MILES DAVIS ***** ALBUMS

*****ALBUMS: 3) PORGY AND BESS

“An orchestral jazz masterpiece.”

MILES DAVIS: PORGY AND BESS (1959) (Columbia) (Sextet) (New York) was recorded over three four sessions on 22^nd and 29^th July, 1958 and 4^th and 18^th August, 1958, rather rushed perhaps for a work of such eloquence- nevertheless, it turned out as a whole a magnificent achievement.

TRACKS: The Buzzard Song, Bess, You Is My Woman Now, Gone; Gone, Gone, Gone; Summertime; Oh Bess, Oh Where's My Bess, Prayer (Oh Doctor Jesus); Fisherman, Strawberry and Devil Crab; My Man's Gone Now; It Ain't Necessarily So; Here Come De Honey Man, I Loves You, Porgy, There's A Boat That's Leaving Soon For New York.

MUSICIANS: Miles Davis, trumpet and flugelhorn with The Gil Evans Orchestra as follows: Paul Chambers, bass, Jimmy Cobb/ Philly Joe Jones, drums, John Coles, Bernie Glow, Louis Mucci and Ernie Royal, trumpets; Joseph Bennett, Jimmy Cleveland, Dick Hixon Frank Rehak, trombones; Bill Barber, tuba; Julian Adderley, alto sax; Willie Ruff, Gunther Schuller, Julius Watkins, French Horns; Phil Barber, Jerome Richardson, flutes, clarinets; Romeo Penque, alto flute; Danny Bank, alto flute, bass flute, bass clarinet).

NOTES: This was only the second recorded collaboration between Miles Davis and Gil Evans but it proved to be a timeless classic. It was a reinvention of George Gershwin’s esteemed 1935 opera without vocals. It starts with Buzzard Song, a fine piece of smooth jazz but with an ominous quality befitting its title with a fine trumpet break at the end of the first chorus, efficacious contributions by the French Horns, and a wonderful tuba and bass combination near the end. Gone, Gone, Gone, based on Negro funeral music, is very moving with haunting orchestral lines- this undergoes a metamorphosis into the trio piece, Gone (actually an addition to the original score written by Evans), where Philly Joe Jones’s drum fills are masterful; Prayer (Doctor Jesus) finds Davis like a bugler playing the last call with the orchestra blasting out ragged ostinato responses to his incantation to pray, slurs, bend, stabs, singing notes, all the tricks in the book unleashed in a piece of high spirituality and yearning with origins in the holler and response amongst slaves in the cotton fields. There is no harmonic movement on this B flat minor piece which makes its visceral impact all the greater. Evans’ orchestrations are superb throughout, no more so than here. Subtlety and delicacy personified is how I would describe the tasteful orchestration on Fisherman, Strawberry and Devil Crab. The ballad Oh, Bess, Oh Where’s My Bess, while approached slightly differently is equally stirring of the emotions with an intense warmth and pleading. Davis plays Summertime with minimal backing and produces the best instrumental version, period. One starts to run out of superlatives for this album. My Man’s Gone Now is another masterwork of delicate interpretation by Davis and the orchestra with a thrilling outburst of brass near its conclusion. The suave subtlety of the poignant There’s A Boat That’s Leaving Soon for New York further confirms the empathetic and insightful approach to Gerscwin’s classic score. Miles is in his element, justifying and exemplifying his philosophy of picking out notes with care and making them count. It Ain’t Necessarily So is a swinging, ‘hip’ rendition. Porgy and Bess cannot be fully appreciated without listening and listening again and again, truly an orchestral jazz masterpiece.