Customer Reviews

Get Up With It

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Few lps offer the complete feeling of doom and overt fear as Miles' "Get Up With It" does. It'e easy to see why now- Duke Ellington's death; Miles' escallating drug abuse; his hip left him in constant pain; loss of then lady friend Betty Mabry to Jimi Hendrix, of all people; failed record sales...all these factors and more contributed to Miles' very very dark demeanor during the mid 70's, and his music wreaks of his pain.

The very dark, sad, minimalist "He Loved Him Madly" showcases Miles' deep pain in terms of Ellington's death. At points, the music sounds like it is going to stop, but Miles, mainly on the keyboards (an increasingly common Miles trait in this period), keeps this melancholic gem going to its completion- arguably one of the most touching tracks in the Miles Canon.

The bizarre "Rated X" is among one of Miles' most out there efforts, combining what we now call hip hop, with funk, and Stockhausen. The mix makes for an almost danceable, completely eerie, experience.

The danceable (for part of the track, anyhow) "Calypso Frelimo" is an upbeat affair despite its being played in minor keys. Miles' showcases his still intact trumpet playing chops- his notes biting, scathing, and drenched with wah wah. The deep african percussion by Mtume, funky bass playing by the underrated Mike Henderson, and the rock solid drumming by Al Foster keep this gem going through more minimalist and quiet middle passages, then back to its climatic finish.

And so it goes. Mere words can not do this, or any Miles lp, justice. The music needs to speak for itself, and this lp speaks to all the senses we have and probably beyond them. This lp is not easy listening, to be sure, but well worth the effort. the rewards are one thousand fold.

Without a doubt, one of the greatest albums of them all, a double set only comparable to the likes of the Stooges' "Funhouse" in its darkness, intensity and raw, funky sexuality. Now for starters let's get something straight: I loathe "fusion", and to even CONSIDER putting Miles' music of the '70s in that category - a genre filled with lilly-livered chumps like Return To Forever and the Yellow Jackets - is a great disservice to Miles and his music. From 1969 to '75, Mr. Davis pioneered and created his own unique sounds, a mixture of hard funk, psychedelic rock, avant-garde electronics and free jazz, that has never been equalled in regards to its sonics or its "vibe". There is NOTHING that can touch the raised-middle-finger jab in the guts felt when one puts on discs like "Dark Magus", "Live Evil", "Agharta", "Big Fun" or "On The Corner". The feelings of utter loathing and despair, the overwhelming EMOTION of these discs can be too much, yet nothing can prepare you for 1974's "Get Up With It", a disc of such wildness and total lack of any commercial forethought (and thank the heavens for that) that it was granted pretty much instant deletion upon release and has mainly only been available from Japan for the last 25 years. Start with the cover: a big, slightly unflattering, grainy photo of The Man. It's the sight of a man against the world, battling for his own identity. Hit the first track, "He Loved Him Madly" (a tribute to Duke Ellington), a 32-minute ambient piece only broken up occasionally by Peter Cosey's mumbling guitar lines. It's one of the saddest damn songs you'll ever hear, and you can bet yer booty that if it was made by a bunch of white guys in Berlin ca. '71, every Krautrock freak in town would be hailing it as a classic. Next track "Maiysha" is a schizophrenic one. For ten minutes in merely putters along like a lite Latin number, interrupted sporadically by Miles' Sun Ra-like organ, then it stops, gets into a hard groove and proceeds to move along to Peter Cosey's awesome guitar screeches for another five minutes. Hot. "Honky Tonk" is up next, a brief interlude of stop-start rhythms and noisy organ crunch. It prepares you for the next track the unstoppable "Rated X", THE peak of Miles' - or maybe anyone's - sonic capabilities. Part hyperdive breakbeat rhthyms, part uber-funk, and nine parts pure noise, there is no other sound on earth as MOVING as this song. Get up with it. Disc two starts with "Calypso Frelimo", another 32-minute piece that starts where "Rated X" finishes off. Ecstatic peaks of dark psychedelic jamming, aided by Miles' wah-wah'd trumpet, gel and compete. "Red China Blues" is a brief number that kicks it in a Chess-Records-meets-Ornette way, and the 15-minute+ "Mtume" once again takes you for a ride with its collision of Cosey's guitar (a highly under-rated player in a field with the likes of Sonny Sharrock) and about half a dozen percussionists. Finishing is "Billy Preston", more chilling mid-range avant-funk to close the set. "Get Up With It" is the perfect summation of what was filling Miles' head at the time: the avant electronics of Stockhausen, the cyclical funk of James Brown, the wailing psych guitar of Hendrix, the improvised freeness of Ornette Coleman and as The Man himself put it, "a deep African thing". Many words have been written on Miles' music of this period, but to really GET it, you have to LISTEN to it. Not a word is spoken on GUWI, yet it speaks volumes on its creator's alienation and sense of despair. As far as so-called "out-rock" goes, this is about as "out" as you could get, and certainly about as purely "psychedelic" as music has ever gotten, so do the done thing and get with it.

