Customer Reviews

We Want Miles

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When you ask some Miles fans, what are his best LIVE recordings? Most would say, get the LIVE AT THE PLUGGED NICKEL sides or LIVE EVIL from the BITCHES BREW era. Or get the dark Sivad Selim side of Miles on DARK MAGUS or AGHARTA. I tell them to get WE WANT MILES first, then buy the others.

Miles was continually changing sidemen and experimenting with his sound. Coming out of retirement, Miles was looking for that new combination of rock, funk, and avant-garde, that would take him into the 80's. Miles would always rehearse his musicians LIVE before taking them into a studio. My God, if these guys were just rehearsing I can't imagine what they might have produced if they'd have stayed together. They did one other recording after this called STAR PEOPLE, but it didn't quite sound as awesome as this LIVE outing. Some of the cast like Bill Evans on soprano sax, Al Foster on drums, and Marcus Miller on electric bass had played on his previous THE MAN WITH THE HORN. Miller and Foster continued to play with Miles for a few years. But the man who really made this session stand out was Mike Stern on guitar. Say what you want about John McLaughlin (and John was great), this guy was born to play with Miles.

What you get is the thundering drive of rock and funk under Miles and Stern, who play blistering solos on a lot of open trumpet and electric guitar. Evans takes his turns on sax too. (But Miles upset Evans to no end by continually making him lay out on his performances.) Like a stripped down jazz rock sound with two horns, an electric rhythm section, and Mino Cinelu on percussion. There is no sign of the electric keys that often muddied the waters of Miles' more unusual compositions. IT'S GLORIOUS. Miles was know for laying out and letting the rest of his band stretch out and improvise long passages in a LIVE context. Not at this show. While Stern gathers a large portion of the spotlight (because Miles loved guitar), Miles turns in some of the best soloing I've ever heard from the man. At the time of this recording, Miles was making a comeback after maintaining a seriously dark coke habit. The playing on this shocked many critics who felt that Miles had lost his chops and was finished as a musician. His chops never sounded better. Some of his high notes are breathtaking. And, you can usually tell when musicians are psychically tuned in to one another, but these men were reading each others minds that night. THIS RECORD SMOKES!! BIG TIME!!

This is my favorite Miles Davis recording. Even over BITCHES BREW, KIND OF BLUE, and any other Miles favorite you might happen to mention. And I own a lot of Miles. MILES AND HIS BAND WERE IN THE ZONE. This is meaningless, but it also won a Grammy. If you don't own it, I urge you to buy it and TURN IT UP as loud as possible. I'm sure it will at least become ONE of your favorites. I'd give up The whole 8 CDs of THE PLUGGED NICKEL BOX SET for 8 CDS of this LIVE band. I know you think I'm crazy, but it's that good. (Wait, maybe I would give up something else.) AND I CAN'T SEEM TO GET THIS OUT OF MY CD PLAYER.

This was originally released as a 2 record set. Now it's on one disc. There are very expensive IMPORTS of this recording and it's supposedly out of print. But, search it out. I found a copy for 12 bucks a week ago at Tower Records. If you have to - beg, borrow, or steal it, because you have to have it. THE BEST 12 BUCKS I EVER SPENT.

AND AS MILES WOULD HAVE SAID, "WE WERE ALL UP IN THAT S#%T LIKE A MUTHAF#%KA. IT'S CLEANER THAN A BROKE D#%K DOG."

