Customer Reviews

Man With the Horn

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

If I rate Get Up With It a five, or maybe Live/Evil, or Big Fun, or On the Corner, fives, or maybe even Sketches of Spain, a five, or Kind of Blue, then I guess this is a three and a half, or a four, so I give it a four, as if this were American Bandstand. But it's a Miles Davis record. If it's Miles or Coltrane, or, oh I don't know, Poulenc, perhaps people could "check themselves" just a bit. Man With the Horn is a fine record, a bridge in some ways, if you will, between some of the pre-electric Miles, as "jazz," and the psychedelic fusion, and then the later fusion funk. Man With the Horn is precious to me, and not enough people appreciate it, in my opinion. Personally, I love the vocals on the title track, maybe for sentimental reasons, like why I love 10 CC's "I'm Not in Love," or even Brian Hyland's "Gypsy Woman," or Marvin Gaye's Mercy, Mercy, Me," if I catch them in the grocery store or on the street. If you can't dig that, well ... I was listening to Kind of Blue yesterday and loving the solos by Miles, Coltrane and Cannoball. I was listening to Aura while typing day before yesterday and thinking not enough people seem to have appreciated that very beautiful collection of abstract soundscapes. Even Miles Around the World deserves some serious attention and respect. I say it that way because the slap bass funk, even by the great Folly, isn't exactly my thing, but I was blessed to see that band live. I'll never forget it!! For me anyway, the song "The Man With the Horn," goes straight to my heart. Whatever else you say, Miles is gone. You won't see him perform again. Like Lester Young, Duke, Bird, or Trane, or even Sun Ra, or Elton Dean, like so many others, they're gone. But we have the magic of their music. So to the critics, like Christopher Walkins said on Saturday Night Live, "young man, you're not all that." He also said, "Baby girl, let your freak flag fly." Miles would second that. Maybe put doo-bop in your car stero and drive around some urban soundscape, maybe Williamsburg, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights or Flatbush. Roll down the window. Dig Mystery, The Doo Bop Song, or Blow or Fantasy. Christoph Anders once sang that he was old when he was young. Miles was young when he was old.

I like it. I go back to this one as much as "Amandla" or "Tutu." Mike Stern sounds great, the compositions are varied and interesting, and the title track is not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. Cheesy, yes, but cool chord changes and nice synth tones round it out. The overall sound of the recording has a little more "gut," to me, than Miles' subsequent efforts in the 80s. That's not a good or bad thing, since I like all those ones, too, but it does make "Man with the Horn" stand out in one way.

Bottom Line: Perusing my iTunes collection of over 10,000 songs, many of the cuts from this album were among my most listened to. So, over the past year, I listened to this album more than any other Miles album I had.

Having not performed or really played his horn since 1975, Miles Davis appeared to be done by 1981, when his 'comeback' album, "The Man With the Horn" materialized. Inspired by his nephew Vince Wilburn's band's recordings, Davis reemerged, recording first a pair of tracks with that band (Randy Hall on guitars and synths, Robert Irving III on keys, Felton Crews on bass and nephew Wilburn on the drums), then later jettisoning them for a new ensemble who recorded the majority of the record-- drummer Al Foster (the only holdover from his '70s band), percussionist Smamy Figueroa, reedman Bill Evans, then-barely-known-now-bass legend Marcus Miller and guitarist Barry Finnerty (replaced on one cut by Mike Stern). The results are, well, different from what came before.

Time, I think, has been a lot kinder to this record than both its initial reception and even feelings in the past decade-- Davis abandoned the deep funk vamps and fierceness of his mid-70s music for a brighter sound that anticipates the best of smooth jazz. With Foster and Miller serving as a quite capable anchor, the band hits a number of nice grooves-- openers "Fat Time" with its slinking rhythms and explosive "Back Seat Betty" both find the band hitting great grooves and while Davis' playing certainly isn't what it had been, he seems to take some inspiration in just playing again. Admittedly, Evans seems the more powerful and urgent of the horn players (his solo saves otherwise limp "Shout"), and certainly "Aida" is highlighted more by Miller's staggering bass playing than anything else (although Davis' manic solo is his best playing on the record)-- but this plays to Davis' strengths as a bandleader. He gets great performances out of people, in many cases better than they play anywhere else.

Having said that, there's really nothing that could save the title track, a slice of schlock smooth vocal jazz, but it's the only really unbearable piece on the record. By and large, "The Man With the Horn" is a good, albeit, not great, record.

What a great release this is! Miles Davis comes back after a while of not recording, and is joined by a bunch of funky musicians! It's funky, poppy, jazzy, and hip. Coming out in '81, i love this period in Miles' career. He's checking out the pop tunes, starts to do covers, plays with production and electronic techniques, and displays gracefully his eccentricities. All the while remaining true to jazz form. I especially love Back Seat Betty and Fat Time. Mike Stern is especially crazy on this record! Yey for freedom of expression. Yet another from Miles Davis that should at the least take up shelf-space in your pad!

