Yo Miles! Live at the Fillmore Auditorium March 4, 2000

Tracks

CD1:
1. Intro
2. Hollywuud-Big Fun
3. Moja-NNE
4. Duo: Wadada & Karl
5. Right Off (Funk Line)
6. Right Off (J.J. Shuffle Rhythm)
7. Yesternow
8. Corrado

CD2:
1. Drums/Percussion Jam
2. Bitches Brew
3. Sax Quartet: Little Church/Sivad
4. Agharta Prelude
5. Calypso Frelimo
6. Star People
7. Calypso Frelimo

CD3:
1. Jam
2. Miles Dewey Davis III - Great Ancestor
3. Improv Jam
4. Black Satin
5. Manring Solo/Nefertiti
6. Ife
7. Great Expectations
8. Maiysha
9. Ife
10. Wili (For Dave)

Personnel

Wadada Leo Smith - Trumpet
Henry Kaiser - Guitar
Michael Manring - Bass
Chris Muir - Guitar
Steve Kimock - Guitar
Bruce Ackley - Sax
Steve Adams - Sax
Jon Raskin - Sax
Larry Ochs - Sax
Tom Coster - Keyboard
Steve Smith - Drums
Karl Perazzo - Congas

Henry Kaiser and Wadada Leo Smith started the Yo Miles! project as something of a one-off tribute to Miles Davis' late 1960s-mid 1970s electric era back in the late 1990s, that subsequently took on a life of its own. The first album was released in 1998 under their names with the simple title Yo Miles! and that album rocked the house. These cats also gigged around a bit from time to time, and went on to record some other studio albums under the Yo Miles! banner - Yo Miles!: Sky Garden (2004) and Yo Miles!: Upriver (2005). All of their studio recordings are double-CDs, so expect a lot of music.

Unlike a lot of tribute bands, these cats aren't merely copying the original artist's sound, but rather are using the compositions to go off into uncharted territory. They also have a tendency on their studio albums to perform their own original tunes, which though definitely Miles-inspired, are not likely to be mistaken for anything in the extensive Miles Davis canon.

These particular CDs document a live gig from March of 2000. The band is tight, energetic, inspired. If you're already a fan of Miles' 1970s work, you'll have an idea of what to expect. Mostly, these are covers with the occasional Kaiser & Smith originals thrown in for good measure. Personally, the tunes in these cats hands sound a bit less dense and less angry/more celebratory than The Prince of Darkness would have allowed during his peak years. There's still tons of fire, and provides evidence that jazz fusion can still be a vital, creative form when you get the right mix of artists involved.

If you like these sound files, please, please, please do yourself a favor and check out the Yo Miles! studio recordings that are currently available. You'll be glad you did.

Download Yo Miles! Live at the Fillmore Auditorium March 4 2000, CD1, CD2, and CD3.

I'll try to get these uploaded onto Sharebee as well in the next few days as time permits.

Miles Davis: The Lost Quintet

Here's some Bitches Brew-era Miles to enjoy.

1969 Miles:The Lost Quintet

DISC SEVEN 64:28
November 3, 1969
SALLE PLEYEL, PARIS--ORTF radio broadcast (2 CD)First set
Directions (J. Zawinul) 8:00
Bitches Brew (M. Davis) 14:16
Paraphernalia (W. Shorter) 12:56
Riot (H. Hancock) 2:51
I Fall in Love Too Easily (S. Cahn-J. Styne) 2:07
Sanctuary (W. Shorter-M. Davis) 4:12
Miles Runs the Voodoo Down (M. Davis) 19:17
The Theme (M. Davis) (with applause) 0:47

DISC EIGHT 56:19
November 3, 1969
SALLE PLEYEL, PARIS--ORTF radio broadcastSecond set
Introduction 00:09
Bitches Brew (M. Davis) 12:24 (incomplete)
Agitation (M. Davis) 9:02
I Fall in Love Too Easily (S. Cahn-J. Styne) 3:12
Sanctuary (W. Shorter-M. Davis) 4:00
Masqualero (W. Shorter) 12:41
It's About That Time (M. Davis) 14:49 (incomplete)

Personnel:
Miles Davis (trumpet)
Dave Holland (bass)
Wayne Shorter (Tenor and Soprano Sax)
Jack Dejohnette (Drums)
Chick Corea (keyboards)

Download The Lost Quintet CD 7, and The Lost Quintet CD 8.