After buying this album and "On the Corner" on a whim, I was instantly impressed by how both of these albums (particularly "Get Up With It") defy categorization. This is not jazz, it's not funk, it's not rock, it's not soul, it's not ambient: it just is, and IS wonderful at that. This two-disc set features two showcase tracks: "He Loved Him Madly" and "Calypso Frelimo." Though I think "Calypso Frelimo" is the better track (featuring some wild, wah-wah filtered trumpet playing by Miles), "He Loved Him Madly" is eerie, moody, lovely. This track, and the fugue-like "Rated X," are thirty years ahead of their time -- the warped pop of Radiohead, the Chemical Brothers and Aphex Twin are unmistakably informed by these atmospheric and rhythmic sounds (whether they know it or not). Recorded between 1970 and 1974--when rock, soul and funk were easily outdistancing jazz in both popularity and artistic influence--Davis responded by creating something wholly new and other. "Get Up With It" (and especially "On the Corner") apparently remain touchy albums for die-hard Davis fans who prefer his earlier, legendary recordings ("Birth of the Cool," "Miles Ahead," "Kind of Blue," etc.). Lester Bangs notes as far back as 1980 that the daring music on these two albums by Miles "got kudos from jazz critics who never listened to them again and were rejected by fans." It's been twenty two years since Bangs wrote that, and we should now be ready to absorb what seemed alien in 1974.

In 1974, Duke Ellington died. Miles Davis, as far removed as jazz can get from the swing of Ellington, went into the studio (a place he'd largely avoided recently) to record a tribute to the musician he loved. That track ("He Loved Him Madly") and a session a few months later augmented by some studio leftovers from the previous four years became what would be the last studio recording Miles would release before his retirement-- the double album "Get Up With It".

The material from the two 1974 sessions is for me the highlight of the album. Miles' working band featured no less than three guitarists (the underheralded genius Pete Cosey, Reggie Lucas, and Domique Gaumont), reedman Sonny Fortune, and longtime rhythm section Michael Henderson (electric bass), Al Foster (drums) and Mtume (percussion). For "He Loved Him Madly", Miles used Dave Liebman, who had recently departed from the band, in place of Fortune. That tune, an extended work, is among the most dense and difficult material Miles has recorded. It is, not coincidentally among the most rewarding as well. Davis sits at the organ for the majority of the piece, whih opens in a funereal mood, with Davis droning at the keys, the guitars gently churning a fractured pattern and a dirge-like snare pattern. After a rather noticable edit around eleven minutes in, Liebman begins soloing, a delicate, gentle performance (on alto flute) where he takes time to develop the piece. The rhythm section is nothing short of astounding, with Foster and Mtume gently prodding while Henderson is nothing short of jawdropping. This is followed by a brief guitar solo and then an extended solo by Miles where he really pours his soul into his horn and is among the best performances by him on record. After Miles completes his solo, several more brief ones follow, with the rhythm section picking up the tempo and becoming more insistent before a (albeit slightly sped up) reprise of the droning introduction closes the piece. By the time its over, its nothing short of astounding.

