AOTW March 6-12

[Guy Berger]

Recorded October 24 & 25, 1966

personnel: Miles Davis (tpt), Wayne Shorter (ts), Herbie Hancock (p), Ron Carter (b), Tony Williams (d)

[Guy Berger]

Alright, I'll get the ball rolling since it's almost the 6th. This was the first straight-ahead jazz album I fell in love with, though I don't think I fully understood it at the time and I still learn a little every time I listen to it.

By the time this album was recorded, the rhythm section had been playing together for over three years and Wayne had been in the band for over 2 years. The group's first studio album, E.S.P., is interesting and innovative, but Miles Smiles is leaps and bounds past it in every regard. (Which isn't really surprising -- the time gap between Jan '65 and Oct '66 is just as long as the gap between May '63 and Jan '65.) Miles's playing has advanced a lot, he has better understanding of this group's music, his chops are in much better shape, and the stuff he's playing is downright brilliant. Wayne's grown a lot as a player: he plays with even greater melodicism, and he's already paring down the excess notes from his playing. (If that makes sense.) Herbie does his distinctive "right hand only" thing on three of the tunes. And Tony Williams, holy crap, what the heck got into his koolaid those two days? And not to forget Ron Carter -- since that Herbie's laying out so much, and Tony is going berserk behind the drums, somebody's got to hold everything together. And the amazing thing is that he's so flexible about it -- listen to how he expands and contracts the music on "Footprints".

Things that everybody comments on when they listen to this album--

* As I said before, Tony Williams is infuckingcredible. There are parts in "Footprints" which boggle my mind every time (listen to what he's doing behind Miles's solo for a start, say at around 3:05). Also, his eruption behind Wayne's solo on "Dolores". And the stuff he's doing behind Herbie's solo on "Gingerbread Boy", or on the outro from the same tune.

* Herbie's lushly symphonic solo on "Circle", which sounds completely written out but obviously wasn't. And it's in direct contrast to his very spare playing on "Orbits", "Dolores" and "Gingerbread Boy". Or his brilliant comping on "Footprints", which is coming from a different place all together. Amazing he could switch gears so effectively.

* The album is totally underrehearsed. Tony and Ron don't want to stop on "Footprints". The band never manages to close "Dolores" out properly. But I think the off-the-cuff nature of the performances is exactly what makes the album so brilliant.

* "Circle" is an abstraction of the classic Miles ballad performance. (I think Chambers points this out.) In fact, parts of it are based on "Drad Dog" (from '61). But it's a lot freer and loser than those earlier ballads. Wayne's solo on this one, which gets overshadowed by what Herbie does next, is superb.

* Footprints is such a landmark performance, and also a great example of "Miles Davis effect". When you listen to Wayne's version on Adam's Apple, you hear a haunting melancholy tune with some beautiful playing. And I can understand why some people prefer that. But this performance takes the tune to an entirely new level. It adds about 5 new dimensions to the February version.

* The deconstruction of "Freedom Jazz Dance" and "Gingerbread Boy". This is the only one of the group's studio albums where they bring in tunes from the outside. But I think it's different than the live recordings of standards from the mid 60s. THOSE tunes were legacies of Miles's 50s and early 60s music, and were gradually adapted to the group's evolving style. THESE 2 tunes were explicitly brought into the studio knowing they'd be fucked with. I've been listening to Miroslav Vitous's version of "Freedom Jazz Dance" recently (almost picked Infinite Search as the AOTW) and it was obviously influenced by this one. "Gingerbread Boy" sounds to me like Miles filtering some of Ornette's late 50s recordings. Brilliant.

And one other thought:

* Miles solo on "Gingerbread Boy" is one of his best from this period.

Trying to pick a favorite tune from this album is tough. When I first got this album, I liked side 1 better, but asides from "Footprints" I actually prefer the second side best. "Gingerbread Boy" or "Footprints.

Anyway, looking forward to everybody's comments on this one... it should be interesting.

[Alon Marcus]

One of my favorite albums.

Part of its charm is the mystery it conveys.

Today I think I understand what's going on on most of the tracks.

Probably this AOTW will be a good chance to ask the knowledgeable participants of the board some questions about it.

"Orbits" - I know the tune itself has harmonic structure. You can find it in the Real Book (melody with chords). But I don't think that the group uses any chordal skeleton in their performance. Which means they play freebop. On the other hand the liner notes say that they don't play freebop . So is it me or Bob Belden? This song also appeared on the recent "Allegria" by Wayne with a totally different approach and different harmonic structure in improvisations.

