Customer Reviews

Dark Magus: Live At Carnegie Hall [2-CD SET]

5 star:		(43)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

By the time Miles Davis recorded this album, many jazz purists had written him off long ago. Elecric Miles was seen as commercially compromised, a crass cash-in on the popularity of rock and funk. Give me a break. This multi-headed funk hydra was just as bewildering to the kids as it was to jazzbo snobs. This was undoubtedly Miles' tightest group of the 70's, and would continue in slightly modified form until Hyde Selim Sivad began a painful 6 year exorcism from which the Jeckyl Miles Davis would re-emerge: healthier, happier, but far less interesting. The "Dark" in "Dark Magus" doesn't only refer to the highlighted Africanisms that the intense focus on writhing, mutating rhythms had honed in on by this point; this is torment, passion, testosterone, and sweat. In short, this music has muscle. This group is amazing it's ability to maintain focus, drive, and coherence while structure shifts on a dime and at every turn. Hendrix-meets-Sharrock avant bluesrock guitar squall snakes through the quaking, swinging, stretching, spiraling rhythms laid down by the Henderson-Mtume-Foster groove factory, while the horn lines of Miles and Liebman skate the surface, divebomb, bounce, and wail. The whole thing is tied together, in a macrostructural sense, by Miles' planes and throbbing waves of organ, to say nothing of his near-telepathic bandleading. Electronic bleeps, splats, and an occasional, textural use of hyperfast drum machines fill in the infrequent spaces in this endless mutational moment. It all sounds so natural and instictive; anything but the chops-fetishist wankeroo that gave fusion a bad name. Less than a year later it would all be over. Almost 30 years later, music still hasn't caught up with some of the most avant-garde, yet some of the funkiest, work of one of the 20th century's great artists.

This album by the Prince of Darkness is most likely, the thickest, darkest piece of music that I own. It sounds more like Miles recorded it in Hell than Carnagie Hall, as everything is dark and dense and almost possessing an evil quality. And the band rocks pretty hard.

The concert opens in typical Miles fashion, like a mf with a song called Moja. It almost reminds me of the days when he started a show with something furious like Ah-Leu-Cha, which is on that great Miles and Coltrane live album. But if Ah-Leu-Cha takes a nod to Bird, then Moja takes it's nod to the devil himself. Al Foster's drums probably knocked everyone out of their seats while Miles pitted his almost screaming, electrified trumpet against an impenetrable wall of three (!) guitars. The song is wild, and rocks harder (and longer with such sustained momentum) than the heaviest rock song of the day. The dark funk starts with the second song, Wili. This slow, black, 25 minute track (split into two parts) shows off some menacing interaction between Michael Henderson's bass, Foster's drums, and Miles's cryptic keyboard and finally trumpet playing. The song paints images of a giant Miles, walking slowly through Carnagie Hall, in his flowing red bellbottoms and custom made fringed canary yellow jacket picking off concert goers one by one with his short, caustic trumpet blasts. His tone might not have been fantastic, but this is a new Miles... more crazy than his earlier days, with his trumpet lines taking the shape of almost painful little shards. All the while, the three guitar attack of Pete Cosey, Reggie Lucas and Dominique Gaumont slash away with their electric axes.

Disc two begins with the sounds of Michael Hendersons HUGE, funky basslines. The dark atmosphere has not and will not leave this show. Tatu is funkier than the last, and has some more of Miles's weird keyboard playing. Just a sustained note here or there gives enough direction and mood for the band to follow as the guitars all blare away. This song goes on for a while, kind of meanders aimlessly as the band seems to search for inspiration and direction, eventually moving into some more hardcore thumping. That leads into Nne part 1 (Ife) which also is a little slow but that leads into Nne part 2 which is out of this world. The band just lets everything loose, and it's not even clear if Miles is still on the stage!

Overall, Dark Magus is good. Maybe not 5 stars, but certainly better than 4 in my book. It doesn't deserve to get panned like it so often does. A lot of purists don't like it... don't like much of Miles past In A Silent Way... or even don't like much of Miles past Jack Johnson. But like On The Corner, I think it's just a great listen. If you're a first time Miles enthusiasticee, maybe Dark Magus is not the place to start. But I love (along with Agarta and Pangea) the direction Miles was taking during this time period, and these listens are therefore essential. It's still Miles, baby. Listen to this album and then imagine what Carnagie Hall must have felt like!

