Sky Garden: Yo Miles [SACD]

Henry Kaiser | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 4, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Cuneiform
• ASIN: B00022FWG8
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #184,586 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. It's About That Time/The Mask

2. Jabali (Part I)

3. Shinjuku

4. Great Expectations

5. Directions

Disc: 2

1. Sivad>Gemini Double Image>Little Church

2. Miles Star

3. Who's Targeted?

4. Jabali (Part II)

5. Willie Dixon

6. Cozy Pete

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you like the first Yo Miles! cd then you'll love this one, May 7, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Sky Garden: Yo Miles [SACD] (Audio CD)

The title of this review pretty much says it all. If you like what Henry Kaiser and Wadada Leo Smith were up to on Yo Miles! then you have to like Sky Garden.

But my real reason for writing this review is to let people know that even though amazon.com lists this as a SACD only disc and requires SACD equipment to play, that's not true. It's one of those hybrid discs that has a regular cd layer and a sacd layer. So if you don't have a sacd player, don't worry, you can still play it. I'm listening to it right now on my regular old five year old cd player.

So, don't hesitate, buy it if you like the Miles Davis electric period.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Big Fun!, December 10, 2004

By 

a superintelligent shade of the color blue (minneapolis) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sky Garden: Yo Miles [SACD] (Audio CD)

There are two sides to the great Miles Davis music of 1967-1975 (In a Silent Way - Phaedra). The first side is the studio experimentalism, often one-shot bands, often remixed by Teo Macero, very experimental. The second side is the live bands, tight and telepathic and committed to the new structures Miles had created.

Yo Miles!, the first Kaiser/Smith collaboration, felt like the studio Miles... a shifting kaleidoscope of musicians, interesting but not locked into a groove like a more established band. Sky Garden is more like the live Miles, a more coherent-sounding band. Like the live Miles work, the result is ultimately a more rewarding album.

One big improvement here is the ever-interesting drumming of Steve Smith. He's a deep fusion drummer with a taste for older tradition, powerful enough for the heavy and sensitive enough for the sparse. Moreover, he's a heavyweight in his own right, someone who can actually go toe to toe with Al Foster or Jack DeJohnette. For a project like this, it's important to get the style without sounding imitative. Kudos, Steve!

Another nice player choice is Tom Coster on keyboards. His rich electric piano tone has the perfect funky ambience, and his solos are never boring or cliched. Sensitive comping behind all the soloists makes him a real asset to the band.

Henry Kaiser and Wadada Leo Smith are their usual marvelous selves, as is Michael Manring on bass. If anything, i think Smith was more himself and less imitative of Miles this time around, and Henry Kaiser showed more restraint and commitment to the groove.

Overall? Still not quite up to the level of Miles Davis. But who the heck is? This time around, it's more like a commentary on Miles than an imitation, and that's a good thing. Well worth your money and time!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This is hot shit, August 25, 2004

By 

G. Henderson (canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sky Garden: Yo Miles [SACD] (Audio CD)

Look...it's simple...if you like this period of electric miles you'll dig this cd.

Bass is bottom end thorough. Bang on Miles!

Enjoy it and weep.