The title "We Want Miles" refers to the excitement and shroud of uncertainty upon Miles' return from few years of absence. His first studio album in years, "The Man with the Horn", pointed to exciting new direction yet Miles playing was frail. It was the uncertainty related to Miles future at that time that prompted Columbia to follow and record him live everywhere he played. The material issued on this recording comes from mostly, relatively small, club settings (including Boston's "Kix"). On some tracks you can hear the audience and the club's clutter. It's a fantastic collection. Again, Miles the voodoo master, brought the best in his bandmates. You can hear Marcus Miller at his best, Mark Stern's guitar never again had so much fire. My favorite track is Gershwin's "My Man's Gone Now". Clocking at about 20 minutes it offers, alternatively, classically swinging treatment of the theme and funked up solo passages. Somewhere at half point Miles lays off and it's time for Mike Stern. He, together with Marcus Miller and Al Foster slowly builds his solo to such a driven climax that it gives me goose bumps. The pulsating funk groove coming from Foster and Miller is unsurpassed. Miles must have liked what he heard because few minutes later Stern's solos again. I find this recording to be Miles Davis best from his final period; an absolute must!

At first listen, I thought the album title was kind of a joke, or actually a literal request seeing as how Miles really doesn't play a lot on this album. However, Miles really knew WHEN to play, and when he does, he always hits the right notes. We want MILES! But we get Mike Stern, with amazing progressive guitar solos that really dominate the album.

This is fusion all the way, and as others have said, you could buy this album just for Marcus Miller's stellar bass playing, but you could also buy this for some insane guitar work from Stern. Of course, Miles is great, and so is Minu Cinelu on the percussion. Different from most of Miles' catalog, but great music!

I am not a fan of golden-age jazz, and the Miles I love is the Miles of Bitches Brew, and not Kind of Blue. We Want Miles is far from traditional jazz, and is really funk-driven, with wonderful energy and riffs, and Jean Pierre as a recurring theme. This tour is usually considered as part of Miles' cocaine period, and I believe that in the vast majority of cases cocaine utterly ruins the spirit of vituoso music. But with the funk basis, somehow the music not only works, it excells. Sparse funky bass riffs with Miles's careening improvisations are beautifully complementary. This remains one of my five favorite Miles albums of all time. I highly recommend it.

"The Miles Comeback" watch ended when he resumed his public performance career in the early 1980's as is well documented in the 1982 live double album "We Want Miles". Recorded at 1981 concert dates in Boston, New York City, and Tokyo in June through October of that year this album features a young band consisting of Marcus Miller (bass), Bill Evans (soprano sax), Al Foster (drums), Mino Cinelu (percussion), and the now legendary Mike Stern (guitar). The overall sound of this unit is open and funky and provides a beautiful space for Miles and the other soloists to explore. When, after some studio work, Miles informed Mike Stern that they were going out on the road Mike exclaimed " Really! And who's the piano player?". Miles responded " No piano, just you!". Mike relates, later, that he was "scared to death" but that Miles "wanted a lean kind of sound without keyboards". This approach is exemplified in the only tune on the album in which Miles does not have composer's credit- Heyward/Gershwin's " My Man's Gone Now" from "Porgy and Bess". The deep, spare funk of Marcus Miller's bassline coupled with the rhythmic accents provided by Foster, Cinelu, and Stern establish a landscape of sound which both supports and and provides contrast for the long, understated declamations of Miles' trumpet. Then, without warning, the band shifts into an swinging double-time with a trumpet solo whose crescendo drops the tune back into the swaggering funk vamp. Elsewhere on the album "Jean Pierre" is pure "sass". Overall "We Want Miles" is good Miles in a playful, exploratory mood with a young band that he is not afraid to turn loose. For Mike Stern fans looking for examples of his work outside of his solo catalogue, this is a wonderfully rich context in which to enjoy his gifts.

Yeah, this is a funky album that owes as much to his band as to the Man. But that's what made Miles, was his restraint. Miles knew he had a capable band that could blow, and that they do on this offering. It's as if Jeff Beck played on this, because there is some smoking guitar work on this record, and the rythym section is solid. When Miles lets go, he does it in true fashion. This is as much a group effort as anything I can think of from the Miles catalog.
I especially like Fast Track, as the groove is solid, and Miles introduces the middle, before letting it go. This is a very accesible recording relative to new jazz. I've been digging on this for 20 plus years, and as a certified Miles freak, I rank this one of his best.

