One o' these days I need to track down the Complete On The Corner sessions. I want to hear the unedited jams (and everything else...)
I thought I'd run through the Complete On The Corner sessions - another set of music that I've not really given full attention before. For the following, I focused on the tracks heretofore unreleased and totally skipped stuff like Ife from Big Fun, any GUWI tracks and the final OTC tracks. On The Corner Unedited Master. I really appreciate the cleaner sound on this. Not very different from the actual finished version. On The Corner Take 4. Now this is different although recognizably from that same session. I like the heavier sound of it. One And One Unedited Master. This seems to have nothing to do with the final "One And One". It sounds like a very transistor-buzzy guitar from Dave Creamer (it actually sounds like guitar->fuzz->mixing board, no amp) and at times he sounds like he's trying hard to imitate John McLaughlin. Something about the beat and the bassline makes me think like they're doing something from the Live Evil repertoire. Helen Butte, Mr Freedom X Unedited Master. I'm sure this is different from the final version but the repetitive nature of this album makes it difficult to pinpoint what exactly those differences are. Jabali. Medium slow groove, simple bass line with drums and percussion. Miles solos. There's a bit of keyboard chipping in plus sax, clarinet and later, flute. Things heat up a little by the midway point. There's some nice drum fills that play against the basic pulse - something you don't hear as much in this era where the drummer tends to be tightly reigned into time-keeping. Overall, a pretty interesting track. Chieftain. A percussion-centric track. Miles solos while bass and guitar just pound away on one note/chord. There's bits of sitar here and there. It goes on and on and just when there might be an interesting guitar solo the track fades out. A really crappy sounding rendition of this opens the Miles Davis In Concert album. Turnaround. This is really better known as Agharta Prelude. I'm used to hearing the energetic rendition on the Agharta Osaka concert; this one is slower and rather laid back. There's a bunch of keyboard swirling around. There's a tiny bit of reggae lurking underneath, implied by the bass. This meanders without really reaching fruition in my opinion. U-Turnaround. Another take of Agharta Prelude. Al Foster opens his hihat, which is progress I guess! A sax solo helps give a little variety. This is shorter than the previous take and in my opinion is a little more successful but someone needs to tame that hihat in the mix a little! The Hen. An intriguing fuzz keyboard opens the track. Keys, bass & drums. Sax solo which starts slowly then becomes increasingly more frantic. Miles joins later The track builds in intensity strongly throughout. A pretty solid track. Holly-wuud Take 2. An agreeable medium tempo jam, supposedly released as a single along with Take 3. Sax takes the lead, with bass, open hihat drums, wah guitar and keys. Miles enters towards the end. It all ends abruptly rather fading out. Not sure what to make of it as a single. Holly-wuud Take 3. This almost resumes where Take 2 left off, with Miles soloing. There's a moment in the middle where you think the tempo might suddenly kick into higher gear but it doesn't. Instead Miles passes the baton back to Dave Liebman. Al Foster closes his hihat, which is a major event in the sound mix here. Suddenly you can hear everything. Pete Cosey solos, at first tentatively then starts really cooking. Abrupt finish at the end of Cosey's solo. Peace. With a title like this, it's a more low-key track with a bass, light drums and organ as a backdrop to a flute lead. This eventually gives way to a clean guitar solo. A nice change in pace from the more in your face tracks. Mr Foster. An interesting smoky low key track. Possible a guitar keeping a one note pulse - whoever's doing this is having difficulty keeping steady time. More splashy open hihat from Mr Foster. Sax takes the slow sensual lead, followed by Miles. There's a chord progression going on here! The playing becomes a little denser and more intense as the track goes on. Kinda fizzles out in th elast minute or so. A little long but I like it. Mtume Take 11. This sounds like a continuation of the released 'Mtume'; Sonny Fortune gets a stab at a solo before handing back to Miles. Hip-Skip. Interesting beat to this one (which maybe inspired the title?) and a neat theme. The beat dominates this one all the way through what is generally a laid back and somewhat sparse track. Some buzzy guitar (from Dominique?) that plays a recurring theme and some variations and embellishments once in a while. Miles solos for quite a while before handing off to a clean lead guitar (Dominique again? Lucas? Doesn't sound like Cosey). At one point the buzzy guitar and the lead guitar overlap so it might be Gaumont on buzz & clean solo Lucas. After the 12 min mark Miles returns. The clean guitar takes over that recurring guitar theme while buzzy guitar frets away. In the final couple of minutes a flute shows up to play that same recurring theme and then solo before the track fades out. What They Do. Well holy crap this is a frantic and energetic uptempto track. This is as close as they get in the studio to matching the live albums. There are a number of hand signal halts to the rhythm throughout to give us a bit of a break. There are a number of guitar solos in this and it's hard to tell if it's Cosey or Gaumont or both. At the 3 minute mark Fortune takes the spotlight for a bit before handing back to lead guitar. After the 7 minute mark there is a slight breakdown to give us all a breather. When the drums kick back in they're playing half-time. Miles only arrives past the 9 minute mark, skirmishing with all the soloists it seems - which is not something we really hear in Miles music of any era. There's another breakdown to end the track. This is an excellent track IMO. Minnie - Wow, let's take Maiysha and go further to smooth George Benson-y jazz. You know what, I like it. Big Fun. OK here's the actual single. Still can't imagine this flooding radio station request lines. It's a little 'neater' in execution than the out-takes. Holly-wuud. And here's the other side of the single, which carries on in similar fashion. Of all of these, I think Jabali, The Hen, Peace, Mr Foster, Hip Skip, What They Do and Minnie are welcome additions that help broaden what we know of this era.
