Miles Cellar Door Update

[Evonce]

That Guardian article above has an understandable sentiment but the arguments make little sense, and the author doesn't even distinguish between studio and live outtakes. And as far as "Miles and his team chose the right tracks for Live-Evil" goes, well, that's subjective, isn't it? Live-Evil is not, to say the least, a universally loved collection.

I was holding off, but now I'm going to buy the Cellar Door set today just to spite the skeptics.

www.jazzshelf.org

[Guest]

i went to Borders last night and bought The Cellar Door sessions $110.00 bucks....i had a 30% off coupon ,..plus 10 % (rewards program) ...plus $40 gift cert. ( B-day gift from MOM) ...it came to $31 BUCKS !!!

listened to disc 1 ....sounds great!

[ghost of miles]

Anybody else amused/irked by Keith Jarrett's recurring addresses to "Marcus" throughout his liner notes here? Kinda ironic, as the last time I remember being irritated by somebody's using this sort of space to settle a personal grudge was G. Early attacking Jarrett in JAZZ (for his remarks about Marsalis).

[JSngry]

Bitchiness is an integral part of What Makes Keith Keith.

[ghost of miles]

Bitchiness is an integral part of What Makes Keith Keith.

Verily, you speaketh the truth.

[sidewinder]

i went to Borders last night and bought The Cellar Door sessions $110.00 bucks....i had a 30% off coupon ,..plus 10 % (rewards program) ...plus $40 gift cert. ( B-day gift from MOM) ...it came to $31 BUCKS !!!

listened to disc 1 ....sounds great!

Just working my way through this set. At £42 with a £15 Amazon voucher it came to £27. The price was right !

[johnagrandy]

How do you guys have the time to absorb all this stuff? It took me a year to fully absorb "Bitches Brew". Same for "Pangea/Agartha" and "Fillmore East". The second great quintet ... it took me 5 years to absorb all the original releases. I don't see the point of buying a Miles album unless you listen 25x - 100x.

[GA Russell]

John, I feel the same way.

I buy the box sets, and then "open up" one CD per year.

The 65-68 Quintet set is the only Miles box I've heard from start to finish.

[md655321]

I usually get a 'lay of the land' and try to get through a whole box, and then focus disc by disc, and usually song by song. I feel 2 or 3 good listens will get you about 90% the way there on understanding and evaluating the music. Its the next 300 times that fills up the reaminaing 10%. Sometimes 10 seconds is all you need to know if something is BAD though, and thats all i need to know the cellar door was nothin but bad ass motherfuckers playin their asses off. (as miles would say)

[Rooster_Ties]

Sometimes 10 seconds is all you need to know if something is BAD though, and thats all i need to know the cellar door was nothin but bad ass motherfuckers playin their asses off. (as miles would say)

That's been my experience too. Yes, sometimes as little as 10 seconds.

And to be completely serious, often it only takes 30, 20, or even as little 15 seconds to tell if something is gonna be REALLY great. This is true of most of the obscure stuff I'm often looking for and discover from that '65-'75 period in jazz that I love so much.

And it's also often true (for me, at least) with classical recordings of 20th Century works. Some of THE best things I've discovered have totally "clicked" with me in 20 seconds or less -- and yes, sometimes as little as 10 seconds -- often by composers I'd never heard of, or were largely unfamiliar with at the time.

[GA Russell]

I received my copy in the mail from Your Music today.

This thread was started on March 19, just over a year ago!

The set went on sale December 27.

I've waited this long, I figure I can wait another two weeks.

The way I see it, those of you who got it on Dec. 27th (which is just about all of you) bought yourselves a Christmas present. Not that you planned it that way...!

So I'm going to hold off till the 16th, and give myself an Easter present. Beats a chocolate egg!

[GregK]

The way I see it, those of you who got it on Dec. 27th (which is just about all of you) bought yourselves a Christmas present. Not that you planned it that way...!

well, that makes it the earliest Christmas shopping I have ever done then! I bought mine in August (pre-order)

[BFrank]

I usually get a 'lay of the land' and try to get through a whole box, and then focus disc by disc, and usually song by song. I feel 2 or 3 good listens will get you about 90% the way there on understanding and evaluating the music. Its the next 300 times that fills up the reaminaing 10%. Sometimes 10 seconds is all you need to know if something is BAD though, and thats all i need to know the cellar door was nothin but bad ass motherfuckers playin their asses off. (as miles would say)

That pretty much sums it up for me, too, MD.

