It sounds to me like the orchestra is struggling a bit with Gil's arrangement, but it's a lovely melody.
I think there might have been some albums after "Quiet Nights".... Let me check and I'll get back to you
Seven Steps To Heaven Columbia CL 2051 (1963) Next up is Seven Steps To Heaven, recorded in April 1963 in Los Angeles, with George Coleman on tenor, Victor Feldman on piano, Ron Carter on bass, and Frank Butler on drums, with a later May session in New York with Herbie Hancock on piano and Tony Williams on drums. I replaced Mabern on piano with a great piano player from England named Victor Feldman, who could play his ass off. He also played vibraphone and drums. On the recording date we used two of his tunes: the title track "Seven Steps To Heaven" and "Joshua". I wanted him to join the band, but he was making a fortune playing studio work in LA, so he'd be losing money if he came with me. I came back to New York looking for a piano player. I found him in Herbie Hancock. I had met Herbie Hancock about a year or so earlier when the trumpet player Donald Byrd brought him by my house on West 77th Street. He had just joined Donald's band. I asked him to play something for me on piano, and I saw right away that he could really play. When I needed a new piano player I thought of Herbie first and called him to come over. I was having Tony Williams and Ron Carter over so I wanted to know how he would sound with them. They all came over and played every day for the next couple of days, and I would listen to them over the intercom system I had hooked up in my music room and all over the house. Man, they sounded too good together. On around the third or fourth day, I came downstairs and joined them and played a few things. Ron and Tony were already in the band. We were finishing up Seven Steps To Heaven. Herbie asked me, "So does this mean I'm in the group?" – "You're making the record with me, aren't you?" I said. I knew right away that this was going to be a mother*** of a group. For the first time in a while I found myself feeling excited inside, because if they were playing that good in a few days, what would they be playing like in a few months? Man, I could just hear that **** popping up all over the place. We finished Seven Steps To Heaven then I called Jack Whittemore and told him to get as many playing gigs as he could for the rest of the summer, and he booked me solid. From Miles' Autobiography
The studio version of Seven Steps is one of my favourite Miles recordings, full of energy: Miles Davis (trumpet) George Coleman (tenor saxophone) Herbie Hancock (piano) Ron Carter (bass) Anthony Williams (drums) Columbia 30th Street Studios, NYC, May 14, 1963
Brilliant album. I've got a mono original and the stereo AP 45, and I'm not sure which I like more. Some say it's a transitional album for Miles, since it's between quintets. This lineup wouldn't be solidified until the addition of Wayne Shorter. But what a transition! This album is easy to recommend to folks looking for more Miles after hearing Kind of Blue. And really, what Miles album wasn't transitional?
Sometimes albums get retrofitted to match an after-the-fact narrative. The "transitional" tag is a beloved one.
Got George Marino's excellent APO SACD of this one. Miles at the top of his game in terms of technique. It's a greatly-overlooked album. The title track gives ample evidence of what Tony Williams, probably the greatest drummer in jazz history, could do for Miles.
You guys are making me pull out my mono original. Crispi, how are you planning on presenting the live albums that come next? By date of performance or date of release? I love the way those shows are presented on the Complete Seven Steps box, because you can trace the evolution of Miles' band as he searches for his next foil on tenor sax.
Definitely by date of perfomance. We'll start out with Miles In Europe, then bundle My Funny Valentine and Four & More together, then Tokyo and Berlin. Tokyo is mighty interesting because of the presence of Sam Rivers and on Miles In Berlin we have the Second Quintet with Wayne Shorter (finally!) recording together for the first time.
The Victor Feldman/Frank Butler session is an interesting "road not taken" affair. It's too bad we will probably never have recordings of the band Miles had around the beginning of 1963 with Harold Mabern on piano and Frank Strozier and George Coleman on sax.
I found a stereo 2 eye for this nm for 10.00 not to long ago at a store. I 'm not sure why it was priced the way it was I didn't ask but I have heard this album is overlooked and that is just silly talk. I love it. I agree completely just Brilliant.
I mean, this is a formative album for the second great quintet, minus Wayne. It's the first time Tony Williams, Ron Carter and Herbie Hancock recorded with Miles. For that reason alone, this historically significant album should be in every Miles fan's collection. And on top of that, it's musically brilliant. Couldn't agree more with ArpMoog above.
Interesting about the tunes Victor Feldman brought to the album --- those are my two favorites on here by far and were just great vehicles for improving in a live setting ... Miles does it again!
What is the photograph on the front cover? It looks like a close-up of the edge of something - apologies to the artist if it's actually a painting. Incidentally the first take of Joshua with Victor Feldman (from the Seven Steps To Berlin box) is really wonderful.
The album starts with a slow rendition "Basin Street Blues" – this is straight out of KIND OF BLUE and I understand why this album is a good recommendation for a follow-up to that classic. I like George Coleman's playing on this album (and on any other album for that matter – check him out on MAIDEN VOYAGE). I can totally relate to Miles' comments about Feldman as a piano player. I love his playing (not to mention that he composed the two strongest tracks on this album). You guys should check out his recordings on Contemporary and Riverside. Like this one, which has a picture of Robert de Niro on the cover… oh, wait…
the 'lost' Gil Evans track that really stood out for me is Falling Water - it's a real shame they never recorded a proper master take. actually it might turn up here: Gil Evans Project LIVE at the Jazz Standard. We will be recording LIVE during our fourth-annual, week-long engagement at the Jazz Standard in New York City, Tuesday through Sunday, May 13th – 18th, 2014. During this six night live recording event, we will be covering a wide range of Gil’s music, from the music he did for the Claude Thornhill Orchestra in the 1940s to the music written for various recording sessions through the late-60s. We will be recording many recently-discovered, previously un-recorded works that will be heard here for the first time, in addition to some of Gil’s classic arrangements! It’s an honor to be able to present these historical masterpieces to all of you through this project, and for this music to finally be documented by this incredible group of musicians!
"Joshua" sounds more or less like a rewrite of "So What" in the version with Feldman. The more frantic approach of Hancock and Williams made it sound less similar.
This was the second Miles Davis I bought (after Kind Of Blue) - not being familiar with Disney films I thought the title track was some kind of heavy civil rights thing (seriously!) It's still one of my favourite Miles tunes - although Coltrane totally steals it!
this was the record Don Draper's girlfriend's hipster friends put on when they were going to smoke dope - I was kind of impressed! (personally I would've though the music was a bit too heavy and sad)
I'm listening to the AP 45rpm Seven Steps to Heaven, which is in stereo, immediately after having listened to a mono 2-eye original. The stereo reissue sounds livelier, with better instrument separation, fuller bass, and warmer tones. It's really great. The mono 2-eye has a lot going for it too, and I often prefer listening to jazz in a mono mix because you can focus more on the top line melody, but it's a more nostalgic kind of sound. Both well worth having, in my view.
