Customer Reviews

Seven Steps to Heaven

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In 1963, Miles Davis was reeling a bit-- the Wynton Kelly Trio (Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb) had just quit, leaving the trumpeter without his stellar rhythm section, and with both John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley breaking ties the band, there was no one left from the band that recorded the triumph of "Kind of Blue". "Seven Steps to Heaven" tracks the evolution of Davis' working band over three sessions in early 1963-- the last studio work he'd do until early 1965.

The first two sessions recorded here find Davis in the company of tenor saxophonist George Coleman, pianist Victor Feldman, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Frank Butler. The pieces from this session are primarily standard ballads-- "Basin Street Blues", "I Fall In Love Too Easily", "Baby Won't You Please Come Home" and "Summer Night" (a bonus track originally issued as part of "Quiet Nights". All four feature Davis superbly lyrical-- he seems particularly inspired by the somewhat underrecognized Feldman, whose lovely and emotive frameworks set up simply fantastic environments for Davis to solo and the ever-brilliant Carter to counter. This is all particularly obvious on the stunning reading of "I Fall in Love Too Easily", destined to stay in Davis' live repetoire for over seven years (extraordinarily rare for Davis, he tended to play songs live no more than a couple years, sometimes even less) and still featured into his "fusion" period. Coleman's only appearance from this session is the performance of "So Near, So Far" (again a bonus track originally issued on the odds-and-ends album "Directions"). The performance is pretty lifeless, with neither Davis nor Coleman particularly inspired.

A month later, Davis entered the studio, again with Coleman and Carter, but with two steps closer to forging his next great band, with pianist Herbie Hancock and drummer Tony Williams. The change at the drum seat is obvious-- Williams, a young prodigee at this point, is explosive, powerful and yet never in the way. They perform three pieces-- another reading of "So Near, So Far" and two originals-- Victor Feldman's "Joshua" and the Feldman/Davis-penned title track (interestingly enough, all three were attempted at the previous session). Again, Davis seems inspired, but this time with an ecstatic energy-- his playing on the title track (a bouncey hard bop piece) is agile and mercurial, leading into a brief, stunning drum break and a frantic solo by Coleman reminiscent of Coltrane's work in the Davis band. "So Near, So Far" gets a vastly superior reading-- the theme statement split around the two horns is fluid and intriguing, and Davis pours his heart into his horn on his solo-- exploring his horn's registers and expressiveness (and listen to Carter behind him who is fantastic enough to nearly steal the show, and he is perhaps even moreso under Hancock's solo). "Joshua" gets an intriguing reading-- it's bizarrely lryical and yet maintains a sort of exciting frantic energy, and again the performances are superb throughout.

Something stops me from thinking of this one among Davis' best, but it's an awfully good album, with great performances throughout. This remaster adds great sound to the mix as well-- could have been recorded yesterday. Highly recommended.

Miles Davis was one of the greatest jazz trumpeters of our time. His need for change, exploration, and experimentation will remain his legacy. I think anyone who plays or listens to jazz owes it to themselves to check out Miles Davis. That being said, "Seven Steps To Heaven" is a one of his greatest recordings of the 1960s.

Recorded in 1963 in Los Angeles and New York, this recording remains a somewhat overlooked album in Davis' vast discography. The reason I think it is overlooked is because it features Miles playing more ballads. I believe ballads are what made Miles Davis great and that's why if anyone loves ballads, then "Seven Steps to Heaven" would be a great purchase. Of course, tunes like the title track and "Joshua" are both uptempo and feature some really swinging rhythms and hot soloing. "Seven Steps To Heaven" also feature three of the greatest musicians from contemporary jazz: Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams. This is the first time they played with Miles Davis on record.

The musicians on this album are all stellar and are given plenty of room to stretch out. Here is the lineup for this album:

Miles Davis - trumpet
George Coleman - tenor saxophone
Herbie Hancock - piano (tracks 2, 4, and 6)
Victor Feldman - piano (all other tracks)
Ron Carter - bass
Tony Williams - drums (tracks 2, 4, and 6)
Frank Butler - drums (all other tracks)

Despite what people say and what they feel is the greatest Miles album, I feel that "Seven Steps To Heaven" is right there with some of his best work. I own 35 albums by Miles Davis and I can't believe I waited so long before I bought this album. Hearing albums like "Workin," "Relaxin," "Cookin," "Round About Midnight," "Miles Ahead," and "Kind of Blue," made me a fan, but nobody should overlook anything Miles did in the mid 50s to mid 60s. It was an amazing period for Miles and when listening to "Seven Steps To Heaven" makes me appreciate him even more.

