here's another installment of, "i'm spending way too much money on miles davis". i was in tower records and happened to notice that columbia records has re-released "miles davis - in person friday and saturday nights at the blackhawk" as a 4 cd set.

the original releases were two single lps (then two seperate single cds). the re-release has basically two full hours of music that hasn't been released before. i had been saving for the 20 cd montreux set, but had to get this one first. i much prefer the acoustic miles to the electric miles.

these dates, in general, have been woefully overlooked in the past by miles fans. they are from april 21 & 22, 1961 which was sort of a transitional period for miles. coltrane had left and it was prior to the formation of the "second great quintet" with wayne shorter and herbie hancock.

for historical perspective, in 1957 miles released 'miles ahead' with the gil evans orchestra, which received great critical acclaim. in 1958 miles had released 'porgy and bess' with orchestration by gil evans, which was a very popular seller. in 1959, he released 'kind of blue' which is regarded by many as the single greatest jazz album of all time. in 1960, he released 'sketches of spain', which again was acclaimed by critics as a masterpiece. then coltrane left to form his own group and began to take miles mantle as the envelope pusher and trend setter in jazz. miles released a couple of albums in 1961, that didn't break new ground, and so critics sort of panned them. it seems sort of funny, because he had released about 4-5 albums in succession that are still regarded today as all-time greats, but when he followed it up with merely a normally great record, everyone was sort of disappointed.

also, during that time the new thing in jazz was avant-garde. ornette coleman, don cherry, and others were changing jazz. coltrane embraced the new movement to some extent, but miles did not. coltrane incorporated some of that style into his new releases, but miles didn't, and so the miles releases in 1961, were panned because they didn't follow the avant-garde trend of the day. miles was seen as 'too old school'. he would change that when he formed the "second great quintet" mentioned above.

so the live at the blackhawk sets were always looked at as lesser works, because of the stuff mentioned above. now, divorced from the historical perspective, lack of trendiness, etc. you can appreciate them for what they are. great jazz sets.


$#%^%%
[This message was edited Sat Jun 7 20:48:37 PDT 2003 by medoc2003]