If the story about Miles Davis hating his trumpet playing on this record so much that he wanted to have it edited out is true - and Lord knows Miles's story is hip-deep in apocrypha by now - it would only be a manifestation of the kind of perfectionism one might expect in an artist of his stature. [And for those of you joining us late, the stature is that of a Picasso or Joyce.]

Put another way, the searing razor-sharp ferocity of Davis's trumpet on this recording is the single most powerful musical sound of any kind that I have ever heard. Loud and bristling as hell, sure - but also desperately articulate. Slayer can crush your skull open like a sledgehammer to the forehead. But Miles's expert cutting - like Hannibal Lecter's - can surgically remove the top of your head while still keeping you alive and then saute your brains in white wine before making you eat them.

Remember the combination of urban cool, impassioned intellect, and bad-ass groove that made Miles a bop immortal [and icon of Black Pride] in the Prestige recordings of the mid-Fifties? Now imagine that man facing painfully disabling medical problems, growing ever more (justifiably) bitter at the indignities inflicted on him by a racist society [i.e. being told by a white politician "your Mammy must be very proud of you"], and descending ever further into the hollow darkness of drug addiction and the self-inflicted loneliness created by his long-harbored misogyny. Now picture that man plugging his instrument into a 15 foot high stack of humming Marshall amplifiers powered by the entire electrical grid of ghetto Detroit during the Vietnam/Watergate toilet-flush - as the most fiercely gifted young cats on the scene prepare themselves to prove that the Great Man's faith in their talent was not misplaced.

Cue music. The result is - as Robert Christgau described this record's sibling LP "Agharta" - "a well-aimed attempt to kick the world in the balls".

Though robed in sleazy electric funk, the eruptive catharsis of this music makes it kin to a classical masterpiece like Mahler's Ninth Symphony or Stravinsky's "Sacre du Printemps". Where Gustav and Igor arranged instruments, Miles arranged *players* of instruments - and with as much inventiveness and artistry. [Indeed, I would argue that his achievement in the unquantifiable field of band-assembling rivals his accomplishment as an instrumentalist.] But while they were able to exercise their musical genius in an atmosphere of isolated reflection, Miles exercised his while nimbly balancing on the treadmill tightrope of fast-paced improvisation before a live audience. [Who in this case were either the rich ofays who condescended to him or the snotty jazzbos who sulked over their inability to confine him to the cage of his previous masterpieces. No, it was not a loving vibe in Carnegie Hall on March 30, 1974.]

Needless to say, this music will not serve as a pleasurable ambience for classing up your next dinner party. It is a bitterly defiant expression of nihilism from the most proteanly brilliant musical mind of the 20th century.

Miles' "electric" period seems to have polarized audiences like no music since Dylan plugged HIMSELF in. However I, in common with a lot of modern younger listeners I would imagine, have some problems understanding how this music could have provoked such violent antagonism - what once sounded "brutal", "repetitive" and "unmusical" now sounds daring, vital and remarkably contemporary.

On this live recording, Miles is joined by soprano and tenor sax, electric bass, drums, percussion, no less than three (count `em) electric guitarists and no keyboards at all (except for Miles' own elliptical outbursts on electric organ). Hardly a typical jazz group line-up but then Miles had hardly been playing anything that could be described as "jazz" for some years when this album was recorded. In fact, Miles had long since stopped being influenced by what was happening in the jazz world - his greatest influences during this period being Hendrix, Sly Stone and (more tangentially) Stockhausen. With such influences, is it any wonder that the group most evoked by listening to "Dark Magus" is not a jazz group at all but a German avant-garde rock group, Can (with a healthy dose of George Clinton's Funkadelic thrown in too).

As has been pointed out several times, this album is very well named - the album does indeed have a dark, mystic air about it - Miles does indeed run the voodoo down on this album! In spite of that, it is actually less dense and oppressive than its reputation would lead you to believe.