To the reviewer who said this record was a "transitional" record, all I really have to say is that every album Miles made was a transitional record. That's just apart of his music. Miles was always looking towards the future and that's evident in everything he has done.

Buy this album and don't let mixed reviews scare you. This is a classic jazz album that deserves to be heard.

This album is a great collection of songs from two different collctions of good musicians. Over the years, I have always preferred Miles' era with Gil Evans (Miles Ahead, Porgy & Bess, Sketches of Spain), but this album, in 1963, brings a more crisp & refined sound. The opening cut ('Basin Street Blues') is absolutely marvelous, and Victor Feldman shines on a soft, emotional piano solo about midway through the song. All the songs (including the bonus cut: 'Summer Nights') are thoroughly enjoyable with peaceful melodies. This album is a winner, and should be considered as one Miles Davis' best... very close to being 'heavenly'.

Upon reading the autobiography Miles I was more than a little bit interested to hear this album,particularly the presense of George Coleman in the band. If you read that book you'll discover how Coleman left the group and was suceeded by Wayne Shorter very shortly thereafter. That was far from the only change that Miles was making to his band,the very same who would become his famous 60's quintet. What makes this album so historically AND musically fascinating is that Victor Feldman and drummer Frank Butler were transitioning out of the band as Herbie Hancock and Tony Williams were working their way in. And if you ask me there is no better way to bring about the birth of a band than with music like this. "Basin Street Blues" isn't lying when you hear Miles,Victor,Ron and Frank lay down some of the leanest,meanest blues licks you'll find in early 60's jazz. Also you can hear some changes in the way Miles is playing:his horn playing is moving from his heavy on easy style into a sound that I suppose is an early form of "freebop" where the tough beauty of his playing starts to get just a little louder than one might expect. The title track is of course of of Miles classic but you could call it the first full introduction to Miles's 60's quintet as Miles,George,Herbie,Ron, and Tony really give this free swinging number a big workout. Wayne isn't onboard yet but,despite what some might think George Coleman was a guy who could sure have done really big things with Miles had he not left so soon:his solo on this tune is one of it's big highlites. "I Fall In Love Too Easily" is a great rhythmic calypso rhythm that actually owes a lot to the influence of Sonny Rollins and Dizzy Gillespie in a lot of ways. The rest of the album is really good too but that's where things get slightly murkey. "So Near,So Far","Baby Won't You Please Come Home","Joshua" and the bonus cut "Summer Night" all have the effect of being excellent musically but not only don't they represent anything Miles hadn't done before but they aren't among his more memorable songs. Maybe it's because of that predictability that this happens. Miles apparently has similar feelings because he apparently didn't have much more of a high opinion of this than he did for Quiet Nights which as of this writing I have yet to hear. Not long after this Miles' New Quartet would emmerge with E.S.P. and change the face of jazz yet again. So this has several excellent cuts and ones that are merely good. Opinions might vary in this area but regardless this is great for the Miles fan but,if your just getting into his music this is probably not the place to begin doing that.

Following the departure of Jimmy Cobb, Trane, Julian Adderley and others in the early 1960s after the KoB period, `Seven Steps to Heaven' was recorded in LA and in NYC in 1963 and is often described as a `transitional album' for Miles. Others point out that everything Miles ever recorded was in some way `transitional', as he never let the grass grow under his feet and was always on his way to somewhere new.

What is certain is that `Seven Steps to Heaven' is one beautiful album full of cool, stretched-out ballads. It usually fails to make Miles' defining discography of `milestones' only because no new ground was broken, no definitive new style established. However the music is absolutely first class, ambient and repeat-listenable in the way of KoB and `In a Silent Way'.

The musicians:

* On tracks 2, 4 & 6 Herbie Hancock plays piano and Tony Williams is on drums (both destined to become members of Miles' great quintet in the mid-sixties)
* All remaining tracks feature Victor Feldman on keyboards and Frank Butler on drums
* George Coleman plays some fine sax
* Ron Carter plays bass on all tracks

All in all a great album and a fine, mellow mood-piece from the period preceding Miles' move towards jazz-fusion resulting in the great defining masterworks `In a Silent Way' and the seminal `Bitches Brew'.

It's good. If you like Miles Davis, and particularly the more mellow ballads, you'll love it.

