Miles from India (TWO CD SET)

Various Artists (Artist), Gary Bartz (Performer), Ron Carter (Performer), Jimmy Cobb (Performer), Chick Corea (Performer), Pete Cosey (Performer), Adam Holzman (Performer), Robert Irving III (Performer), Dave Liebman (Performer), John McLaughlin (Performer)

Product Details

• Audio CD (April 15, 2008)
• Original Release Date: April 15, 2008
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: FOUR QUARTERS ENT
• ASIN: B00140GWSE
• In-Print Editions: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #21,326 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In a startlingly original recreation of music associated
with jazz legend Miles Davis, producer-archivist Bob
Belden, renowned for his Grammy Award-winning
reissue work on a series of Miles Davis boxed sets for
Sony/Columbia, along with co-arranger Louiz Banks
(celebrated keyboardist from India), has recast familiar
themes from such landmark recordings as Bitches
Brew, In A Silent Way, and Kind of Blue with an East
Meets West sensibility on Miles...From India. An
incredibly ambitious project involving two dozen
musicians from two separate continents recording in
studios around the world, Miles...From India is a cross-cultural summit meeting that puts a provocative pan-global spin on such Miles
classics as All Blues, Spanish Key, So What, It s About That Time and Jean Pierre.
Sitar and tablas, ghatam and khanjira, mridangam and Carnatic violin blend seamlessly with muted trumpet and saxophones, screaming
electric guitar and grooving electric bass lines, piano, upright bass and drums on this profound fusion of Indian classical and American
jazz. Recorded in Mumbai and Madras, India and New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, the music on Miles...From India was performed by
classical and jazz musicians from India with the addition of musicians who have recorded or performed with Miles Davis over the span of
five decades.
The Miles alumni included on the sessions are saxophonists Dave Liebman (1972-74) and Gary Bartz (1970-71), guitarists Mike Stern
(1981-84), Pete Cosey (1973-76) and John McLaughlin (1969-72), bassists Ron Carter (1963-69), Michael Henderson (1970-76), Marcus
Miller (1981-1984), Benny Rietveld (1987-91), keyboardists Chick Corea (1968-72), Adam Holzman (1985-87) and Robert Irving III (1980-
88), drummers Jimmy Cobb (1958-63), Leon 'Ndugu' Chancler (1971), Lenny White (1969) and Vince Wilburn (1981, 1984-1987) and
tabla player Badal Roy (1972-3). The Indian contingent is represented by keyboardist Louiz Banks, drummer Gino Banks, American-born
alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa, sitarist Ravi Chari, Vikku Vinayakram (a charter member of Shakti) on ghatam, V. Selvaganesh (a
member of Shakti and Remember Shakti) on khanjira, U. Shrinivas (from Remember Shakti) on electric mandolin, Brij Narain on sarod,
Dilshad Khan on sarangi, Sridhar Parthasarathy on mridangam, Taufiq Qureshi and A. Sivamani on percussion, Kala Ramnath on Carnatic
violin, Rakesh Chaurasia on flute and Shankar Mahadevan & Sikkil Gurucharan on Indian classical vocals.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Truly enjoyable., July 10, 2008

By	a tois (New York) - See all my reviews

Davis may have died in 1991, but he lives on in reissues, tributes and memorial albums. You'd think there was nothing left to say, but this cross-cultural collaboration between original Davis sidemen, including Chick Corea and John McLaughlin, and Indian classical musicians is fresh, unexpected and indispensable.

"A Cross-Cultural Celebration of the Music of Miles Davis," it says, in which prominent Indian musos get down and dirty with prominent ex-Davis sidemen in... well, you've read the subtitle already. And guess what? It works, by and large. Miles always had a thing for Indian music and Davis-heads will recall his expansive use of tablas and sitar on various Sixties and Seventies records.

"Miles From India" is a remarkable collection of music featuring some of the best musicians of contemporary American Jazz, Indian Jazz, and Classical Indian music coming together to honour one of the most brilliant composers of our time.

Miles Davis not only created remarkable music on his own, but he provided the inspiration for some of modern Jazz's best and most creative minds.

Everybody from Wayne Shorter to Chick Corea and John McLaughlin played with and were influenced by Miles and his innovations. While some of them might have pushed the envelope of fusion much further then he did, he was the one who put their feet on that path.

It is only fitting, therefore, that a collection of music in his honour is such a bold attempt at fusing two such disparate types of music. The fact that it is so successful is surely a testimony to his genius as a composer.

"Miles From India" is not just an example of how to properly bring East and West together musically, it is as magnificent collection of Jazz music that you are liable to find anywhere these days.

Material is culled from both acoustic and electric eras: "So What", "In a Silent Way", "All Blues" "Jean Pierre" etc - and the approach is about as respectful of the original idioms as it could be. Highly enjoyable.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sketches of Excellence, July 16, 2008

By	Mr. Richard D. Coreno "Mr. C" (Berea, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Miles Davis passed away in 1991, but his majesty has lived on through any number of reissues, boxed sets of classic sessions and the reinterpretation of his music in a variety of settings.

This set - placing Miles in a World Music context - is sweeping in scoop and breathtaking in sound. The project was overseen by producer Bob Belden and co-arranged by Louiz Banks, who also performed on keyboards.

Utilizing classical and jazz artists from India and musicians who mostly performed with Miles during his "electric" years, the 12 numbers - which include In a Spanish Key, Silent Way, Jean Pierre and Miles Runs the Voodoo Down - are powerfully presented on an illuminated landscape that subtly changes with each listening.

But it's the title track - composed, produced and performed by guitarist John McLaughlin with U. Shrinivas on electric mandolin, Louiz Banks on piano and Sikkil Gurucharan on vocals - that merges the sketches of excellence of the past with the brilliance of the present.

The project is not just a tribute to the genius of Miles, but an absolute gem in the art of making modern music.

35 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Miles Reincarnated, May 10, 2008

By	Scott Williams "sneakyneighborsdog" (Oakland, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Miles from India features an all star cast of jazz legends, contemporary jazz stars combined with a stellar group of Indian musicians in an unbelievable tribute to Miles Davis. The first time I listened to this double CD set I was absolutely floored. This CD is more than just a brilliant concept. The execution is flawless and the arrangements are beyond perfect. This CD set will make you think Miles Davis' songs were meant to be played by Indian musicians. Everything about this album is a class act. To start with an incredible group of Miles Davis alumni were assembled. You've got Ron Carter, Jimmy Cobb, Gary Bartz, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, Lenny White and that's just scratching the surface of the legends whom play on this album. Producer Bob Beldon did not stop there though. He also got one of the top trumpet players, and perhaps the trumpet player whose tone most sounds like Miles, Wallace Rooney and Indian saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa, one of the hottest rising stars on saxophone to contribute on the album as well.
The songs selection and arrangements could not be better. The chanting voices on Spanish Key fit in beautifully with the cacophony of sounds. The sitar playing on All Blues will make you think that Miles wrote the song for a sitar player. The frenetic tablas and percussion meld perfectly with the class bass line in So What. This is the clear front runner for jazz album of the year in 2008. When all is said and done, this might be one of the best jazz fusion albums ever.