i am in the process of moving and therefore packing. and, as i was packing, i came across an item that i really cherish, but haven't watched in a while. it is a 25-30 minute video of a miles davis tv performance from april 2, 1959.

the show was called the sounds of miles davis and was on cbs in new york. back in those times not all programming was nationally broadcast, a lot of programing was local, and i suspect, but don't know for sure, but believe it was a locally shown thing.

it starts with a version of so what with the quintet featuring john coltrane. then it has 3 performances of miles ahead material with the gil evans orchestra directed by gil evans in the tv studio. they do the duke, blues for pablo, and new rhumba (my favorite).

it s very primitively shot and lit. it uses multi camera shots, but when one camera is on you can see the other cameras wheeling around in the back setting up their next angle. the lights are bright and frequently when the lights hit the brass instruments, the glare whites out half the picture, which is, obviously black and white being 50's tv.

the performances are awesome, particularly the miles ahead material. to the best of my knowledge, miles ahead material with the gil evans orchestra was only played that night for tv and then in 1961 at carnegie hall. miles played some miles ahead material with quincy jones directing the same orchestration for the montreux jazz fest in 1991. miles playes trumpet and flugelhorn, solos so brilliantly, and is just the epitome of cool.

very cool i just picked up that 20cd miles @ montreux set... i get the feeling eventually those will also be available on dvd...

i think miles may cost me more in the long run than what prince has cost me...

suomynona said:

++_++

yeah, i'm pretty much right with you. i just picked up the in a silent wat sessions package. i have my eye on the complete miles at montreux box. it is pricy, but miles is worth it. i've definitely dropped a few pennies on my collection of miles discs.

Cool. I havn't got this, but I know it's available on video titled Jazz Masters: Vintage Collection volume 2 (last time I checked it was still available on amazon.com). I watched it once in a Jazz History class and really enjoyed it. I remember during Coltrane solo how Miles was in the background having a smoke! you just couldn't do that these days!

I got the 20CD Montreux set a couple of weeks ago and I've just finished listening to it all. My word, it is one awsome set. Even though many of the songs appear numerous times on differnt concerts, each sounds totally unique and special. It's even got Prince's "Movie Star" on one CD, but it's not the best version, so dont spend your money just for that!

BTW Id rather not think about how much $$$ I've spent of Miles or Prince, but hell, the music is too funky.
[This message was edited Mon Jun 2 1:17:26 PDT 2003 by toejam]

medoc2003 said:

the silent way set is fantastic...

i picked up the montreux set when it was on sale at amazon for only $149 ($100 off...)

otherwise, i may not have been able to afford it at the time...

my favorite 2 tracks are ones done with david sanborn... "burn" and "portia" (both of which i've shared at freemyheart...)

ripped from my cd collection, i've 644 miles mp3s now... not as bad as my prince addiction (1096), but it's getting close since prince has basically stopped releasing stuff...

thank god for wbr & columbia... (something i never thought i'd say... lol)

suomynona said:

I've had the 20 CD set for about 6 months now, but I've yet to find the time to sit down and listen to it. Hmmm, I'm going to have to do that this weekend, then!

alexnvrmnd said:

i went through this too... finally i just loaded it into the 101cd carousel and forced myself to turn off sportscenter...