For some time now, Miles' bands had been using wah-wah pedals on anything that moves, and though there is a lot of it on this album it is not as a oppressive as on say "On the Corner", where one gets the feeling that if Miles could have wah-wahed the drums he would have. Miles plays fascinating trumpet throughout, sclerotic and alien - sounding like no trumpet you've ever heard before or since, in fact, Miles is easily the most innovative and peculiar instrumentalist on the album! The rhythm section keep up a rolling Afro-funk groove while the guitarists whip up a dense fug of "Riot Goin' On" era Sly wah-wahed funk before taking off on scrabbling solos, which are closer to Michael Karoli of Can than either Hendrix or John McLaughlin. The more jazz elements are provided by sax players Dave Liebman and Azar Lawrence, who play beautifully throughout.

I would recommend this album wholeheartedly to fans of Electric Miles, my only quibble being that the sound quality isn't as good as on other Miles' live albums of the 70's - hence the four stars.

Wow, in many ways this album is the ultimate funky jam of Miles Davis in the seventies. The sound in this album is visceral, brutal, with heavy guitars a la Hendrix, monster voodoo funk grooves and very little mellowness (though there are a few spacey parts on the jams). Can this music be described as jazz? or rock? or funk? Dark magus defies labeling but it is a hell of a ride!
Compared to other '70s live albums from Davis, I would say Dark Magus is much less avant-gard jazz and much more funk power. There are no keyboard players such as Chick Chorea to forge a harmonic maze (Miles himself does play a few weird chords and effects now and them, but sparely). Instead, we have 3 guitars and a percussion-heavy rhytmic session that create a dense tropical jungle of polyrhytmic grooves. I also love the saxophone on this album: some of the best solos ever. In fact, the sax is the instrument that brings the jazziest moments of a concert that is otherwise dominated by funk and the maverick playing of Davis.
The trumpet has to be heard to be believed. Miles plugged his horn on a wah-wah pedal and the result is unique. From what I read, Mr. Davis was enduring chronical physical pain and frustation during the Dark Magus period, and it shows: Miles' soloing has always been plaintive, but I never heard so much raw energy, anger, sorrow and funkiness in his playing before. It is a cry of sheer desperation and passion. What's more, sometimes Miles came with some phrases that are so funky... it is as if a spirit of a voodoo priest was inspiring the musician and bringing out primeval African music. Perhaps the best example is the short phrasing preceding the first (extraordinary) sax solo on the 2nd track.
This is obviously not an album for people looking for Kind of Blue fare, but if you've reached this far probably you are seeking some serious funk-jazz-Hendrix-freak out music. And as far as uncompromising heavy-funk jams led by a tortured genius go, it is hard to find a live album better than Dark Magus.

Dense, wild, and churning, but in 2006 I don't think Dark Magus is that evil. The liner notes written by Dave Leibman give the impression that very little was planned in advance, that the group went up there and improvised over a few riffs or parts. It's a funky album, but the funk has the slackness of when a jam band tries to get funky, I believe because the band was improvising. "On The Corner" is funkier because it's tighter. There are three guitarists credited, but I can't hear all three of them playing simultaneously. That keeps the music from being too muddled. The sound is typical for a mid-70's live album, so the last thing we'd want is all 9 musicians rocking out at the same time. Miles' playing focuses on sharp staccato phrases. There aren't any long continuous solos like yesteryear. When there is a longer solo, he leaves a lot of space between notes. It's a different style, not my favorite, but it's good trumpet-playing. When Dave Liebman or Azar Lawrence come in with a more traditional-sounding sax solo, it's almost a relief to have a more familiar sound. Lastly, Al Foster's drum playing is superb, he ties everything together and gets the band going when things start to dissolve.

Zappa was wrong: This is jazz from hell. It's got bits of funk, and hard rock, a few African rhythms, and a lot of noise. Plenty of power, too. In other words, it's insane. A 100-minute cacophony. Barely any discernable melodies. A lot of heavy guitar, soprano sax, and Miles' own trumpet. You thought Pangaea was in-your-face and nasty? It's lounge music. This is a difficult album to review, simply because it's so different: for one, it's essentially a 100-minute song, arguably making it the longest piece of music in history. For another, it's loud. A powerhouse of an album. It's also very, very good. And very angry. "Dark" is an understatement: It's like letting a monster loose and listening to the carnage that results from its being unleashed. Still, what amazing carnage... When the intensity lets up, as it does on "Wlii, pt. 2" and "Tatu, pt. 2" (which is really "Calypso Frelimo"), things do get a little slow and boring. On every other part but those, however, this is a perfect album: the groove is nonstop, every guitar solo is heavy, every other solo (including numerous trumpet and soprano sax ones) is loaded with emotion, and it damn near sustains itself across its 100 minutes. Like Pangaea and Agharta, this is essential live Miles.