"Dolores" - I think that the guys that improvise here try to keep the structure of the song (once again you can find it written out chords + melody in the Real Book) so in this case the concept of playing choruses is relevant. The difference is that the choruses are stretched and don't have definite length.

I'll be glad to hear what you all think about those two tracks. Also, are there any other performances of "Orbits" and "Dolores" by Wayne Shorter or other artists except for those already mentioned?

Edited March 6, 2005 by Alon Marcus

[Alon Marcus]

* "Circle" is an abstraction of the classic Miles ballad performance. (I think Chambers points this out.) In fact, parts of it are based on "Drad Dog" (from '61). But it's a lot freer and loser than those earlier ballads. Wayne's solo on this one, which gets overshadowed by what Herbie does next, is superb.

I'm not sure I understood what you mean by saying "a lot freer and loser than those earlier ballads". Circle has a tight structure (especially compared to what goes on tracks like "Orbits") and the group follows it rigorously. You can say that the structure itself is highly original.

* Footprints is such a landmark performance, and also a great example of "Miles Davis effect". When you listen to Wayne's version on Adam's Apple, you hear a haunting melancholy tune with some beautiful playing. And I can understand why some people prefer that. But this performance takes the tune to an entirely new level. It adds about 5 new dimensions to the February version

Totally agree with you on that one

[Guy Berger]

* "Circle" is an abstraction of the classic Miles ballad performance.  (I think Chambers points this out.)  In fact, parts of it are based on "Drad Dog" (from '61).  But it's a lot freer and loser than those earlier ballads.  Wayne's solo on this one, which gets overshadowed by what Herbie does next, is superb.

I'm not sure I understood what you mean by saying "a lot freer and loser than those earlier ballads". Circle has a tight structure (especially compared to what goes on tracks like "Orbits") and the group follows it rigorously. You can say that the structure itself is highly original.

I guess I was thinking of the group's approach to time on this. It feels like they are constantly speeding up and slowing down.

Guy

[tonym]

Thanks Guy. This has got to be possibly my all time favourite album; in any genre.

Tomorrow I'm going to sit down with 'phones on and think about how I can put anything into words as to how I feel about the music and the band on this date (I'm way too tired now. Been a long day)

[7/4]

my favourite album by that band!

[Guy Berger]

I'll be glad to hear what you all think about those two tracks. Also, are there any other performances of "Orbits" and "Dolores" by Wayne Shorter or other artists except for those already mentioned?

Medeski Martin & Wood did "Orbits" on Notes from the Underground. VSOP did "Mulva"... err "Dolores" on one of their albums, IIRC. I have't heard either version.

There's also one live recording of this quintet performing "Dolores" from the spring of '67, but I haven't heard it.

Via AMG, versions of "Dolores" on:

Mike Clark, Summertime

Charles Farmbrough, City Tribes

Claudio Fasoli, Jazz from Italy

Coutrney Pine, Journey to the Edge Within

Adonis Rose, Unity

Rachel Z, On the Milkyway Express: A Tribute to the Music of Wayne Shorter

VSOP, VSOP: The Quintet

versions of "Orbits" on:

Jarad Trio Astin, Audio Alchemy

Anthony Braxton, Solo Piano (Standards) 1995

Mat Maneri, Light Trigger

the aforementioned MMW album

Guy

[Alon Marcus]

I'll be glad to hear what you all think about those two tracks. Also, are there any other performances of "Orbits" and "Dolores" by Wayne Shorter or other artists except for those already mentioned?

Medeski Martin & Wood did "Orbits" on Notes from the Underground. VSOP did "Mulva"... err "Dolores" on one of their albums, IIRC. I have't heard either version.

There's also one live recording of this quintet performing "Dolores" from the spring of '67, but I haven't heard it.

Via AMG, versions of "Dolores" on:

Mike Clark, Summertime

Charles Farmbrough, City Tribes

Claudio Fasoli, Jazz from Italy

Coutrney Pine, Journey to the Edge Within

Adonis Rose, Unity

Rachel Z, On the Milkyway Express: A Tribute to the Music of Wayne Shorter

VSOP, VSOP: The Quintet

versions of "Orbits" on:

Jarad Trio Astin, Audio Alchemy

Anthony Braxton, Solo Piano (Standards) 1995

Mat Maneri, Light Trigger

the aforementioned MMW album

Guy

Now I have to do some research...

