Take It or Leave It [#][*] - Miles Davis, Zawinul, Joe
Double Image - Miles Davis, Zawinul, Joe
These historic sessions, recorded between 1969 and 1970 and originally released as a 90-minute double LP, merged jazz and rock into the hybrid genre known as fusion. They remain Miles Davis's most controversial recordings.... more » Davis, along with pianists Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and Joe Zawinul; bassist Dave Holland; soprano saxophonist Wayne Shorter; bass clarinetist Benny Maupin; drummers Jack DeJohnette, Billy Cobham, and Lenny White; and percussionist Airto Moreira, went electric with rock rhythms, and the rest, as they say, is history, or as some feel, the end of jazz history.Now, all of the sessions' 265 minutes are contained on this four-CD set, compiled from alternate takes, nine unreleased tracks, and selections from previously released LPs. The superb remastering reveals the spectral power of Davis's amplified, muted, and open trumpet painting on a swirling harmonic canvas created by Hancock, Corea, and Zawinul, especially on Zawinul's impressionistic "Pharoah's Dance," Shorter's elliptical "Sanctuary," and Davis's rocking "John McLaughlin."The previously unreleased tracks, including "Yaphet," "Corrado," "Tevere," "The Big Green Serpent," and Zawinul's "Double Image," contain some interesting East Indian motifs and inventive arrangements but will probably not change anyone's mind about this well-debated period of Miles Davis's career. --Eugene Holley Jr.« less
These historic sessions, recorded between 1969 and 1970 and originally released as a 90-minute double LP, merged jazz and rock into the hybrid genre known as fusion. They remain Miles Davis's most controversial recordings. Davis, along with pianists Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and Joe Zawinul; bassist Dave Holland; soprano saxophonist Wayne Shorter; bass clarinetist Benny Maupin; drummers Jack DeJohnette, Billy Cobham, and Lenny White; and percussionist Airto Moreira, went electric with rock rhythms, and the rest, as they say, is history, or as some feel, the end of jazz history.Now, all of the sessions' 265 minutes are contained on this four-CD set, compiled from alternate takes, nine unreleased tracks, and selections from previously released LPs. The superb remastering reveals the spectral power of Davis's amplified, muted, and open trumpet painting on a swirling harmonic canvas created by Hancock, Corea, and Zawinul, especially on Zawinul's impressionistic "Pharoah's Dance," Shorter's elliptical "Sanctuary," and Davis's rocking "John McLaughlin."The previously unreleased tracks, including "Yaphet," "Corrado," "Tevere," "The Big Green Serpent," and Zawinul's "Double Image," contain some interesting East Indian motifs and inventive arrangements but will probably not change anyone's mind about this well-debated period of Miles Davis's career. --Eugene Holley Jr.
"The release of Bitches Brew in late Spring of 1970 marked the end of an era - not only for Miles - but for jazz as a genre. Jazz would never again revel in the melancholy splendor of bluesy isolation, or the somewhat self-absorbed innocence of groove or `avant-garde'. At the time, I was a devout fan, and I can remember the first time I heard "Miles runs the Voodoo Down" which was the first track I heard - before many, many others would. Jazz would never quite return to the large ensemble swing mix, although Qunicy Jones and Grover Washington did carry on for some years, with albeit muted electricity - but the McLauglin/Miles collaboration - in the final analysis, perhaps more historically significant and impacting for jazz than Miles/Trane, was and remains an extraordinary listening experience. What is more pervasive is Miles' tortured revelation of the apocalyptic sound that is first achieved here and continues notably through Live/Evil and Dark Magus and less stellar moments through the early and mid 1970's. These are the new classics of jazz in which its leading exponent deals with this universally acknowledged feeling of world dissolution - our lives spinning out of presumptions to and pursuit of control - the return to chaos - inexorable and inevitable. The recordings of the initial flowering of Mile's post-modern period collected here en totem for the first time give us an insight into the tension between Miles' supremely rigorous and complex sense of order and the recognition of the endless flux of electricity and being, all too overwhelming in the totality of its energy to be channeled or directed for long. The previously unreleased material here, such as 'Yaphet' and 'Corrado' which followed the original sessions is most welcome in that it presages the future, in which the electric and fusion elements would gain dominion over spent, traditional forms. Simply put, these sessions stake profound claim to being among the greatest of all time, and the extras which are included, regardless of their being more of a coda or an afterthought to the recording dates for Bitches Brew, make the package that much better.