I made myself a nice little CD2 for On The Corner out of these sessions (MP3 sourced but frankly my dear, I don't give a damn).
Not sure but I think that heavy guitar from the first part of the track is John McLaughlin, and that Creamer played the mellower guitar later in the cut (similar to his playing on "Helen Butte"). For those who have Panthalassa, this is the track Laswell edited/remixed and released as "What If."
Oh OK, I can hear that now. So there's a bit of overlap where McLaughlin and Creamer are playing at the some time. Odd that One and One Unedited makes it seem like McLaughlin left for his lunch break before midway through the track.
Cosey told me he played drums on this track because Al Foster did not show up on time. The last time I listened the drumming seemed noticeably less polished than what I'd expect from Foster so that may explain it. Unless he overdubbed, that means you're right that Cosey didn't play lead guitar.
I should add One And One Unedited Master to my list of notable tracks at the end of my big post - it's a good one.
Maybe some months into the future (as for this thread timeline), but I'm afraid I'll forget to share this one. Miles plays organ only on this February 1975 session, please check the Turn of the century:
I've been listening to live recordings, '72-'75 all week so far, and I am quite a fan of the open hi-hat. I can certainly see why it's annoying to some people, but I think it really adds to the density of sound going on in these recordings, fills a gap left when others cut back and makes the complete dead stops that the band comes to more impactful. I feel like if there was more intricate hi-hat work going on the music would feel a bit less chaotic and frenetic and a little too clean. That might not be a bad thing, but I know that having listened to a bit of other fusion stuff from around the same time, I don't enjoy much of it anywhere near as much as this stage of Miles' work, because despite the electric instruments everything sounds a bit too clean and in order for me ears (musicianship aside!).
I really like the version of "Maiysha" on Get Up With It. For me, its simpler arrangement acts as a gateway to better appreciating the more out-there live versions.
To call Get Up With It vast and sprawling would be an understatement. In terms of the LP side lengths, it's virtually 4 albums worth of material, covering at least four distinct band lineups. One thing linking all the music here is that there's nothing straightforward or slick about any of it. Aside from 'Red China Blues' I don't hear any easy options being taken, which has always fascinated me. The discussion above about Foster's drumming is a case in point: he was more than capable of playing in familiar jazz / fusion styles but here he's asked to fit in with a whole rhythm section that is built up in unique, often disorientating ways. For me 'Calypso Frelimo' is by far the best piece. The mood is somehow simultaneously sunny, intense, dramatic and even malevolent, and is sustained and developed throughout its 32 minutes with terrific playing all the way. In the other GUWI thread I detailed some thoughts about this piece, particularly Miles' often misunderstood & underrated trumpet solos, linked to here. Obviously the next most remarkable piece is 'He Loved Him Madly', which I see as a one off experiment that explores ambience, minimalism and repetition in a way not seen elsewhere in Miles' work. For me its aims are limited but achieved with utter conviction. It's also one of surprisingly few MD pieces that are genuine editing tours de force - where the original sessions were truly inconsequential raw material that was transformed (largely by Macero obviously) in editing and overlaying. It's common to read generalisations which characterise virtually all the 70-75 output as being produced in this way, which simply isn't the case. 'Rated X' is similarly an experiment but almost the complete opposite of 'He Loved Him Madly' - this time exploring dissonance and confrontation, even nihilism. 'Billy Preston' by the same '72 lineup is pretty much a studio version of that band's stage operation; maybe it doesn't develop but I find it hugely enjoyable. I find both 'Maiysha' and 'Mtume', the other tracks from '74, to be less than convincing pieces of writing in their pure studio form. The band performs admirably of course, but live versions frequently took off into altogether different territories. (If only the Tokyo 8 Feb 75 shows had been recorded properly, those two 30min plus versions of Maiysha would have been a huge addition to the canon). Which leaves the two runts of the litter, 'Honky Tonk' which is a so-so outtake from a different musical world altogether, and 'Red China Blues' which is probably the only more or less normal sounding thing from this era.
We're still on GUWI and Honky Tonk is on that album, but I have a query that's more about the live versions of the song, specifically the Cellar Door versions... My question: is there any video/film of any Miles band playing Honky Tonk? The reason I ask is that, from a musician perspective it's extremely difficult to play so slowly without any audible time-keeping, particularly in the quiet first few minutes of each HT. There are moments where more than one musician is in unison with that slow bass ostinato and they seem to play it perfectly. So I wonder if someone is either visibly conducting or visually keeping time to reign everybody together. Or are they just so damn good that they have perfect internal clocks (and it would have to be a shared internal clock for all members because they're all in sync)?!
There are other probably better performances, but the image on this one is great. You asked for it, here it is:
IMO "Honky Tonk" is basically like a slow blues (or more accurately, I suppose, Miles' idea of a slow blues). Even without drums at first, the bass keeps the basic rhythm going so I would presume everybody was looking to Michael Henderson as far as keeping the piece together. Henderson musta had a metronome in his head or something...
Man, this era is not for sissies to get through. Long groove based jams on double albums. However, the last two entries in the thread was no too bad. Dark Magus is at least much better sounding than that old Carnegie Hall album. I actually got Get Up With It at the library some time around 2002 but I’m not sure I even listened to it back then. The Loved Him Madly track is quite different from anything else I’ve heard from this era. Reminds me a bit of Nordic ECM style jazz. I quite like it. I found Rated X the most challenging and everything else quite ok.
