Customer Reviews

Complete in a Silent Way Sessions

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The initial Miles Davis - John McLaughlin collaboration at the peak of its perfection - with help from Tony Williams - Wayne Shorter -Ron Carter - Dave Holland - Joe Zawinul - Herbie Hancock - Chick Corea and others. The set represents the group at the end of its magical late 60's run of great studio sessions and on the verge of the wild fusion-funk period of larger, louder sound. In A Silent Way retains that particular introspective pathos and the intimacy of a smaller ensemble that helped make Miles' music singularly definitive . . . and here - the bluesy echoes mesh perfectly with Miles' new found discovery of electricity - moments before his music would spin completely off the edge - forever - a classic moment in jazz - captured here in all its precarious balance, delicacy, and depth.

While I would like to provide a balanced review of this box set, I simply can not. I also want to avoid using clichés but "The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions" is one of the world's greatest recordings. It would seem that such a statement must surely be victim to hyperbole. Without overstatement, my case unapologetically stands. Once the listener hears a work of this lofty caliber, words become meaningless. This box set lives somewhere beneath a wave of adjectives like "greatest ever" "amazing" and "un-friggin' believable." This was a unique and all too brief time period for Miles. Before the gauntlet was thrown down with "[...] Brew," this was Miles' light trip music. Psychedelica is omnipresent but never overpowering. This album occupies a special place that is triangulated between rock, jazz and trance music. Either this is music to contemplate at one o'clock in the morning or this is the soundtrack to a profound meditation. The original LP seems like the "In A Silent Way" starter kit compared to this full-blown box set. Indeed, this release makes the original seem painfully short since the vibe and atmosphere is consistent. The inclusion of "Dual Mr. Anthony Tillmon Williams Process" is especially appreciated. The listener must ultimately ask, so how can music be played in a silent way? Miles not only contemplates this zen paradox, he finds the path and takes us along on his vision quest. Get "The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions" and take a trip with Miles Davis on his most spiritual journey.

I am obsessed with this set. I own a number of Miles Davis albums and sets, and this was one of my firsts and I'm still just as in love with it as the first time I heard it. Disc 1 is my favorite and sometimes I'll listen to it for hours on repeat. It was an amazing time of transition for Davis and the results are luscious and moody and so many other things rolled into one wonderful three disc collection. Highly recommended.

I usually don't go out of my way to write reviews on things. No matter how good or bad, everyone has their opinion, so who needs mine, right? Miles certainly doesn't need me to endorse his work, that's for sure.

But this set is so impressive in every way that I feel compelled to share. To hear something so strange and absolutely gorgeous and refuse to tell the world would be a sin.

With that said, I had some reservations. I was not crazy about "In a Silent Way" as it was originally released. After having bought the Quintet 65-68 box, I became totally infatuated with Tony Williams' dynamic, explosive drumming style. While listening to IASW, I kept waiting for Tony to blow up and push the intensity through the roof, but, except for a brief moment towards the very end of the album, it doesn't happen. It was frustrating. But after buying the "Bitches Brew" box, I had to fill the blank between the two sets, to make sense of the transition. Based on the customer reviews on here, I decided to give it a chance.

Since then, this has become by a wide margin my favorite music produced by Miles - it could reasonably be called my favorite jazz, period. But to pigeonhole something like this into the corner that "jazz" implies would be incorrect. This is not Louie Armstrong or Charlie Parker, or even Ornette Coleman. To echo a previous review, it is a trance-inducing, medative place somewhere beyond jazz, beyond rock. The music on this set is so open and free, to wait for the melody is to miss the point. I now understand what Miles was going for when he made the album. More so than the other Miles sets, what became IASW was a process that had to be stumbled across. It is some of the finest musicians in any genre operating on such a high caliber, not content to rehash standards or play it safe. This is exploration - what they found I have yet to hear achieved by anyone else. It simply can't be duplicated.

There is plenty of wild Tony Williams drumming here (and Jack Dejohnette absolutely kills in "Directions" too!) to fulfill my urges, and placed in the context of the searching, more contemplative, material, it gives a balanced and satisfying listening experience that the original album lacked. I now love the album for what it is, but, as a previous reviewer said, it feels like the starter kit when compared to the sessions box. To understand this strange music, and how Miles arrived at such conclusions, you really need the set.

This is music that works on multiple levels: it is great to zone out to while doing homework, or driving, or doing chores; it also rewards a close listen, as the interaction between the musicians is very subtle and colorful. There is much to appreciate here, so much so that a list of highlights simply won't capture what makes it so great. To be ambiguous, it is not a moment that makes it special, it is an experience, a process, a journey. Like a dream, it is hard to grasp precise details, yet you can't shake the feeling you are left with when it's over.

Do yourself a favor. Get this, approach it with an open mind and let it take you somewhere. Music with this power is very rare indeed.

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 rather than just this box. 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.

Enough of this material is unavailable on individual discs to justify picking up the box for a Davis fan who enjoys the other music.

This is by far the best 3-CD set box-set [in musical terms] of Miles Davis. If you're into "jazz-rock/prog rock" thing [Soft Machine, Egg, Caravan, Gilgamesh, Hatfield and the North, etc] then get this little box-set. It has a nice booklet and very informative but there are some parts quite difficult to read because of its horrendous color combination (orange/white).