This cd represents a different side of Miles, a less aggressive side of him. "Fat Time" is just that, a fat time. In understanding the art of music, in particular, Miles Davis, one can conclude that this trumpet master was a bit on edge pending his comeback. "Shout" is a nice cut in which he really let a few emotions fly. "Aida" and "Ursula" are normal Miles' tracks. The title track, "The Man With The Horn" written by Randy Hall, is simply outstanding. In order to really appreciate this cut, one must get inside this composition and look around to see what is actually going on. You have to go way beyond the solo itself, the melody, and the lyrics. I won't spoil it for those who may like it, but I am glad that I was able to catch the pure essence of "The Man With The Horn."

I think the reason people criticized Miles when he retired was because they were just mad that he retired. Miles sounds better than before on a lot of these tracks than before he retired. His tone is still beautiful, better than Wynton Marsalis's, his technique fine, and his improvisations were very creative. There is one song tha didn't quite take, the title track, but that is because of those stupid lyrics, and Miles saves the song, with his great tone, but the electric horn isn't really his thing anymore. He shows great soloing ability on "Shout", and the other solos are joyous. On "Aida", Miles sounds even better, and the best track is the surprisingly straight ahead jazz track, "Ursula". Go buy this album.

If you read about the process of constructing the album (described in great detail in George Cole's book "The Last Miles"), to include Miles' condition and mindset, and then listen to this again, it sounds just as you'd expect.

The two tracks recorded with the young Chicago musicians are trite to my ears. Note how Miles sounds just like Herb Albert on "Shout". It's not terrible. It's just not subtle or in keeping in any way with Miles' essence.

The three other tracks not counting "Fat Time" don't really gel. "Aida" sounds much, much better subsequently in concert, documented on "We Want Miles".

The last track recorded, "Fat Time", is pretty good. Mike Stern sounds relevant and Al Foster's great drumming is captured well. It's a template forward, and at the same time the one track that sounds much like where Miles had been before.

This is a good album. Miles came back with the great bassist Marcus Miller for his comeback album. The only problem I have is the vocals on the title track are kind of silly. But the music is good. One song has a really cool guitar rift in the beginning. My favorite songs on this record are Fat Time, Back Seat Betty and Aida. I like this record and I hope others do too.

No, this isn't a great album. Yes, I know who Miles Davis 'really' is. Yes, I own 'Kind of Blue' and 'Get Up With It.' Yes, I know that fusion is dead. Yes, I did write positive reviews for 'Birds of Fire' and 'Night Passage.'

But I have to say this... I would give this album 5 stars if it included 'Fat Time' and a bunch of live recordings of Henry Kissinger reading ee cummings' poetry. Well, I'd want 'Ursula' thrown in. (The way the theme slides and slithers and dies, and the way the rhythym section slides between blues and funk and insanity - very subtly - in 'Ursula' is, to my mind, wonderful.) And maybe 'Aida.' And maybe even 'Shout' on the odd Wednesday. (Though I have to admit that I'd rather hear the poetry reading than the title track here.)

But I just have to say that 'Fat Time' alone is worth the many copies of this album that I've lost or given away. Foster is flatly AMAZING on this track - sensitive, supportive, driving, cajoling, mocking... to everyone. Miller is just plain seismic and solid. The solos are an amazing conversation (all of them... including the never-mentioned Bill Evans soprano solo). The fade from Evan's to Stern's solo is subtly striking. Evan's solo is nicely restrained... a beautiful, elegant, desperate flying dragon's voice. The way Stern starts his solo, takes it out, and brings it back to Miles is truly wonderful. And Miles DOES NOT play badly on this track, regardless of who says he'd 'lost it' by this time. I'm a trained musician (big deal) and I've listened HARD to real jazz for years and I'm not all that easily amused, but I still hear stuff I hadn't noticed in the interplay on this tune, after all these years.

So. If you can deal with not loving all the tracks, this is a 5 star purchase...

Boy, we waited with a lot of anticipation and expection for this album to come out back in the '80's. Something, anything, a new album from Miles, please please. I could deal with the fact that it wasn't another "Agharta" or "Dark Magus", and so tunes like "Fat Time" were appreciated--the best player on the song being Al Foster, but it was great to hear Miles playing something new nevertheless. And Mike Stern does a good enough job of trying to sound like Hendrix, which is what Miles asked for. The rest of the album is enjoyable enough, I especially like the guitar chords at the beginning of "Aida", and, despite the long lay-off, Miles' chops are in fine order throughout. Bill Evans sounds really young and not into his own thing yet; he sounds a lot like Dave Liebman in a number of places. The beginning of "Back Seat Betty" sounds like background music for "Miami Vice". The general feel of the album is that it's a decent enough starting point, though in his subsequent albums Miles never actually "came back" sufficiently to satisfy me. "Decoy" was good, but the rest, well, I'll leave it for others to enjoy if that's what they're into.

Anyway, the basic upshot is that while the album is OK, there are two positively awful, wretched, embarassing tunes: "Man With the Horn" and "Shout". What on earth possessed Miles to record such pieces of dreck? "Man With the Horn" is a formulaic, syrupy ballad with insultingly stupid lyrics ("His music sets the pace" etc.), and when I first heard "Shout" I thought they'd snuck a Herb Alpert cut onto the album. Even if he was trying to be blatantly commercial, Miles could do better than this (like his later version of "Time After Time"), so I don't know whose call it was to include these F-grade outtakes, but if you buy the CD you can download it onto your computer then burn a CD copy which omits them.