This disc is a must for fans of Marcus Miller, although it is rarely included in the discographies that accompany feature articles on him. Marcus' solo studio CDs such as "Sun Don't Lie" are usually pretty minutely crafted, probably due to his primary career as a session bassist. And even his recent "Live and More" CD is a pretty neat affair - neat as in not messy, as in highly-crafted in the studio, after the fact. But this 1981 live recording with Miles shows a very different side of Marcus. It shows how Marcus played when he was challenged to contribute in tandem with Miles' practice of paying his musicians NOT to practice at home, but to "practice on the bandstand." This kept the live music fresh and spontaneous, and Marcus is spurred on to some of his most imaginative and unique playing, including de-tunings, atonal lines, percussive effects, and other effects rarely heard on his studio dates. In general, the rhythm section of Marcus, Al Foster (drums), Mino Cinelu (perc.) and Mike Stern (e.gtr) is very elastic and open-ended in their interpretation of Miles lean, early 80s funk-jazz, and and the music takes fascinating twists and turns throughout. All combine to make this an exciting comeback album for Miles as a live performer (the previous "Man With the Horn" lp was much more of a mixed bag). Miles himself is in fairly good form throughout - not yet back at the top of his game as a trumpeter, but his chops are generally strong enough, his sound clear enough, and his ideas imaginative enough to keep you engaged throughout. And when he noodles on the electric piano, it gives a glimpse of the conceptual qualities that would grow in his music of this phase, and would culminate in 1984's "Decoy."

This is a great live release. Why only four stars (ok 4.5) ? How can I give this five stars when I can only give Agharta, Pangea, Dark Magus, The Cellar Door Sessions, Four and More, My Funny Valentine, and so on only five stars? This is good music, I like the band and I like Miles' playing. Regardless of what any other reviewer might say, Miles is not simply "mailing it in" at this point in his career. That statement would be true a couple of years later but not at this point. In fact, this set of live recordings finds Miles' chops in better shape than they were when he did Agharta. Miles is trying to get back on track here and I think this band works very well. There are some surprisingly strong performances here and any fan of Miles' work in the early 70's can appreciate this release.

On a side note, isn't it weird that Sony Music hasn't remastered this release and Star People along with all the other remasters? This release and Star People contain good music and are probably the only two that Miles' earlier fans (who were desperate for him to come out of retirement) can appreciate. The rest of the post '75 stuff? I don't get it at all.

This album was the first time I had ever heard Mike Stern, back in the 80's. I was blown away, his playing is out of this world! It fits Miles' funky jams perfectly and in places sounds just like a horn player. If you are a fan of Mike Stern, you should buy this.

Great playing by everybody else too, by the way, including Miles. There's no keyboard player, so its a very raw, stripped down feel, like they are just jamming at the house for fun! Excellent.

This album is a live version of The Man with the Horn in many ways. The Man with the Horn was the first Davis album I got, and I was always disappointed in it (the Miles Davis albums I picked up after that got significantly better). We Want Miles is superior to The Man with the Horn in every way. The long version of Jean Pierre (I saw Miles perform this tune on SNL, of all places) sounds like Fat Time from Man with the Horn, including a blistering guitar solo by Mike Stern. This version sounds looser and it is much more alive and intense than Fat Time. The version of Back Seat Betty here is quicker and looser (no pun intended), but the best track is Fast Track. This has the melody line from MWTH's Aida, but here it's twice as long, and the groove that Miles and his band create reminded me of his fantastic, acid funk jazz albums in the 1970's (Al Foster is the drummer here, and he was the drummer on the 1970's albums). The last two, My Man's Gone Now and Kix, are excellent as well. The crowd really gets into the former, and Miles seems to be enjoying it. This album was kind of forgotten after the disappointment of The Man with the Horn, and that's a shame. We Want Miles is a great album.