Miles Davis: Live Chatelet March 5, 1982

These tracks are bootleg recordings of a live gig from Miles' post-retirement era. Although I'm not a big fan of a lot of his 1980s and early 1990s material, he could still bring down the house live. The vibe on this gig is definitely more laid-back than anything one would get from the 1970s. Fun compare and contrast: check out this gig's version of Ife, and then listen to recordings of Ife from the early to mid 1970s.

The tracks should fit on two CDs. I've broken this down into three parts in order to deal with Rapidshare's limitations.

Download Live Chatelet March 5, 1982: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.

Hooray For Miles Davis Volume 3

Looks like a bootleg from 1971.

Tracks:

1. Bwongo
2. Ananka (pt. 1)
3. Ananka (pt. 2)

Download Hooray For Miles Davis Volume 3

Miles on YouTube to tide you over

This is footage of Miles Davis and crew from the 1973 Montreux Festival. The early to mid 1970s studio and live recordings are among my personal favorites. If more fusion had been this intense, I might have liked fusion a bit more. Needless to say, during the 1970s you could consistently count on Miles and crew to rock the house. Enjoy.

Miles Davis: Philly May 17, 1975

Don't know too much about this one, other than it's another 1975 Philly gig. Sounds like the standard spring 1975 live set with the usual personnel - sound quality seems considerably muffled, and of course there is a heckler who comes in louder than the music at times. Still, it gives an indication of the state of Miles' music circa 1975.

Personnel:

Miles Davis (tp, org); Sam Morrison (ss, ts, fl); Pete Cosey (g, perc); Reggie Lucas (g); Michael Henderson (el-b); Al Foster (d); James Mtume Foreman (cga, perc)

Tracks

1. Funk
2. Ife
3. Untitled original 750505

Download it here.

Miles Davis: Bottom Line July 11, 1975

Tunes:

101 Funk (Inc.)
102 Ife
103 Maiysha
104 Right Off - Conga Solo
106 Turnaroundphrase - Willie Nelson - Tune in 5 - For Dave
107 For Dave (Cont.)
108 Untitled Original

201 Turnaroundphrase - Willie Nelson
202 Tune in 5 - Turnaroundphrase - For Dave
203 Untitled Original
204 Funk
205 Funk Continued (3 gaps)
206 Ife
207 Maiysha
208 Right Off

301 Untitled Original
302 Right Off
303 Funk

I don't know much more about this one than the tunes. I'm assuming that the lineup is the one from the other 1975 gigs. Sound quality is actually pretty decent as live bootlegs go. If you like Miles' music from this era, you will not be disappointed.

Download Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3

Miles Davis - Another Unity

The Info:

Another Unity (Mega Disc (J) MD 0122)

Title: Another Unity
Label: Mega Disc (J) MD 0122
Number of Tracks: 6
Details: January 22, 1975
Note: Only tracks on which Davis is present are displayed below.

1. Funk (M. Davis) 21:13
2. Maiysha (M. Davis) 18:28
3. Ife (M. Davis) 18:28
4. Mtume (M. Davis) 3:59
5. Turnaroundphrase/Tune in 5 (M. Davis) 9:39
6. Untitled original 741106a (M. Davis) 9:52

Miles Davis (tpt, org); Sonny Fortune (ss, as, fl); Pete Cosey (g, perc); Reggie Lucas (g); Michael Henderson (el-b); Al Foster (d); James Mtume Foreman (cga, perc)

A review from One Final Note:

The fool’s-gold disk Another Unity turned out not to be the lost gospel of Miles, but just another concert document from another tour by a hardened corps of hard-working, creative musicians whose leader was ailing with multiple illnesses, mentally exhausted, and on more uppers ‘n’ downers than Rush Limbaugh riding The Thunderbolt at Coney Island. There’s a lot of rawness in the 1973 sets, which adds excitement to the already hyperactive brew, but what’s missing is the nuance and precision of the later concerts.By the time of the 1975 Japan tour, Miles had taught his ensemble to seemingly anticipate his thoughts and moods and directions, resulting in turn-on-a-dime changes of tempo, dynamics, and texture.

