The early mono is definitive. I've found that the '62 'Guaranteed High Fidelity' Columbia reissue is every bit as good as the 6-eye. That '97 CD is the best sounding digital version I've heard.
Saw the Wayne Shorter Quartet a couple of years ago at NJPAC, just an incredible show, and before that Herbie came out with Wayne and played about 40 minutes of straight improvised stuff. I'd kill to find a tape of that performance.
Zappa 1980-82 You Are What You Is Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch Chalk Pie 1980 Rotterdam 1981-11-17 The Ritz, NYC 1982-06-05 Schuettorf 1982-07-05 Genova Frank seems to have made an effort to get back to social commentary and silly/absurdist humor, and the stage band with Steve Vai has guitars galore, of course. The Genova show is a gigantic jamathon, and hardly any songs that I'd want to cut out, besides the "Enema Bandit" encore, if I went back to it. If ZFT has any complete soundboards or multi-tracks from the '82 European tour, I don't know why they're sitting on them. Omigod! Release the tapes or bag your face, Ahmet! For sure!
French Frith Kaiser Thompson- The Palms, Davis Ca. 3/6/87 This show was good but the night at the Ashkenaz: Albany,Ca. a couple of nights latter was flippin' sweet. Our tapes came out clean and full so next up is the East Bay...
It's really funny - the only other single time I played this was about 10 years ago in my high school science class. School sucked the big one for me and the only way to get through the days was with my ipod in my pocket and an earbud stealthily hidden in my ear under my hair For some reason I have a vivid recollection of playing this and loving it that morning, but for some reason I never revisited it! Shame on me! Also, the first time I heard Sally Can't Dance, we were outside in the field doing model rocket testing for class and I was not paying any attention whatsoever. My science teacher yanked my earbud out and said something to the effect of "is all you do is listen to music?!". He then asked me some question related to the project. I had no idea what the answer was but I guessed something correctly apparently. Thank god for Lou Reed - got me through that dumb class
What are your thoughts on Seven Steps and Someday My Prince? I'm not a jazz-head and its taken me years to absorb Miles' discography. These 2 albums kinda slip through the cracks for me though I do enjoy them.
Both are wonderful!! Seven Steps is particularly interesting because the ballads are done by a transitional band (Miles, Ron Carter, Victor Feldman, George Coleman, Frank Butler) while the upbeat numbers feature what would become his classic ‘60s Quintet (minus Wayne Shorter) with Tony Williams and Herbie Hancock replacing Butler and Feldman.
For an artist with such a massive and diverse discography, I really am hard pressed to think of any of his albums as poor. Even some "weaker" ones are still loaded with artistic merit and top notch playing. Hell, he rivals Zappa for me in this regard. It's a fascinating journey of music and I genuinely enjoy almost all of it!!!!
Yes, I don't listen to them often either. Not my favorite phase in Miles' career, but good albums anyway.
I know that you didn't ask me, but I'll offer this: Someday was the first recording after 'Trane left for the second time. While I like Hank Mobley, he offered an uncharacteristically weak solo on the title track and Miles brought 'Trane into the studio to lay down something to light a fire under his backside. What 'Trane did on that take is eternally sublime. Starts at 5:53. As for Seven Steps, it's early in the new quintet, so it's an interesting transitional document.
I'm all about context with my listening. I like to have a "bigger picture" of whatever I'm playing. Those 2 albums - in my head - seem to lack much distinguishable character. They are just kinda...there, ya know what I mean? Fantastic music but not big "!!!!!" releases
I always appreciate any relevant opinions Thanks mate I have a real hard time still telling one musician from the next on most Miles recordings. Since %98 of my listening is in some way guitar/bass/drums related, trying to pick apart saxophone characteristics can be a lot harder than you think if you don't listen to a lot of jazz
You are correct! Speaking of which, Nefertiti and Filles are both easily in my top 10 Miles albums. I've gotta be in the mood for Miles but those are two I can always just jump right into!
The alternate take of “So Near, So Far” is fascinating. Without Tony Williams’ drumming the tune sounds much more like normal ‘50 hard bop. The released version with Tony is so much more forward thinking. Tony puts such an amazing stamp on everything he touches. ...and he was only seventeen in 1963!!
Definitely one of my favorite drummers ever. He was so young back then and played with such confidence already. No wonder why Eric Dolphy picked him for Out To Lunch! in 1964 (that year would also see the first album of Tony as a leader).
A BOY NAMED CHARLIE BROWN VINCE GUARALDI TRIO 1989 CD Too bad that they didn’t use the original 1964 LP cover:
