. You always end up with more of what the original musician didn't want you to have and less of what they did. For example, the Coltrane Impluse! box set notoriously excludes the poem that goes with A Love Supreme. Box sets are a convenient way of increasing ones collection quickly, and I have a number of them. But what do you loose? Well, there is the original artwork, cover notes, the order of the tracks etc. These are lesser issues with this box set as most of the previously released music is from In A Silent Way and the box cover displays the front art work. However, not having the original album I don't know what I am missing out on!

The other annoying thing about box sets is that they advertise on the front such things as 'this covers 6 albums'. This box set apparently covers 4 albums in addition to the unreleased material. However, don't get too excited. There is only one track from 2 albums and only 2 tracks from Files de Kilimanjaro. So if you already have these you will end up with repeats, and if you don't, well you will probably still want to buy them anyway for the tracks that aren't included in this box set. So this box set doesn't really save you a lot of money in the end. Being cynical, I guess Columbia know this all too well.

However, good news if you have the 1964-1968 quintet box set and haven't gone out and bought FdK in your frustration in it omitting 2 tracks, they are here!!

Anything else that is bad? Yes! The liner notes are poorly edited and often simply down right pretentious. That is, of course, if you can read them. This is no mean feat since the colour of the text is too often comparable to that of the background (oh, don't get too excited about the marketing of NEW PHOTOs, they have been obviously been messed around with by someone who has recently graduated from art school with a 2,2 in taste and imagination).

This was a good buy for me as someone with a limited collection of Davis from 1968-1970. However, if you are limited financially and already have FdK, In A Silent Way and Cirle in the Round, you may be better off investing elsewhere.

What ever you do. Don't buy this for the box set per se. Buy it for the music alone. It is timeless and inspiring. You will not go wrong musically.

I am not a big fan of box sets - I often find that they favor chronology over coherence, completeness over logic, excess over economy. Artists tend to side step along the way, album-to-album progression being more important then the strict chronological sense in which they were recorded. Part of the enjoyment I find in listening to music, is simply enjoying the album as a coherent whole as intended by the artist, rather then a fragmented deconstruction and systematic reconstruction favoring time rather then importance. Box sets are not comprehensive either - not in the slightest bit. Take for instance, Miles Davis's box set of his second famous quintet featuring Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams and Ron Carter. You get, all the recordings they made on Columbia Records between 1964 and 1968 which is great, but don't kid yourself, what is missing is the countless Blue Note albums Shorter, Hancock and Williams recorded both as solo artists (Empyrean Isles, Speak no Evil, Maiden Voyage) or as sidemen (Search for the New Land, Out To Lunch, Point of Departure, Vertigo). These are fantastic documents of the progression of the member's of Miles's quintet, who are perhaps as important as Miles Davis himself. Listening to these albums, as well as the 5 or 6 albums Miles & co recorded for Columbia give you a more coherent picture of the direction, change, transformation, and assembly of this very important group.

That all said, let us move on to the In A Silent Way box set - now this is an excellent and revelatory document of Miles Davis, and the final days of the second quintet! That is, if you already have Filles de Kilamanjaro and In A Silent Way, plus all the other second quintet albums, and some money to burn. This box is worth the extra effort though, as it covers a short enough, and surprisingly fertile period, considering the sheer amount of time the group existed (5 years is very long for sustained creativity!!). The box, three discs worth of material, spans from September 24, 1968 to February 20, 1969, with some interesting changes taking place. First, Dave Holland and Chick Corea replaced Ron Carter and Herbie Hancock, (although Hancock quickly returns) which prevented the inclusion of these tracks on the Second Quintet box set. Second, Wayne started playing soprano saxophone in addition to tenor saxophone - a minor historical event! And third, Joe Zawinul (Joe Zawinul + Wayne Shorter = Weather Report) and John McLaughlin (John McLaughlin + Tony Williams = Lifetime) joined the group.

The box covers a couple of tracks from Filles de Kilimanjaro (only the tracks Corea and Holland are on), a scattering from the already scattered Water Babies, some unreleased things, and In A Silent Way: the album in its entirety and the master edit prior to its mixing into the album as we all know it. It is In A Silent Way in its skeletal form that is the gold mine here, and the rest serves to trace the path leading up to it. Two cuts from Filles ("Mademoiselle Mabry" and "Frelon Brun (Brown Hornet)") start off disc one, followed by 4 later tracks that add Herbie Hancock on electric piano. These tracks provide an idea of the deft transformation this group underwent, starting off brash and fiery, in 1964, and ending up mature, weathered, contemplative. Wayne Shorter in particular, is now nearly Miles's equal, his soloing completely freed from the post-Coltrane style that sank so many tenorists of the day. The unusually titled "Dual Mr. Anthony Tillmon Williams Process" and the long "Two Faced," showcase the excellent writing and arranging that Davis and Shorter were capable of, as well as vehicles for Tony Williams who jeezus, at 22 was damn near an elder-statesman of jazz! Williams's playing is restrained yet complex as he navigates the song's difficult contours and structures. The dual electric pianos of Hancock and Corea provide more washes of sound and tone, slowly converging on the "sonic wallpaper" heard later on In A Silent Way. Joe Zawinul and eventually John McLaughlin are on board and Wayne Shorter has switched over to soprano for the material contained on disc two. The first three tracks here are composed by Zawinul and are long and meandering - not in my opinion worthy of album inclusion, but important transitional pieces nonetheless and illustrative of Zawinul's importance as a composer. It would be Zawinul's pretty melodies along with the paring down and reconstruction of the group's sound that would lead to the second half of disc two, the Silent Way sessions.