The other 1974 pieces, "Maiysha" and "Mtume", are similarly brilliant-- the former is a funky jam, with Miles alternating between trumpet and organ and a fantastic exposition of the theme-- organ hints at it, Fortune (on flute) states about half of it, then Miles reads it and briefly solos on trumpet. Again, the rhythm section steals the show with Henderson, Foster and Mtume locked into a tight groove. Just before the ten minute mark, it switches from into a totally different groove (if it's an edit, it's extraordinarily well executed), with scrambled up guitar playing and a funky guitar lead that defies description. "Mtume" is much more vamp-oriented, with both guitarists (Gaumont was not yet in Miles' band), Henderson, Foster, and Mtume all holding the vamp with occasional breaks, usually triggered arhythmically by Miles on organ. About five minutes in, the vamp is broken by Miles on horn stating the theme before the vamp resumes. Things shake up for Miles's solo, not one of his more inspired on the record-- it's decent enough but he played much better. But around ten minutes, Miles returns to the theme and Cosey plays a solo that gets deep inside the groove and never looks back.

The leftover material from other sessions is actually all quite good as well-- Miles hadn't released much studio material at this point, so there wasn't a lot out there and these weren't really "leftovers" in the usual sense. The oldest piece, "Honky Tonk" dates from 1970, whereas "Calypso Frelimo" is as recent as 1973. As one would expect, "Calypso Frelimo" is the most similar in mood and sound to the later '74 material-- an extended work, it begins with a funky bass vamp and a blistering trumpet solo. Eventually guest John Stubblefield plays a ferocious soprano sax solo which Miles plays a fine counterpoint to before the piece abruptly cools off into a laid back groove over which Liebman (on flute) and Miles both take lovely, slowly developing solos. The piece picks up as Cosey starts experimenting on his guitar and Mtume and Foster become more busy over Henderson's constant vamping. Eventually, Cosey and Lucas lay down funky muted wah lines and Miles resumes his intensity from the beginning of the piece. Most amazing is that after over half an hour, you wish the piece would keep going.

The 1970 piece, "Honky Tonk", fits in quite a bit better than you'd expect. Driven by fractured lines from John McLaughlin (guitar), Herbie Hancock (clavinet) and Keith Jarrett (Rhodes), the three eventually state a theme together when Miles rips off a brilliant, funky, bluesy solo with McLaughlin providing a stunning counterpoint. The piece fades out after just under six minutes-- entirely too early. Contrasting nicely is 1972's "Rated X"-- featuring no horn playing, its a propolsive, percussion-driven piece with Badal Roy's tabla and Airto Moreira's percussion settling nicely in opposition Foster's aggressive beat. The most interesting vehicle involves the band cutting off while Miles sustains organ lines and the band tumbling back in. Album closer "Billy Preston", from the end of 1972, fits in quite a bit less-- its got a brighter production to its sound and its a lot looser and more open. Miles plays well enough, but the piece's lack of density makes it hard to consider it in context of the album.

Still as odd as "Billy Preston" is, it's not the engima of the album-- that title goes to early 1972's "Red China Blues"-- a pretty much straightforward blues number featuring studio aces Cornell Dupree (guitar) and Bernard Purdie (drums), Miles solos on a wah-wah trumpet on this piece. But with everything else being vamp driven and extended jams, to hear a straight blues form sounds totally out of place on the record. It's actually really good, but it definitely doesn't belong.

The 2000 reissue, at the time of release heralded as "the recent reissue you were most likely to pay a small fortune for a Japanese release for five years ago" (I did) has the crisp, clean sound that one expects from the Columbia reissues of Miles catalog and features detailed liner notes from saxaphonist/flautist Dave Liebman, who is featured on the two extended cuts. Liebman takes the time to discuss not only his own feelings and recollections on the music, but also all the pieces from a technical and critical aspect and his essay is well worth the time to read.

When I listen to "Get Up With It", I feel the album would have been a masterpiece had they not included the extra material-- it's not that any of this work is bad, on the contrary, it's all quite good, but it spoils the consistency of the album and makes it sound like a compilation. Nonetheless, this is such enormously high quality material that I have a hard time giving it less than five stars. This is not easy listening, and newcomers to Miles' '70s music are encouraged to start with "Bitches' Brew" and "A Tribute to Jack Johnson", then look towards "On the Corner". But if "On the Corner" sits well with you, this is the next place to check.

I read a Penguin review of this once that described it as Stockhausen meets Calypso. Ha ha, that kind of got it. The reviewer gave it florets - their highest rating.

There's just nothing like it. I've got all the Dewey records from this period. Several of them are just the best. This is one of them. You can't really say which is the best because they are all different from anything... anything you've ever heard before. And in the intervening years there has been nothing like them. From "Live at the Fillmore" to "Dark Magus" they are all pretty much music from the future to come... someday.