BOOKLET CONTENTS (52 pages)

* Introduction

* Tracklisting and Discography

* Liner Notes by Bob Belden

* Session A

* Chick Corea on beign in the studio with Miles Davis

* CBS Memorandum

* Session B

* Session C

* Session D

* Enter Joe Zawinul

* Session E

* Meanwhile on the road

* Session F

* Creating In a Silent Way

* Session F1

* Chick Corea on In a Silent Way

* John McLaughlin on In a Silent Way

* Session G

* Production Credits

IASW Sessions are a strange mix of Jazz with Boogaloo, Motown, Funk, Rock, Pop, Minimalism a la Terry Riley and Blues. OMG, how I love the sound of that Rhodes...

This box contains the music Miles recorded between September '68 and February '69 and thereby represents the missing link between the Quintet box and "The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions". All in all, the set does not include very much previously unreleased music (actually only three pieces): most of it was already released on "Filles de Kilimanjaro", "Water Babies", "Directions" and, of course, "In A Silent Way".

However, one thing is really quite sensational: the presentation of the "In A Silent Way" recordings in their unedited form, the way the musicians performed these pieces. For this was arguably the most revolutionary aspect of "In A Silent Way": the way the editing technique was used. Certainly, Miles Davis and his producer Teo Macero used editing before (for example on "Sketches of Spain", "E.S.P." and "Miles in the Sky"), but only in such a way that two or more takes of a tune were cut together to form one final master.

Two things were completely new about the way editing was used on "In A Silent Way":

1. The composition is not determined from the beginning, but the final form of the piece of music is generated by editing together multiple different jams (and not just different takes of the same composition).

2. Large parts of the same recording are repeated unaltered.

Especially the second point amazes: only if you listen very carefully, you will notice that the first 6 minutes and the last 6 minutes of "Shhh/Peaceful" are IDENTICAL (on "In A Silent Way/It's About That Time", it's the first 4 and the last 4 minutes). It is just a repetition of one and the same recording. As a consequence, you hear the same Miles Davis solo twice during one piece of music (!). Of course, this was (and still is) very unusual in Jazz, because Jazz is always about re-interpretation.

Another thing that strikes me about the editing is the fact that you hear almost every edit pretty distinctly on the original LP versions. And I am not quite sure if it was such a good idea after all to edit "In A Silent Way" and "It's About That Time" together, because in my opinion, the two tracks just don't really fit together.

So I think it is nothing less than fascinating to listen to these wonderful recordings the way they were performed. I for one think that this is reason enough to get this box set. It is most interesting to hear the original theme of the Miles Davis composition "Shhh/Peaceful" that features a beautiful melody played together by Miles, Wayne on soprano and John McLaughlin on guitar. In the final cut, Teo Macero edited out all composed parts, creating the illusion of a steady beat that went on for more than 18 minutes.

On the other hand, I have to say that not every note contained in the box is a "must have" (which is especially true for the second half of disc 1) and that's why I gave only four stars. However, for someone truly interested in Miles and his development, this box can be very interesting.

This gathers together much of the important music Miles Davis made in 1968-69, as he transitioned from jazz to rock. On this set you hear him switch bands--Ron Carter and Tony Williams to Dave Holland and Jack Dejonette-and both feature some of the best musicans Miles ever had.

Most of this has been heard before on scattered collections issued in the 1970s. But on this box set, you get a comprehensive view.

This is the closest Miles ever came to soul-jazz, after he was through with hard bop and before he dove into a much more avant garde fussion on [...] Brew. The music is lucious--you can hear a Motown influence, prevelent before Sly Stone psychadelized soul and funk

Even if most of this material has been previously issued, the remastering is flawless "Getto Walk," which was not issued before this, is an extended soul jazz jam and this alone is worth buying this set.

NOTE: DELETION OF THE WORD BEFORE BREW WAS AMAZON'S IDEA. HOW THEY CAN SELL THE ALBUM BUT NOT ALLOW THIS REVIEWER TO WRITE ITS TITLE IS BEYOND ME

A very personal favorite. Miles to lull you into a near r.e.m. state. This is not to say that the music will put you to sleep. On the contrary , it is simply fascinating , gentle music for relaxing to. The 5th released of the 8 boxes covering Miles Columbia recordings. Chronologically 5th as well. But first in my heart.

If you've never heard the electric side of miles and you're stuck on Kind of Blue, well this is the box set that will move you on. Most of us musicians started on the basics, Kind of Blue, Giant Steps, etc. This, for me, was the first box set I got and I purchased it on a whim. I never before had listened to the electric miles because I had always heard different thoughts about it, ranging from it was amazing to it sucked. I decided to make my own opinion and started here. I am so glad I purchased this music because it changed my life and my style of playing as a musician. The album In A Silent Way is really miles second kind of blue. The music on that album was so beautiful and to hear the other tracks from sessions around that time is an even bigger plus. At $30 how could you go wrong? Most of the box sets you will see can go up to $200 (On The Corner for example). If you're just starting out like how I was, you should buy this box set. The people who said it sucked, well they're just close minded. The music on here will really open you up. If you're a hardcore miles fan, well why haven't you bought this yet? As for the packaging I can't really comment because I didn't buy the remastered box set, I bought the original metal spine box set which is absolutely wonderful. Overall, you need to own this music.