MILES DAVIS - MILES IN THE SKY

*****ALBUMS: 8) MILES DAVIS: MILES IN THE SKY (1967)

“A brilliant transitional album.”

MILES IN THE SKY was recorded in four sessions on 16^th January, 1968 and 15th-17^th May, 1968 at Columbia Studio B, New York.

MUSICIANS: Miles Davis, trumpet, cornet (on tracks 1 and 4), Wayne Shorter, tenor sax, Herbie Hancock, acoustic and electric piano (on 1), Ron Carter, upright bass and electric bass (on 1) and Tony Williams, drums with George Benson, electric guitar guesting on 2.

NOTES: With a title inspired by The Beatles song, Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, Miles in the Sky took another post-bop step towards jazz-fusion with a 4/4 rock beat evident on Stuff. This 17 minute long Davis piece (whose paucity of composition has been commented upon with regard to Miles Smiles) starts with some hi-hat work and electric piano as the empathy between the musicians is quickly evident, Davis’s great trumpet phrasing propelling it forwards. It takes a while to arrive but when Wayne Shorter arrives the impact is sustained. 10 minutes or so in the sax and electric piano start talking to each other like bird call. The shimmering electric piano and bass interplay at the end stick in the mind as the piece dwindles away. Shorter’s Paraphernalia is a bit shorter (!) and more uptempo, cautiously approaching rock music, plucked, rhythmic bass, sax answering the trumpeter’s call, Tony Williams’ drumming a thing of beauty during the sax playing, a telepathic union of notes and beats, sounding like someone is trying to open a door but recoiling at the last moment. The temptation of entering the door marker ‘atonality’ is carefully resisted (but not rejected completely) as the melody always wins out. The addition of George Benson’s electric guitar is a pointer towards a new era, John McLaughlin’s more rock-based playing to arrive shortly. The frenzied sax at the start of Black Comedy threatens to open the door to free jazz once again and walk through but the mesmerising piano and brilliant drumming shuts it again. It is no surprise to find that Williams has actually written this piece, another example of the democracy within Davis’s great quintet. The final lengthy piece, Country Son is another Davis composition and well worth waiting for. Miles in the Sky is a transitional album but brilliant in its own and even more head turning music is just around the corner.

9) BITCHES’ BREW/ BIG FUN and 10) NEFERTITI (Never got round to these in unfinished jazz book “A Jazz Supreme”