Recalling Miles Davis by Crossing Cultures

[7/4]

May 12, 2008

Music Review | 'Miles From India'

Recalling Miles Davis by Crossing Cultures

By NATE CHINEN, NY Times

From left, Pete Cosey, Wallace Roney and Badal Roy were among the dozen or so players in a tribute to Miles Davis.

During the second half of “Miles From India,” a boldly expansive concert at Town Hall on Friday night, the percussionist Badal Roy ventured a tabla solo, the sort of heroic exhibition that can end only in generous applause. He was annotating a composition called “Ife,” which he originally recorded with the trumpeter Miles Davis in 1972.

Mr. Roy was the linchpin but not always the focal point of “Miles From India,” which generally featured about a dozen other musicians onstage. The concert grew out of an ambitious new double album of the same name on Times Square Records, conceived as a cross-cultural experiment by the producer Bob Belden. On the album assorted Miles Davis alumni appear along with acclaimed Indian musicians — Mr. Roy hails from both camps of course — to play music spanning several periods of Davis’s chameleonic career.

It’s not such a stretch to seek affinities between Miles and India: as one of the chief proponents of modal improvisation in jazz, he occasionally reached in that direction himself. And a handful of his former sidemen, notably the guitarist John McLaughlin, went on to explore Indian music more deeply and directly.

Mr. McLaughlin contributed the title track and lone original on “Miles From India,” but he wasn’t on the bill Friday. Not that there was much occasion to miss him. The concert, organized by Mr. Belden and the Indian jazz pianist Louiz Banks, heeded the same ethos of crowded collaboration that guided Davis during his first fusion epoch, in the late 1960s and early to mid-’70s. There were organizing principles to the program (a set list, even) but the prevailing spirit was free form, seemingly open to chance.

On “Spanish Key,” which opened the second half, that method paid off handsomely. The trumpeter Wallace Roney, a leading disciple of the Davis sound and style, played with exacting purpose and unrepressed enthusiasm, carving up the song. And the melody, with its upward-tumbling arpeggio, suited the vocalist Shounak Abhisheki perfectly.

“Miles Runs the Voodoo Down,” another track from the post-Woodstock album “Bitches Brew,” played to the strengths of both Mr. Roney and the guitarist Pete Cosey, who soloed in serpentine tandem. (It also provoked plaintive commentary from the violinist Kala Ramnath, who held her instrument in the Carnatic style, with its neck sloping to the floor.)

Just as potent was “It’s About That Time,” which felt right from the moment the bassist Benny Rietveld began the song’s signature vamp. At its peak the tune had Lenny White flailing at his drums as the alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa sparred with Adam Holzman, on Fender Rhodes piano. Whatever fusion this implied, it was effective.

The concert’s first half was less so, despite the stalwart contributions of the bassist Ron Carter and, on one song, the pianist Vijay Iyer. With a set drawn strictly from the album “Kind of Blue,” which uses modal concepts but predates “Bitches Brew” by a crucially important decade, the musicians had to work a lot harder at translation. It never quite came together, though their effort was worth hearing.

[7/4]

other discussion

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[shadowhillway]

the post-Woodstock album “Bitches Brew”

"Bitches" was recorded for three days starting the day after Woodstock. This fact not contended, is there reason to conclude that Woodstock influenced the album? Was there, for example, a live television broadcast of the festival that Miles and/or crew might have been watching?

[bertrand]

I don't think Woodstock was as much an influence on Bitches' Brew as Larry Young's Mother Ship

Bertrand.

Edited May 13, 2008 by bertrand

[Chuck Nessa]

I don't think Woodstock was as much an influence on Bitches' Brew as Larry Young's Mother Ship

Bertrand.

which would not be issued for a few years.

[jazzbo]

the post-Woodstock album “Bitches Brew”

"Bitches" was recorded for three days starting the day after Woodstock. This fact not contended, is there reason to conclude that Woodstock influenced the album? Was there, for example, a live television broadcast of the festival that Miles and/or crew might have been watching?

I don't believe there was any broadcast.

One of the percussionists on BB however did perform with Jimi at the Festival!

Miles had big ears on the scene at that time I believe.

Edited May 13, 2008 by jazzbo

[bertrand]

I don't think Woodstock was as much an influence on Bitches' Brew as Larry Young's Mother Ship

Bertrand.

which would not be issued for a few years.

But Larry Young was present at the session for In A Silent Way, just a few days after Mother Ship. I've speculated on the possibility of Larry having slipped Miles a tape before. No one has yet to disprove my theory, unless they can prove that it was impossible back then for an artist to walk out of a session at the RVG studios with a tape of the session.

Edited May 13, 2008 by bertrand

[paul secor]

Could the $ at Woodstock have influenced Miles a bit also?

Edited May 13, 2008 by paul secor

[bobbelden]

BETTY MABRY: Down Home Girl (CBS unissued)

recorded May 14 & 20, 1969

producers: Miles Davis/Teo Macero

engineer: Stan Tonkel

Columbia Studio B

Betty Mabry-vocals

John McLaughlin-guitar

unknown-guitar

Larry Young-organ (5/20)

Herbie Hancock-organ (5/14)

Harvey Brooks-bass

Mitch Mitchell-drums

MAY 14, 1969

Born On The Bayou 4:20

Down Home Girl 5:26

MAY 20, 1969

Politician Man 5:28

Ready Willing And Able 3:32

Hangin' Out 5:00

MILES DAVIS QUINTET

with Shorter, Corea, Holland, DeJohnette

Miles Runs The Voodoo Down 17:49 Blue Coronet-69 69-07-00

Miles Runs The Voodoo Down 14:53 Village Gate-69 69-07-00

Miles Runs The Voodoo Down 10:29 Newport-69 69-07-15 (no Shorter)

Miles Runs The Voodoo Down 9:16 Antibes-69-1 69-07-25

Spanish Key 10:36 Antibes-69-2 69-07-26

Miles Runs The Voodoo Down 9:21 Antibes-69-2 69-07-26

Miles Runs The Voodoo Down 9:38 Rutgers-69 69-07-27

WOODSTOCK

Miles Runs The Voodoo Down 14:04 Miles Davis Bitches Brew 69-08-20

Miles Runs The Voodoo Down-alt 5:38 Miles Davis Bitches Brew 69-08-20

Miles Runs The Voodoo Down-v.1 2:18 Miles Davis Bitches Brew 69-08-20

Miles Runs The Voodoo Down-v.1.2 3:43 Miles Davis Bitches Brew 69-08-20

Spanish Key 17:35 Miles Davis Bitches Brew 69-08-21

Spanish Key-alternate take 2 10:52 Miles Davis Bitches Brew 69-08-21

Spanish Key-alternate take 3/end 7:46 Miles Davis Bitches Brew 69-08-21

Edited May 13, 2008 by notme

[B. Clugston]

One of the percussionists on BB however did perform with Jimi at the Festival!

Actually not. There has been some confusion between two similarly named percussionists. Juma Sultan played with Hendrix at Woodstock. Jim Riley (Jumma Santos) was on Bitches Brew. Philip Freeman's shoddily-researched book Running the Voodoo Down repeats the error.

Edited May 13, 2008 by B. Clugston

[jazzbo]

Okay.. .. .. ..