[johnagrandy]

John, I feel the same way.

I buy the box sets, and then "open up" one CD per year.

The 65-68 Quintet set is the only Miles box I've heard from start to finish.

[/quote}

I'm probably listening to Unity, The Moontrane, Free For All , and The Gigolo for about the 500th time each ...

[GA Russell]

As promised, I waited until today to open up the box.

I'm on my second listen of disc 1, and I'm enjoying it. I've seen comments that disc 1 is the worst, and I'm looking forward to hearing the others in the future.

However, IMO the bass is too loud.

[WD45]

As promised, I waited until today to open up the box.

I'm on my second listen of disc 1, and I'm enjoying it. I've seen comments that disc 1 is the worst, and I'm looking forward to hearing the others in the future.

However, IMO the bass is too loud.

Wait'll you hit disc five. Damn!

Edited April 17, 2006 by WD45

[DMP]

Am I the only person who finds Davis' trumpet the least interesting part of this music? Probably...

[Peter Johnson]

Am I the only person who finds Davis' trumpet the least interesting part of this music? Probably...

No.

[mikeweil]

No, you're not. I'd have bought Live-Evil with all the trumpet edited out.

[ep1str0phy]

I buy the box sets, and then "open up" one CD per year.

Man, I wish I had the discipline to do that...

Frankly, I don't think I've (in any salient way) absorbed a good 90 or so percent of my music collection. Sometimes the connection is immediate and powerful, sometimes it just doesn't come. If something doesn't work, I just move on (usually buying stuff along the way)... 'Bitches Brew' collected dust for years before I finally worked up the nerve to tackle it. Conversely: Andrew Hill's 'Point of Departure' had me at second number three. At the same time, some great albums just take a really, really long time to settle in--and that's part of the thrill, really... 'getting to know' some of this stuff (the Cellar Door material included) can be a lifelong endeavor.

[Sundog]

I've had this set for a few weeks now and I've listened to it at least three times. Personally, I find this to be some of the easiest electric miles to assimilate. I'm sure there's a lot more to be found with repeated listenings. However, I feel like I get where miles and the band are coming from (and totally approve BTW). For me this release lived up to all the hype.

[Cliff Englewood]

So I bought "Live Evil", and have listened to it a couple of times and liked it more than I thought I would. So much so in fact that I am now considering the Cellar Door set.

So if I like the "Live Evil" stuff would I like the Cellar Door set more or less? I mean, is it just loads and loads of the same stuff or what?

I gone through most of this post and very little of it actually pertains to the music, as usual.

[jazzbo]

So I bought "Live Evil", and have listened to it a couple of times and liked it more than I thought I would. So much so in fact that I am now considering the Cellar Door set.

So if I like the "Live Evil" stuff would I like the Cellar Door set more or less? I mean, is it just loads and loads of the same stuff or what?

I gone through most of this post and very little of it actually pertains to the music, as usual.

You should like the box set. It is essentially the same music on this, well, the LIVE material on Live/Evil will be on the final two discs in the box set, in unedited form. And there will be four other discs of sets on nights without guitar, and they are different as a result. For the most part a lot of repitition of "tunes" BUT not tedious or entirely teh same to me.

The sound on the box set is better than any version of Live/Evil I've heard on cd.

Edited May 24, 2006 by jazzbo

[Cliff Englewood]

Sounds like it will have to be bought then, I find myself listening to more of Miles' Electric stuff then ever before. I got "Miles In The Sky" recently as well and really like it also. Thanks for the info.

[jazzbo]

Sounds like it will have to be bought then, I find myself listening to more of Miles' Electric stuff then ever before. I got "Miles In The Sky" recently as well and really like it also. Thanks for the info.

You're welcome. I sort of have a comfort food addiction to electric Miles. It was the first music that really excited me and 'fit' when I returned from Africa as a seventeen year old, and I've just had an affection and geniune need for it ever since.