Customer Reviews

Yo Miles!

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

 

 

Henry Kaiser has always been interested in the broader structures of improvisation. So when he and Wadada Leo Smith set out to produce a tribute to the great electric period of Miles Davis, they were trying to work his structures, not necessarily his sounds. And in that, they succeeded. During the era from Bitch's Brew up through the mid-1970s, Miles' music consisted basically of bass vamps and simple melodies against one and two chord harmonic structures. The basslines, melodies, and chord vamps could all be mixed and matched in different combinations as beds for extended improvisation. To this day, it remains one of the most insightful and exciting structures for improvisation yet developed, and shame on the jazz critics who shrug off this period as drug-addled noise, rather than the peak of Miles' career!

Henry Kaiser, Wadada Leo Smith, and various others set out to create new music within the framework Miles built, and in that they succeed. Long, creative improvisations over funky rhythmic beds characterize this work, and the soloists speak in their own voices. That's the good part.

The bad part, and why i'm only giving four stars, is that listening to this album just reminds us how incredibly brilliant Miles' work was. Yeah, this album is great, but it doesn't hold a candle to, say, Phaedra and Agharta, or Big Fun. They're standing in the long shadow Miles Davis cast.

Still, it's a lot of fun if you like this kind of music, and well worth the investment. But if you're not sure, then pick up some proper 1967-1975 electric Miles instead and prepare to be either amazed or boggled.

Thirty years ago, the music of Miles Davis sounded like it was from decades into the future. Today, the thirty year old music of Miles Davis STILL sounds futuristic! But hats off to this crew for trying to look into the future by looking into the past, and taking on a truly brave project that has to be measured against the finest work of one of the giants of music.

Oh, and as an added plus, this album has marvelous, insightful liner notes that will help you understand the music more. It's worth it for that alone.

At the time of Miles' 70s albums like Big Fun, Get Up With It, Live Evil, etc., while still pretty young (and therefore not tied into tradition), I found the music too chaotic (I was more into the ECM style, and 60s Miles).

Having recently bought all the 70s reissues from CBS/Legacy, I found myself discovering things I would never have imagined there in the first place, it was with great interest that I saw an ad for Yo Miles!. I have always been a fan of Henry Kaiser (especially hist work with Richard Thompson), and thought that if anyone could do justice to this material, he could. I have not been disappointed.

Yo Miles! is certainly a cleaner recording than the true 70s Miles material, partially because recording techniques are better, and partially because, while they are trying to reinterpret the material, they add a 90s sensibility, which I am sure Miles would have loved.

The huge cast of players are excellent, and some of the medleys (especially Themes from Jack Johnson) are exceptionally well put together. Much like Miles, the grooves change, the tempos shift, and you can almost see Miles looking down giving his directions to the band.

As another reviewer said, a great introduction to the period where everyone thought Miles had lost it. The reality is he hadn't lost it.....we had.

Miles purists often curl their lips at the churning, chaotic funk of his early seventies music, but Smith and Kaiser's CD (amazing value for money, a double for $20 or so) is a sharp reminder of how this primal roar captured the spirit of an era and paved the way for so much modern music. Highspots are the demented sax ensembles and solos, Kaiser's dead-on wah-and-graunch guitar stylings, and Smith's eerie grasp of what Miles was trying to do, but sometimes undershot. From the get-go, it doesn't sound like an imitation, but more of a tribute. Minor quibbles: Kaiser should have tossed the cheesy guitar-rack sitar effects and used a real sitar. And Smith plays just a bit too clean. But anyone who loved Miles will flip over this CD. And those who didn't, or were too young to get it: Hold on to your hats. This is the real classical music of the late 20th century.