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Very nice...
Grigory's Girl | NYC | 12/04/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I remember buying this in high school. Miles wasn't particularly popular at the time, and my brother gave me a look and said "why did you buy this crap?". My brother, ironically, would get into jazz when he got into college, yet, never apologised for this insult. As for this music, it's truly outstanding. It's incredibly complicated stuff, sometimes with 3 keyboardists, 2 drummers, 2 bassists all playing at once, with Miles on top of it all. The initial 6 tracks are some of the greatest stuff I've ever heard, with Spanish Key being my favorite. I remember being put off by it a bit at the time. The only Davis albums I had at the time were the mediocre The Man with the Horn, and the better We Want Miles, so I wasn't up on the great Miles. I have around 28 Miles CD's now, and this is definitely top five. I like Big Fun better, but the music there was from these sessions, so it's a bit confusing. The remastering is light years superior to the vinyl, and is definitely worth the upgrade. It also has superlative liner notes, detailing the sessions and some good historical background. As for the bonus tracks, most of this material was released on other albums. The songs Great Expectations, Orange Lady, and Lonely Fire ended up on the original release of Big Fun. Recollections, Trevere, The Little Blue Frog (master take), and Yaphet were also released on the remastered version of Big Fun. Guiniverre ended up on Circle in the Round (in a slightly shorter version), and Double Image (the short version) ended up on Live Evil. So there are only 6 actual new tracks (Corrado, The Big Green Serpent, an alternate take of The Little Blue Frog, Feio, a slightly longer version of Double Image, and Take It or Leave It). These 6 are good, but unless you really adore Miles, you may be able to do without them, even though I think this is a good set to have."
So much untapped potential...
finulanu | Here, there, and everywhere | 07/10/2007
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Okay, first off these are not songs from the "real" B*tches Brew sessions - those were finished when this album was released. Rather, this is a collection of mostly fantastic outtakes released in the wake of B-Brew, around the time a few tracks from Big Fun were being recorded, which explains the overlap between these two albums. Now Brew itself is not one of my favorite Miles albums - I think it has its moments (title track; Miles Runs the Voodoo Down; John McLaughlin; five minutes of Spanish Key), but is weighed down by filler songs. As far as Miles' fusion goes, I prefer In a Silent Way and Big Fun immensly. You don't get much filler on the full boxed set.
Okay, so sure, some of the best songs are issued on Big Fun, which nine times of ten will be less expensive than this: I speak, of course, of Great Expectations (what a song!), Yaphet, Trevere (what a bad song! But it's the only loser out of the outtakes, along with Feio!), The Little Blue Frog, Lonely Fire (top notch!), and Recollections (Beautiful!). So I'd guide you to Big Fun whether or not you inteded to buy this album.
If you didn't, here's one reason to: Guinevere. If you're familiar with the Crosby, Stills & Nash original, I can tell you right now you'll never hear it the same way again when you've heard the long (twenty minutes), trippy "fusion-odyssey" version this one presents. It renders the song near-unrecognizable. You may love it (I do!!), you may hate it, but you can't deny Miles really puts his own stamp on it. A very well-made, intricately arranged cover.
Another great song is the intense Corrado. Miles and the group really rock out on this one. Him backing up his claim that he could make the best damn rock band you ever heard (or something to that effect).
Plus Double Image is a pretty good song too! I mean, not as good as Guinevere, but still a nice song. So are the two standard-length tracks, The Big Green Serpent and Take It or Leave it.
I'm surprised Miles shelved so much of this. He could've easily gotten another very good album out of this material, even when we include the songs not released on Big Fun. Guinevere, Corrado, Double Image, Take it or Leave it and the Big Green Serpent... could've been great. And he'd have to call the album Corrado, because the word sounds cool.
Yes, like all of Miles' other boxed sets, this one just screams "for fans only". But if you're a fan, you can't go wrong, really."
Always going his own way
Timothy Hunter | South Philly | 04/26/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"this is one of a series of great repackaged Miles. its hard to say which is best between In a Silent Way, Jack Johnson, On the Corner and Bitches Brew, since each one has generous extras, beautiful notes and pictures and of course the perfect remasters.
I would recommend this one and in a silent way to anyone trying to understand the transition miles made from acoustic to electric. and john maclaughlin is god, in case you were unaware."
Track Listings (4) - Disc #1