The first set mimics the first Agharta disc’s sequence of events, while the second recalls disc two of Pangaea, opening with “Ife”—only without Reggie Lucas’ fetching three-note guitar lick, and adding some far-out synthesizer yibbles from Pete Cosey. Then Miles pulls a fast one: After getting some fun out of “Ife”, he whips the band through an express-train medley of “Mtume”, “Turnaroundphrase”, and “Tune In 5”. Each clocks in at around five minutes—warp speed for this band to jump themes. “Turnaround” in particular is a proper horrorshow, with Lucas’ chainsaw-arm ripping staccato funk chords under Miles and saxist Sonny Fortune’s duet. Reggie Lucas hasn’t generated the cult status that his bandmate Cosey enjoys, which isn’t altogether fair. His rhythm work on all the live sessions plays a big part in whipping up the fervor, as well as adding an essential layer of color to Miles’ canvas. One can’t imagine the music without him. “Tune in 5” is overlaid with the riff from “Willie Nelson”, and Lucas grinds it out to introduce Fortune, who proceeds (badly amplified) with just synth, bass, and scattered percussion. Miles shakily offers a new riff, and an unidentified tune starts, described by bass and guitar harmonizing an 8th-note upandownphrase. This delightful bit chugs on for several minutes before the audience weighs in with a hurricane of handclaps.

At the end of this bootleg bout, we find the official concert recordings of the 1975 band—Agharta and Pangaea—still the champions of the electric Miles canon (they sport awesome covers, too). Simply put, those records are better recorded and better mixed (although no less than three different mixes on various CBS/Sony domestic and Japanese issues have been offered over the years, adding to the general confusion about this period). But the prime reason the official releases stand out is because the musicians knew that Columbia, in the person of Teo Macero, was rolling the tape, and that posterity might be standing in judgment someday. As Chris Murphy put it: “We had all worked hard on the Osaka recordings—Miles more than anyone—and had produced a great piece of art.”

Due to file size issues, I had to divide this recording into two separate Zip files. All sound files should fit comfortably on one CD. Download Another Unity (Pt. 1 & Pt. 2).

Miles Davis: Philly May 12&17 1975

The Info:

Miles Davis - 12&17-5-75 - philadelphia - usa (just jazz)

12. - 17. May 1975
Just Jazz, Philadelphia, USA

Personnel:

Miles Davis (tp, org); Sam Morrison (ss, ts, fl); Pete Cosey (g, perc); Reggie Lucas (g); Michael Henderson (el-b); Al Foster (d); James Mtume Foreman (cga, perc)

Tracks

1. Band warming up - 00:32
2. Funk [Prelude] (Part 1) - 19:37
3. Ife - 19:38
4. Untitled original 750505 - 03:42

Don't know much about this one other than that the recording is from May of 1975 right as Miles was getting ready to retire. The set is pretty much what one might expect to hear at a Miles gig around that time. Sound quality is a bit dodgy (as one would expect from a bootleg live recording), but gives a decent idea of how Miles and band were sounding at the time.

The untitled track that ends the recording serves as a harbinger of the kinder gentler Miles who would re-emerge in the early 1980s. That said, the performance of the tune has plenty of edge to it, unlike much of the 1980s material.

Enjoy!

Miles Davis: Lost Mid 1970s Sessions

I stumbled onto this particular set of recordings last year via the miracle of Soulseek (a great p2p network). Needless to say, the files merely came "as is" with no titles to even remotely hint at what I was listening to. About the only thing that I could conclude with any certainty was that these were from studio sessions from the mid-1970s.

The sound quality of the mp3 files is excellent (at 320 kbps it should be), and the music is about what one would expect of Miles and his crew from around the mid 1970s, just before he took an extended break from recording and touring. Miles plays trumpet exclusively on a few tracks, splits time between trumpet and organ on a few tracks, and plays organ exclusively on a few tracks - nothing out of the ordinary. Since Miles was fond of doing extensive post-production work it's hard to know just what the final mixes might have sounded like had he continued to pursue the ideas that he and his crew were working out right before retirement. My guess is that the final product would have been a follow-up to the excellent Get Up With It.