Let's face it, if you like this period of Miles, you will get this recording. There simply is not enough of this stuff that has been recorded, and none of the players from the original bands have done anything to continue this direction.
Suffice to say, if you didn't like this period in the first place, then skip it.
I think some of the settings for Leo Smith aren't his strong points, for instance when there is the need to insert a bop lick, Leo just doesn't cover the ground that Miles could. He has always been better suited in textures that are somewhat contemporary classical, such the opening to his composition "Miles Dewey III Great Ancestor". Through the years, much of Smith's trumpet playing are portrayals of rituals constituted by invocations made the bugle. This carries over strongly when he employs the wah-wah pedal. He does so with great success on Calypso Frelimo, which is the high point of the recording for me.
While not a home run, there is plenty of stuff worth checking out on this recording.

The collaborative effort of guitarist Henry Kaiser and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith was formed in 1998 to explore the soundscapes from the Davis' electric years of the late-1960s to mid-1970s. It is not a one-time tribute band.

There are original compositions to go along with Miles' compositions and the material was recorded "live" in the studio. The band members include Mike Keneally (g), Chris Muir (g), Michael Manning (b), Steve Smith (d) and Tom Coster (key).

This is truly an intriguing concept and has a vision to the future, while strongly appreciating and reaffirming the importance of Davis to the founding of electric fusion.

Great recording, great musicianship... Wow! Stellar... If only Miles would've had Michael Manring on bass. Fantastic album and worth every cent.

This is amazing 2-CD set is 2 hours and 40 minutes long! You sure get more than your money's worth here. Smith & Kaiser have gone BEYOND Miles Davis and used his musical directions to fly far far out into new musical terratory. Everyone solos amazingly and plays there hearts out. I can't say enough about how great this project is!

about this 2 CD set is the liner notes actually tells where on certain points of the Live Electric releases these songs appear, either whole or in parts. This enables the listener to draw even more appreciation for Miles and his players abilities to meld and improvise through out their songs. All the other reviews are excellent in their critiques so I can`t add more on to that, just wanted to bring out a point that I like about this outstanding release.

This is a Miles Davis tribute recording that is really unique. Rather than offer a smorgasbord of Miles tunes from throughout his career, what trumpeter Smith and guitarist Kaiser have done is put together a crack group of musicians (too many to mention, but some of the recognizable names are Michael Manring on bass, John Medeski on organ, and the Rova Saxophone Quartet on--you guessed it--saxophones) to get together and jam on Miles's energetic electric music of 1972-1975: stuff such as "Big Fun," "Black Satin," and "Jack Johnson." This is the kind of music I never imagined anyone would try to resurrect, but Kaiser and Smith have done it, and done it very well, indeed. They do not try to emulate Miles note for note, but neither do they go off in crazy new directions. The performances simply sparkle--the musicians sound as though they were having a blast playing this stuff, and the excellent sound quality surpasses that of the original recordings.

Both CDs in this two-CD set clock in at nearly 80 minutes each. If you are a fan of the electric Miles, then you really ought to give this set a listen--it will blow you away. Big fun indeed!

I still remember the time I first heard `Bitches Brew' by Miles Davis. It had as dramatic an impact on my jazz music sensibilities as Sonic Youth's `Daydream Nation' did for rock - nothing would ever be the same again. Since then I have been meticulously collecting Miles' electric era recordings up until his 1975 retirement phase, each one providing yet further revelations- this man and his collaborators really were charting new territory, and so what if he annoyed old-fashioned jazzers in the process? With the release of tribute projects such as Bill Laswell's `Panthalassa', and the homage paid by former Miles' band members in the guise of `Children On The Corner', us electro-Miles junkies can still get our fix. So my belated discovery of Henry Kaiser and Wadada Leo Smith's Yo Miles! project has been a source of great joy. And this is only the first of a series of three (the other two being `Sky Garden', and `Upriver'). Kaiser and Smith do Miles a great honour, convincingly recreating the complex grooves Miles and his band were pioneering in the early 70s. On this first double CD we are treated to fine renditions of such greats as `Black Satin' (from 1972's `On The Corner'), `Moja' (from `Dark Magus') and `Ife' (from `Big Fun'). It works as a complement to, rather than a substitute for the original material. Absolutely brilliant!