Miles really was a composer first and foremost. He consistently challenges and asks basic questions about the nature of art and music. From the ingenious use of modes early in his career to the adoption of world music, electronics, different rhythms, space and improvisation, and a deep appreciation of jazz and other musicians, he had it all. This one pretty much has it all too.

The guy that didn't get the Ellington connection here just wasn't listening. This is sound, pure sound.

Listen and learn. If you don't like it today, you will like it someday.

Even if you can't stand the more raucous, hip-hop-prescient tracks on this collection, "He Loved Him Madly" is worth the price of the set. It's a slow burn, a meditation on grief and absence that is well within the spirit of Miles' quieter, ethereal masterpieces, like "In A Silent Way," "Guinnevere," and "Sanctuary." If you love those, you'll love this, even if you only listen to the rest of it once.

There is only one reason for me to get this record, and it is when I heard the remix version by Laswell, on the song He loved him Madly dedicated to the Duke. This tune broke my heart. It is well known that Miles can draw certain things out of musicians on stage or studio per song. I am going to desribe it. Santana would say that Miles would give you these jabs and then bring you the knock out punch. Well anyway on this peice,Pete Cosey enters in this funeral type slow solo that is over 10 minutes, then the transition to Dave Liebman soothing on his alto flute will place you in the Holy of Holies, then they repeat this sick slow groove twice that starts around 20.00 or so. Now Miles does his jabs throughout this piece before his solo. But then these beautiful guitar chords start to come in from Cosey as Miles starts to come in on his solo, it is breathtaking. As the bass gets stronger in C and so forth, Miles davis delivers the knock out punch by giving the baddest solo he ever did on the face of the earth. Miles made sense of the whole peice of music by ending with that solo. His solo can be better heard on the remix by Laswell, but you get the whole painting/story on this 32:00 version. This was improved, according to the notes, they wondered what they had just played. It was pure magic, and this what you sometimes get on a Miles Davis recording session.

When a being pops Miles Davis "Get up with it" double disc into their CD player and push play, a strange and awesome thing happens, in sort of a strange deja vu, as the music hits your ears, that colorful mystical energy that pulsates through life, when that music hits your ears you are forced to once again realize that to even try to define any form of music is "silly". Just one listen to any section of these two CD's and you will SEE that this music has NO genre, NO definition, NO label of any form, except maybe to say that it has no label. What is this music? What could you possibly call this music, this music that fuses everything into ONE thing and no-thing in the same moment, which is the present(as all good little Miles fans know!). Get up with it is a collaboration of selected tracks throughout the period of 1970, 1972, 1973, and 1974. Nothing from '71 though. Tracks include: On the first disc: "He Loved him Madly", which happens to be Miles' tribute to the late Duke Ellington, a definiton breaker to say the least, a haunting and eerie trip through the great unknown. Very NICE! Clocks in at 32:13!. "Maiysha", which will blow you away(well it blew me away), such a transition, this breaks all definiton...for sure!!!! Also found on Agharta, a Live disc from Osaka(I think) Japan. "Honky Tonk", which is another spectacular track which is also found on the Live_Evil disc, a mellow in a Miles way sort of tune(Miles has his way of mellow yet super intense tunes) One could say that it sounds like Blues, if one wanted t0. Personally I think that the studio version of this tune is the BEST! You have to hear the live and the studio to see. "Rated X" which is also found on the 1972 Live at the Phillharmonic and Bill Laswells Panthalassa, great tune, I guess you could say that it is funky. One of the "tabla.sitar" tunes. Very tasty! On disc two we have "Calypso Frelimo", which is a super long track, hitting 32 minutes(YEEEEA!), involving more genre smashing goodness. Also found on Dark Magus. "Red China Blues" IS THE TRACK THAT TOTALLY BLEW ME AWAY!!!!!!!!!! Involving a harmonica(Wally Chambers), an instrument that I had never heard along side the sorcerer before this. Great tune....I guess it sounds like Blues. "Mtume", which is also the name of a percussionist that jammed with Miles a while(not sure the years), who is also playing percussion in this song, is a tune that once again blows away any definiton. And finally "Billy Preston". Once again, I can't really say much about the tunes besides that...well maybe...jazz purists would love to trash this album i'm sure...but the truth is..this album is not a jazz album!!! It's an amalagam of sounds and feelings. Intense and mellow. I think this is the most common mistake made with Miles Davis music before In a Silent way. To me, everything before that could be considered "Jazz" because it uses the same formula as "Jazz" has become known for. He still possessed what I call the "Jazz" mold, which is that typical sound of Jazz music with the constant hi-hats and occasional snare(just perfected a lot more and way cooler). True Miles helped shaped the "Jazz" mold, but the basics of that sound were around before Miles, such as with Bird and Diz.
Miles' music after In a Silent way, to me is NOT Jazz. It is non-definable music made my a very powerful sorcerer, the Dark Magus. He is crafty and he creates so many different scenes and feelings. He and his ever changing visionaries craft deep and intense visuals and take the listener to vast realms, some on Earth, and other is very different dimensions. Miles' music(this music outside of the "Jazz" mold), is utterly amazing in its scope of grandoise. Songs are rich in vibrant ambient and exotic life, pulsating and ringing and sometimes wailing around you. Get up with it is a must have for all Miles lovers and true Music Lovers alike!