Thanks Guy!

[Big Al]

Back in January 2001, I was in Atlanta for a conference. I got bored at the hotel and decided to take a ride on the Marta train to the Tower Records (when it used to be by the mall there in Peachtree). I took this CD to listen to while riding the train. During the song “Circles,” these two duded a few rows past me start getting into it. One dude, big ol’ bad-ass lookin’ fella, probably related to The Fridge starts in on this little skinny dude with corn-braids: (and forgive my butchering of the dialect, this is about how it sounded to these ears): “Man, yo’ a sissy! Yo’ a sissy wearin’ the ponytails like that!” So then the little skinny dude jumps right back “Whatchoo talkin’ bout, motherfucker? I kick yo’ ass!” “Aw fuck, man, I ain’t afraid of yo’ skinny ass.” So they go on like this for about five minutes and at first I thought we were all goners, figured bullets would start flyin’. Then I had this urge to burst out laughing, just because of how ridiculous it looked: this little skinny dude tryin’ to get in the face of this big dude. And I wanted to laugh so bad; ended up turning away from these guys, knowing that if they saw me laugh, it woulda been MY ass that they woulda kicked! They both got off the train and started beating the shit outta each other (actually, I think the big guy just stepped on the little guy) and the rest of us kinda let out a sigh of relief that we were all still alive.

Anyway, all this was going on while “Circles” was playing, and I always think of this little bit of excitement when I listen to it.

More later on how infuckingcredible the rest of this album is!

[sidewinder]

The one track from this album which always leaves an impression is 'Fall'. It always conjours up an image of browning leaves, migrating wildlife and temperatures heading South.

The whole album is really full of highlights though, hard to single out any one stand-out track. For me 'ESP' has the freshness of new group interplay but 'Miles Smiles' sets the standard for conception as far as this group is concerned.

[Alon Marcus]

The one track from this album which always leaves an impression is 'Fall'. It always conjours up an image of browning leaves, migrating wildlife and temperatures heading South.

The whole album is really full of highlights though, hard to single out any one stand-out track. For me 'ESP' has the freshness of new group interplay but 'Miles Smiles' sets the standard for conception as far as this group is concerned.

Fall is a beautiful tune but it's from Nefertiti.

[sidewinder]

Of course it is. I'm probably associating it with 'Miles Smiles' as a result of endless listening to the 'Complete 60s' Mosaic LPs, where the sessions blur somewhat. Must get back to the original LPs, this is dangerous..

Edited March 7, 2005 by sidewinder

[Guy Berger]

Interestingly, "Gingerbread Boy" is a tune that Miles started playing live before recording it in the studio. The two live versions from 1966 -- from May (Portland) and July (Newport) are more similar to Heath's version. They have that same descending phrase at the end of the theme. When the band entered the studio in October Miles replaced that phrase with an ascending one, and all later versions of the tune performed by his quintet (through 1969) followed suit.

Guy

[Big Al]

Sorry to chime in so late with something of any real relevance to the actual album.

FWIW, there was a great AotW discussion about Sorceer and Nefertitiawhile back, in case anyone wants to check it out!

I guess what really impresses me the most about this album is when Herbie lays out when Miles and Wayne are soloing. Even Herbie's own solos are horn-like in their single-note simplicity, and it just mesmerizes me every time. In other words, I am totally in agreement with Guy's eloquent statement above!

I'm also in agreement with his statements about Tony Williams! Good grief! He comes flying outta the gate from the first track and never lets up! The highlight for me in that aspect is "Footprints:" Ron Carter's march-from-hell bass line over Tony Williams multi-arms waving & crashing, it's a wonder the soloists didn't throw their hands up in the air and say "ta hell with THIS!!!"

And it is THAT level of intensity that makes me crank up this sucker every time I've got it in the car! For a jazz album, this sucker RAWKS!!!!!

Damn, I wish it wasn't so late: now I wanna go crank it up AGAIN!!!

[JohnS]

I'll admit to finding this Miles band pretty difficult back when the music first came out. Although it builds on the freedoms of the Lincoln Centre concert I found this one seriously new and mysterious. Took me a long time to get into it and appreciate the band's approach. Even now I find some of the mystery is still there but I guess therein lies the magic.

Herbie lays out a lot, could almost be a pianoless group.