I just got this album last week and it's what I'd been hoping for when I got Agharta and Pangea. Those are two great shows indeed, but this one, Dark Magus, has meatier funk interspersed with spacier interludes. In particular, I think Pete Cosey's guitar playing is less wanky, more restrained on this album than on the other two. The result is a tighter all around sound. As for Miles, he picks his spots well, vacillating between bluesy wah-wahs and piercing blasts which perhaps signal tantivity. Always right on!
If you're into 70s Miles and are looking for the best live show from that period then this is the ONE!

First of all, a warning: this music is a dense, heavy, unrelenting assault on the listener's psyche. It is almost overwhelming and will leave the listener exhausted. Also, at this point Miles had given up playing his trumpet like a trumpet. Here he's trying to get a feel that is much more similar to a guitar than a trumpet. Does it work? Sometimes it does, but most of the time it's hard to listen to when you know the guy can literally tear things up as a horn player.

I'd always thought this was the last of the great double live sets that Miles released in the 70's. In fact, at least one reviewer below makes that claim. This concert was actually recorded almost a full year prior to the Agharta and Pangaea concerts. I had also heard this was the most intense and the best of this live hat-trick (Dark Magus, Agharta, and Pangaea). While I don't believe Dark Magus is quite as an enjoyable listening experience as Agharta (I have a warm place for Agharta in my heart, I purchased it when it was first released on Lp many years ago) it is still an incredible listening experience and yes, it is very intense; you cannot help but feel the effect of this music and it WILL change your mood. This is mind alterning stuff! Really!

Perhaps the three guitar ensemble is a little too much, because to these ears the sound seems a bit... denser than what we hear on Agharta. Maybe even too dense. Was it really necessary for what Miles was trying to accomplish? Apart from Cosey's periodic flights of blues-tinged schizophrenic electro-mayhem (a compliment), it's hard for me to distinguish just what each guitar player brings to the session.

Liebman's soprano playing is a thrill and Azar Lawrence gets in on the action on Tenor. There are some passages when Davis, Liebman and Lawrence are playing together and it sounds almost like Coltrane's Ascension meets Davis's funk powerhouse - a great example is about 9 minutes into track 1 on the second disk (Tatu). This passage is just about as intense as it gets. 1000 stars for this little piece of the overall performance.

The passage with Mtume's drum machine coupled with Cosey's bizzare freaky sounds and menagerie of percussion is very interesting. This is followed by something that begins with a "header" that sounds rather like Maiysha and a very beautiful, moody, introspective tenor solo. This is one of only passages with a let up in the all out assault on the listener. Occassionally we get polite applause from the audience. Lord knows what they must have been thinking. It isn't hard to picture the audience plastered all over the walls and ceiling in their evening gowns and tuxedos. I wonder if any of the season ticket holders dragged their wives to this one? My wife would have killed me. This show must have been a complete shock to the system.

Dark Magus is a wonderful 100+ minutes of blistering, psychedelic funk. If you like Agharta and Pangaea, you are going to love this. If you haven't heard Agharta, I would start there first and then pick this one up. I haven't yet purchased Pangaea but that will be my next stop! Another word of caution, this music will leave you hungering for more of the same and, at present, we only have the trio of live concerts and "Get Up With It!" available for our ears.

Most people I know can't stand Mile's so called electric period. Strange as it may seem as a child of the 70,s the works of this period were my introduction into the vast legacy of the dark prince.I have gone back to these albums at various times and I think I have reached an understanding of Miles,s work and motives. I will relate a strange kind of need for this music I felt during a certain period of my life. I had recently gone through great emotional distress with a failing business and general nervous breakdown. I am a musician and I was playing in a band I would rather have avoided but at this time we are talking putting food on the table. After each gig I would put on a Miles CD from this period to blank out the unmusical torment in my mind. Its strange to think of this and other recordings of Miles at the time as a lullaby but the trance like and almost anti music quality was the only thing that could clear my thoughts. Now I when I listen, I find beauty in the chaos and structure in the mayhem.