This is a deeply bizarre and massive double album (about 120 minutes in all - and this was on the original vinyl!) that Miles released right before his retirement in 1975. It's so difficult to describe that Lester Bangs helplessly fell back to comparing it to "Metal Machine Music" for pure terror alone: oh relax, it's not like that at all, but "Get Up With It" is so head-implodingly frightening in places ("Rated X" and "Mtume"), that it should make you want to hide under your bed. There are also pieces here that express beauty and sad sensuality in unparalleled musical terms ("He Loved Him Madly", the legendary Duke Ellington tribute, and "Maiysha"), more modern, snazzy blues tracks ("Honky Tonk" and "Red China Blues") and beautifully hyperactive vamps that move with strangely brilliant improvisatory reasoning ("Calypso Frelimo" and "Billy Preston"). My favorites are "Rated X", "Mtume", "Calypso Frelimo", "Billy Preston" and "Maiysha". "Rated X" features three organ overdubs that redefine the word "searing" (it literally sounds like the organ is burning the tape away at times) and a ridiculously intense drums, percussion, wah-guitar, sitar and bass vamp that sounds years ahead of its time, and "Mtume" somehow condenses musical themes similar to "Rated X" even more, extends it, and turns it into a African war chant for the fifth dimension (which is something Miles might have been aiming for). "Maiysha" is a mackalicious track that features Miles at his most shatteringly lyrical (he hadn't sounded like this since the mid-60's), and "Billy Preston" is a laid-back, yet utterly relentless funk vamp. "Calypso Frelimo" features Latin-influenced trumpet screaming (literally sounding Hendrix-esque at times) and another mind-melting groove. Oh, OK - this is a classic.

Get Up With It was the last studio album Miles Davis recorded before his five year retirement fom music which lasted until 1980. Although Miles was suffering from ill health at this time, his music continued to be more adventurous. Even though this is a collection of tracks from 1970-74, it works well as a cohesive album. The album's changing moods resemble a look in the human psyche. "He Loved Him Madly", a tribute to Duke Ellington, is a 32-minute exercise in calm. With all the musicians present here, their restraint is remarkable. The flute solos are so soothing, it almost sounds like new age music. It just may be the best of his many extended tracks. "Maiysha" is a slow repeated groove which has some wild guitar soloing near the track. "Funky Tonk" is largely carried by its repetitive bass line and the guitar playing a dirty blues riff. "Rated X" begins the very heavy use of percussion on the album with its killer jungle rhythms and its eerie organ playing.

The 32-minute "Calypso Frelimo" begins Disc 2 and at first continues the intensity of "Rated X" before the tempo is brought way down around the 10-minute mark mirroring the somberness of "He Loved Him Madly" before it slowly builds back to its original theme. Although not as endearing as "He Loved Him Madly", it's still a great track. "Red China Blues" is just a straight blues. "Mtume" with its hypnotic wah-wah guitar line is the most intense track here. The funky and upbeat "Billy Preston" brings the album to a close. Everything here is top notch, certainly one of Miles' best 70's releases. The material here is so strong, it makes you wonder what would have happened if Miles didn't temporarily retire after this album.