I admit it. I was totally misled on this album. I always skipped Seven Steps as the (excellent) Penguin Jazz Guide gave it only 3 stars.
30 Miles albums later, I ended up by picking this one up and was just blown away. It will appeal to those who appreciate classic Miles (the Prestige collection) and those who prefer his 1970's fusion period. Coltrane and Evans are gone (but Herbie Hancock is awesome here) and Wayne Shorter is not there yet but the fusion between the band members is there.
My first listening reminded me of my first taste of Kind of Blue: Once over I just had to listen again (and again....Especially so near so far). No, this is not Kind of Blue (but NOTHING is) but it has easily made my top 5 Miles albums and maybe my top 10 jazz albums. A hidden gem!!!!

While most Miles fans are familiar with "Kind Of Blue", "Round Midnight", and others ("Bag's Groove") as among Miles' best be-bop LPs (and they are), this "late-night smoker" is in the top 3. Like "Facets Of Miles", it was made in more than one place. Pianist Vic Feldman sounds a lot like Bill Evans as he brings Miles out on 'Basin Street'. Miles is soon easily swinging down the street, in his own muted, laid-back fashion, with Ron Carter (bass) right behind him. Feldman's solo "cooks". The classic jam 'Seven Steps' has a "meeting",(part of the theme) led by Ron (bass), highlighted by Herbie Hancock's piano, and accented by Tony Williams (drums) that runs between great solos by Miles, Tony, George Coleman's excellent tenor and Herbie. Ever the ballardeer, Miles has a way with a love song, and with Vic, Ron and Frank Butler (drums) laying the groundwork, 'Fall In Love' is no exception. And that's just side one. Wish I had more space (hint).

In 1963, the Kelly/Chambers/Cobb rhythm section packed up and left, leaving Miles Davis without a band. Despite being at an age when most musicians would rather sit on their laurels and play on some giants of jazz tour, he decided to assemble a new working band. This CD shows that assembly in progress. The three ballads were recorded in LA with George Coleman (tenor sax), Victor Feldman (piano), Ron Carter (bass), and Frank Butler (drums). "Basin Street Blues" is very different from Louis Armstrong's version -- Davis's trumpet playing is much sadder, merging abstraction and the blues. The ballads are lovely, but the real treasures in the set are the three tunes recorded one month later with Carter, Coleman, and two younger musicians: pianist Herbie Hancock and drumming prodigy Tony Williams. Williams, only 17 years old here, generates an incredible level of excitement on "Joshua" and the title track. These may be the most exciting up-tempo tracks Davis had recorded since "Two Bass Hit" and "Straight, No Chaser".

While most of the excitement surrounds the brilliant young rhythm section, George Coleman's playing here is outstanding. While I am a huge Wayne Shorter fan, dismissing Coleman would be a huge oversight. The quintet with Coleman, Hancock, Carter and Williams would soon evolve into one of the trumpeter's greatest groups, and this is where they got started.

The two bonus tracks are a mixed bag. "Summer Night" is a beautiful ballad performance, but the alternate "So Near So Far" is from the LA session with Feldman and doesn't even come close to the one recorded with Hancock/Carter/Williams.

This album is often given short shrift, which is a real pitty. I consider it an excelent album, and listen to it quite frequently.

This was released in 1963 and is a transitional album. It was recorded by two separate bands in separate sessions. The song order alternates between the two. The first is a pick-up band that Miles put together after his previous band with Coltrane broke up, in order to fulfill some live commitments. This band includes Victor Feldman on piano, and the session consists of slower, bluesy standards. These tracks are very soulful and really show Miles for the master balladeer that he is.

The other half is recorded by the beginings of what would become Miles' great mid-60's quintet, only with George Coleman playing sax, rather than Wayne Shorter, and featuring a very young Tony Williams. This session features more uptempo numbers. While this is still a way from "Miles Smiles" or "Nefertiti", in the exploration of musical boundaries that this group would become famous for, there are some of the features taking shape. The title track is performed by this band, and is probably the best-known track. My personal favorite is "So Near, So Far", which features Miles stating the melody simply with Coleman providing an interesting "counterpoint" (I use the term loosely).

Despite the disparity in the sound of the two sessions, they actually cohere into a very enjoyable album. Give this one a listen!

In some ways, this is Miles's most relaxed album. Not in terms of tempos, but there's very little to prove here. The ballads don't despair too much, the burners wink and nod (so near so far is a very hip tune), and Basin Street/Baby Won't You Please Come Home find him investigating some old-school sources. I Fall in Love Too Easily, which was in his book for decades, sounds sensitive but very assured, and all of these recordings could have been released in 1990 or so--it is all clean, but not too clean.