Finally, you get to hear the enormity, the goings-on in that infinite step between Filles and IASW! I don't want to spoil the excitement of hearing "Shhh/Peaceful" as it was assembled, roughly, with the hypnotic chunks which that were finally extracted, assembled and looped that made up the dreamy side one of IASW sandwiched in between Filles De Kilimanjaro sounding parts. You also get, a rehearsal of "In A Silent Way," with all the famous clunky chords that Miles chopped out, forever angering Zawinul that Miles tampered with his composition. It doesn't matter - Miles (and producer Teo Macero) created a masterpiece. Finally, you hear "It's About That Time" as it was recorded, before Teo messed around with it. The tracks after this, "The Ghetto Walk" and "Early Minor" are ok, but almost anticlimactic, as I'm sure you'll be fast-forwarding to the complete In A Silent Way album on disc three.

In A Silent Way is one of the most important works in all of jazz history, and the group of musicians that made it is just as significant. This box set - small with only three discs - further reveals the role Miles & his musicians served to jazz and the road they took to get there. Essential!

Quiet, dreamy, electrified but only in the most low-key way, the landmark In a Silent Way album was Miles Davis's last lullaby before the floodgates of chaos were thrown wide open. This compilation is for the die-hard fans who want a deeper look into what surrounds it, so if you haven't heard the album itself yet (shame..) you can check it out on its own. It's just been re-released and sounds better than ever. Love it already? Read on.

In addition to the full remastered album, this set gives a small glimpse into its creation in the studio. A rehearsal take of "In a Silent Way" itself is followed by the two original tracks that were trimmed and tossed together to form the LP's second side. The other rehearsal track, an early take of "Shh/Peaceful," provides an interesting contrast to the album version we know and love - it pulses with several different drums, rather than the lone skittering hi-hat that helps make the later version so hypnotic. Another unreleased goodie comes in the form of "Ghetto Walk," a previously unreleased 26-minute jaunt that could have had a home on B-Brew if it hadn't been so quiet and blue. A few other scattered tunes are tossed in from Filles de Kilimanjaro and the odds-and-sods Water Babies, among others from the same period - "Felon Brun," "Mademoiselle Mabry," the 5/4 blues "Splash," the onstage rave-up "Directions." These stem from the period where Miles was starting to integrate electric instruments into the traditional format of his previous quintets. They aren't exactly essential or even from the same sessions, but do give a sketched-in overview of the explorations leading up to IaSW. Quality is always a subjective thing, but to my ears they're all solid selections. I've never felt an urge to skip any of the tracks.

The packaging is pretty nice; not necessarily great or outstanding, but pretty nice. I don't see much problem with reading the booklet since the white-on-yellow text is only a small fraction of the reading material.. which, by the way, is quite informative and well-written. I haven't regretted popping for this entire set rather than replacing my one CD, and I doubt anyone else seriously interested in Miles and In a Silent Way would either. For those less obsessed, the single album is a decent-priced find on its own. Either way, it's a treasure well worth hearing.

This must be what it sounds like to enter heaven - such beautiful powerful music. Fans of the original "In a Silent Way" will find the album in its entirety with a fantastic remaster. Others will rejoice in having scattered tracks such as _Directions_ and _Ascent_ in their chronological place. For me, the profound beauty of the rehearsal take on _In a Silent Way_ is most revealing. More of Joe Zawinul's original chords are present, and it is a nice contrast to the (also wonderful) album version of the tune. Fans of Miles' blues offerings will love the previously unreleased _Ghetto Walk_. This is a great collection, and it also **really** whets the appetite for the upcoming "Jack Johnson"-era collection.

This boxset actually works unlike the Jack Johnson set which has multiple takes of the same song and gets somewhat tedious. Not every piece on the box set is essential but still hearing the rough drafts for "In a Silent Way" and seeing how they were spliced together to complete the final product is fascinating. Teo Macero assembled a final product that was better than the sum of its parts (unlike the Live at Fillmore, clip job disaster). And while you're at it, this music has a mellow proto-ambient vibe without suffering from the aimless meandering that much fusion would suffer from. Its hard to believe that this is the same musician who would go on to make "On the Corner" (another favorite of mine) which is as harsh and edgy as this is peaceful but then again this is so far removed from "Kind of Blue" its unbelievable. The really excellent thing about this boxset is to see how Miles' music evolved. Its not like suddenly one day he decided to go electric. The different sessions show a gradual progression. However, this is no history lesson. The music sounds as fresh as the day it was made. This is the rosetta stone of Miles music because this is where his close minded jazz purists step off and his jazz-rock fans start when it reality it is classic jazz that was cutting edge at the time and still sounds pretty damn good.