I did some detective work, and while checking out the discography at Miles Ahead, have gathered that the tunes that I was grooving on came originally from a couple bootlegs: Unknown Sessions Vol. 1 and Unknown Sessions Vol. 2.

The first disc consists of tunes recorded between the end of February, 1975 and the end of December, 1976. The second disc consists of two sessions separated by three and a half years. The earlier material is clearly more on the psychedelic tip, with all the Indian instrumentation and wah-wah pedals. The later material turns up the funk quotient, while Miles seems to veer ever into Sun Ra territory. Since these are compilations of recording sessions, expect there to be tracks that just seem to cut off in the middle, as well as occasional studio chatter at the start of some tracks (if you're a collector of the various complete sessions for Bitches Brew, etc., this won't surprise you in the least).

The information for the recordings follows below:

Disc 1

Track 1: TDK Funk recorded Dec 27, 1976 (5:01)
Track 2: Turn of the Century Feb 27, 1975 (15:34)
Track 3: Latin take 7 recorded May 5, 1975 (3:56)
Track 4: Latin take 6 recorded May 5, 1975 (4:41)
Track 5: Latin takes 3 & 4 recorded May 5, 1975 (4:47)
Track 6: Latin take 6 different mix recorded May 5, 1975 (4:15)
Track 7: untitled original 750505 take 2 recorded May 5, 1975 (6:15)
Track 8: untitled original 760330a take 3 recorded Mar 30, 1976 (4:50)
Track 9: untitled original 760330a take 5 recorded Mar 30, 1976) (5:27)

Personnel:

Track 1: Miles Davis (org); Pete Cosey (g, perc); Michael Henderson (el-b); Al Foster (d)
Track 2: Miles Davis (tpt, org); Sonny Fortune (ss, ts, fl); Pete Cosey (g, perc); Reggie Lucas (g); Michael Henderson (el-b); Al Foster (d); James Mtume Forman (cga, perc)
Tracks 3 - 7: Miles Davis (tpt, org); Sam Morrison (ts); Pete Cosey (g, perc); Reggie Lucas (g); Michael Henderson (el-b); Al Foster (d); James Mtume Forman (cga, perc)
Tracks 8 - 9: Miles Davis (org); Sam Morrison (ss, as, fl); Mark Johnson (el-p); Pete Cosey (g, perc); Michael Henderson (el-b); Al Foster (d)

Disc 2

Track 1: Agharta Prelude pt. 2 take 14 recorded Nov. 30, 1972 (17:46)
Track 2: Agharta Prelude pt. 2 take 15 recorded Nov. 30, 1972 (9:36)
Track 3: Song of Landa take 2 recorded Mar. 30, 1976 (4:05)
Track 4: Song of Landa take 6 recorded Mar. 30, 1976 (4:48)

Personnel:

Tracks 1 & 2: Miles Davis (tpt); Carlos Garnett (ss); Cedric Lawson (keyb); Reggie Lucas (g); Khalil Balakrishna (sitar); Michael Henderson (el-b); Al Foster (d); James Mtume Forman (cga, perc); Badal Roy (tabla)
Tracks 3 & 4: Miles Davis (org); Sam Morrison (ss, as, fl); Mark Johnson (el-p); Pete Cosey (g, perc); Michael Henderson (el-b); Al Foster (d)

Notes:

Disc 1 appears to be excerpted from the album UNKNOWN SESSIONS 1973-1976 VOL. 1, released on the Kind of Blue label (KOB 002)

Disc 2 appears to be the contents of the album UNKNOWN SESSIONS 1974-1976 VOL. 2, released under the Kind of Blue label (KOB 003)

Curious? Download the Lost Mid 1970s Sessions and hear for yourself.

I do have a number of mp3s of Miles Davis' live gigs from the early and mid 1970s that I will probably be sharing in the near future. Stay tuned.

Updated 10/20/2006

Download Lost Mid 1970s Sessions Album 1 and Album 2.