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Late period Miles Davis?

Tony L

Tony L

Administrator
I bought Tutu on vinyl when it came out, not quite sure why, but for some reason I liked it and I still do. At this point I was no fan of fusion and hadn't even really discoverd jazz other than knowing I liked the stuff playing in bars in old film noir movies. When I did start properly exploring jazz I just dived straight in to Miles' 50s and 60s classics and it wasn't until a few years ago that I discovered and immediately fell in love with the visceral 70s funk.

This kind of left Tutu isolated at one end, though I do pull it out for a spin now and again (it is a very good sounding piece of vinyl!). I then bought the 5xCD 1986-91 Warner Years box a couple of years ago, but realised recently I'd barely played it as I didn't like the way it was play-listed (all the albums scrunched up onto 5 CDs) - I still very much think in terms of albums with a distinct picture cover and a track-list on the back, a thing that starts here and ends there and beyond that I get confused so tend to ignore things (e.g. the CD issue of Coltrane's Heavyweight Champion irritates the crap out of me as it is in session date order of all things). Anyway, I saw that Miles' Warners period had been repackaged over 8xCDs as The Last Word in a far more user-friendly manner so I re-bought it (I deliberately didn't compare them fearing the old one may sound better, though I can say both sound very good!) so I'm now kind of evaluating this period afresh. I think it is pretty safe to say Tutu is the best of them, with Amandla an obvious follow-up. Do-Bop is cringingly bad in parts (pretty much anything with a vocal), but in other ways preempts the 'acid jazz' thing in a rather interesting way. The two soundtrack albums are patchy but have moments and the live albums are well worth having.

It's a period that widely gets slated/hated/derided, but my view is it isn't all bad. Sure the keyboard and drum sounds are very much of their time, but I think enough distance now exists from the '80s to accept them as what they are and even enjoy them. So, any late-Miles fans here?
 
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Tony

I'm a big Miles fan - like most I think the early Columbia years are his best. Unlike you I detest the early 70s stuff - Bitches Brew is beyond me, On the Corner horrid, and Live Evil, well, evil. However I like the stuff that follows, including, bizarely Doo-Bop. However, with so many albums to choose from, usually its the later Prestige and early Colimbia, up to In a Silent Way, that ends up on the platter.

Like you I get really annoyed with anything that is incorrectly packaged. However as well as all the studio and a good many live albums on vinyl, I also have the Columbia collection on CD. I missed the full set, but even the smaller version, 25 or so albums, is nicely packaged, with each CD in a mini cardboard lp-like sleeve. SQ will normally drive me to vinyl, or 192/24 downloads, but the CDs do have a convenience factor when circumstances suit.

Regards

David
 
I know it's not really a Miles album, but Aura is the only one I have post 70s and the only one from that period that I like (and I like it a lot...)
 
I love Tutu thought it's synth backdrop has dated badly. Got a few people listening to Miles off the back of this.
 
You need "We Want Miles" in your collection which is a damn fine live album. Mike Stern is particularly good on that set.


"The Man With the Horn" which is the studio album of that vintage is great. I love "Fat Time".

I have the rest of the CBS releases but IMHO, you could make one good album from them.

When he went to Warners, the Marcus Miller collabs were a bit better but then I am a huge fan of mid to late 80s Marcus Miller productions. "Dingo" and "Doo Bop" however, I have never owned copies of.
 
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We Want Miles is very good. Miles always seems to need space to stretch out, and that one has some great long jams on it. Marcus Miller is on top form too.

PS I've not connected with Aura at all.
 
I am not a big fan of the very late Miles but I do like the electric period a lot. I am still digesting the stuff. But one Warner album that I really enjoy is Live Around the World which is more improvised than the studio albums of the period. Prime stuff.

Then there's this rare box of Miles live performances over time at Montreux I believe. Perhaps it's too much but then again it's Miles, so maybe not!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00006FDSY/?tag=pinkfishmedia-20
 
I was knocked out by tutu when it was released, and I still think it stands up. It may be "of its time", but it's no worse for that. It seemed a lot more interesting to me then than the post comeback albums on CBS, which I felt were a bit pallid compared to his pre retirement material. Having said that I think star people is pretty good, and it links back to some of the bluesier moments on get up with it.

Am pleased to see a healthy consensus on how duff is doobop. Why oh why did Miles choose to collaborate with a complete nobody? And why did the Prince collaboration come to nothing?
 
Not a fan of his later stuff, but this thread has encouraged me to dig out tutu from my vinyl collection to give it another go this evening.
 
I like some of Doo-Bop. It compares well with some of the uncomfortably pop vocal parts of "The Man With The Horn" which was his comeback album. It is posthumous so we can only speculate about happy Miles would have been with it, especially as it recycles some of the discarded "Rubber Band" sessions.

Like "The Man With The Horn" it perhaps should be seen as an indication of where he might have gone next. Miles was always keen to connect with young black people and inevitably he would have wanted to incorporate rap and hip-hop influences in his music
 
Engels said:
Tony

There is a single CD compilation from that Montreux collection, which I have

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00005NZHN/?tag=pinkfishmedia-21

If you don't own "Aura" you need to!
Click to expand...

Thanks, I may well land that. I do have Aura (I have the big Complete Columbia Albums Collection), I've just never made it to the end of that one. I'll dig it out and try it again later. We Want Miles and Star People are my 'end point' for the Columbia period, my impression is the quality dipped badly beyond that point but recovered a bit later on for Tutu on Warners. I remember Aura being a bit more ambient so maybe it needs another assessment.
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
The album after star people - decoy - has its moments, but the next one, you're under arrest, is less good.

Regarding Aura, remember that the music was written and arranged by someone else, and it seems remote from the sort of music Miles was making at that time. Although I am partial to a bit of scandi-jazz, Aura has never done a great deal for me.
 
ciderglider said:
The album after star people - decoy - has its moments, but the next one, you're under arrest, is less good.
Click to expand...

ISTR one reviewer said of "You're Under Arrest":

"Have you heard the new Robert Irving III album? It's got Miles Davis on it."
 
I played Aura earlier and it certainly has something. It is at its best in the quieter more ambient parts IMO. I'll give it another couple of plays as it is pretty long (double vinyl IIRC) and kind of washes over/merges into one a bit.

PS I sat there really wanting to remix it! I bet you could make it into something quite amazing if you built on the drone aspects and went in a Klaus Schulze direction with it!
 
...Ok, most of the way through a second listen and it is falling into place, it is very good indeed! Some of the 80s drumming/Linn Drum or whatever it is is irritating me, but beyond that it really is rather good.
 
Seeker_UK said:
You need "We Want Miles" in your collection which is a damn fine live album. Mike Stern is particularly good on that set.


"The Man With the Horn" which is the studio album of that vintage is great. I love "Fat Time".

I have the rest of the CBS releases but IMHO, you could make one good album from them.

When he went to Warners, the Marcus Miller collabs were a bit better but then I am a huge fan of mid to late 80s Marcus Miller productions. "Dingo" and "Doo Bop" however, I have never owned copies of.
Click to expand...

You're right. I have that one too. Forgot I had it...! Too much Miles...
 
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