MILES DAVIS/In a silent way sessions

I'm currently listening to the three-Cd of unrealesed versions of "In a silent way".

It's really excellent as it's the very beggining of Jazz-rock movement.

I think Miles has revolutionized jazz in the same way than the beatles

have revolutionize "pop" music.

I can see how much Soft Machine has been inspired by this genius.

Some reviews:Average Rating: 5 stars out of 5

(3 reviews submitted)

Amazing Music
This album blew me away. The Hendrix like Ghetto Walk, and the ingenius placing of in a silent way twice on the original LP. Showing the beautiful transition of the quintet electric music (Water Babies) to the early mainstream electric music (In A Silent Way). This is a great buy for 45 dollars. My only problem about this album is how davis should have recorded more music like this. there is some live music from this period to be released in late 2003 or early 2004, i can't wait. this album blew me away, not for loud annoying music, but IN A SILENT WAY!!!
Submitted by a reviewer in st. albans, vt, usa

The missing link between Nefertiti and Pharoah's Dance
This stuff is amazing. I loved the album before I heard the box set, so I thought I would like it, but it is so far beyond what I thought it would be. The Ghetto Walk is a 27-minute piece that ties together Miles' earlier experiments with McLaughlin and all the studio appearances McLaughlin made in the early 70s too. This is powerful music and if you have any interest in the headwaters of fusion, you need to own this box. - S.
Submitted by [email protected] in Portland OR USA

Well worth the wait.
Wow....this is great stuff. Miles surrounds himself with new players and adds the guitar of John McLaughglin.Not as far out as Bitches Brew...certainly more lyrical.
Submitted by a reviewer in Boynton Beach,FL USA

 

Yeah - I love Miles! "Bitches Brew" is currently my favourite - but I'm big on "Birth of the Cool" as well. Oddly, I'm not keen on "A Kind of Blue", although many people opine that's his best work.

I also like "Bags Groove", but then I'm mad about Thelonius Monk.

Jazz!

Nice.

Blacksword wrote: Bitches brew I quite liked 'Sketches of Spain' too.

 

Sketches and Brew.... Miles broke it open. Cheers

oliverstoned wrote: I'm currently listening to the three-Cd of unrealesed versions of "In a silent way". It's really excellent as it's the very beggining of Jazz-rock movement. I think Miles has revolutionized jazz in the same way than the beatles have revolutionize "pop" music. I can see how much Soft Machine has been inspired by this genius.

I'm a great Davis fan, and got introduced to his music  hearing Pharoahs Dance off Bitches on BBC Radio One, the week of its release. However, I was listening to jazz rock at least 2 years before this album was released - and before In A Silent Way was released.

You have to be careful with your chronological order here.  As Danbo put it, Davis "broke it open" by exposing jazz-rock to a bigger audience - he wasn't  the first. And lots of folks say Machine were influence by In Silent Way or Bitches Brew - however,  Volume 2, the first Machine  album to include jazz rock, was recorded before 1969, and Third, was recorded over the same period as Bitches Brew. And back in the 60's  Machine stated their influences stemmed from Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. I've asked Hugh Hopper about the Davis influence, and he acknowledges some but it was not the main sort. Graham Bennett's biography on Soft Machine, based on thorough research by the author, will cover influences in great detail.  And for an accurate  sense of the chronology of jazz rock's development, I strongly recommended you read Stuart Nicholson's Jazz Rock: A History.

When looking back on the twentieth century, I think later generations will point to Miles Davis as the chief innovator in modern music during his lifetime.

I have that 3 disc set, and its really good. The first disc is mostly material from Filles de Kilimanjaro, and the last disc is the In A Silent Way material, and its a wonderful collection to show the listener how he started making the jump from 60s post-bop jazz into the fusion realm. Although Bitches Brew reigns supreme as his fusion accomplishment, some other good fusion albums include Big Fun, Jack Johnson and the obscure On The Corner. The greatest thing about the Bitches Brew album though is that it contains the core members who would go on to form Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Tony William's Lifetime, and Return to Forever.

Certif1ed wrote: Heh! Trust Dick Heath to have all the really juicy facts - Keep 'em coming!!

Crazy old obsessive me!! Doing a radio show for over 20 years that is 40% new jazz (hence there's a lot of jazz rock played- hence obtained), I tend to keep my ear to ground, nose to the grind stone, eye on the road, toe to the line, knee in the groin and head in the cloud - so you can understand why I've become a bit of a warped person....

I'm a fact-gatherer and  I do look for good books on the subjects I know something about but want to fill the gaps in. Some knowledge on the Soft Machine/Mile Davis parallel histories came about because  two summers ago  I wasn't  sure either whether Third or Bitches Brew came first , (I fairly quickly discovered they were recorded at abou the same time - although I will admit one of the Miles Davis Live At Fillmore Hall CD doubles predates Bitches Brew but has 95% of that form of jazzrockfunk  in place). So I wrote myself a Soft Machine discography for the period 1968 to 1972, and included  recording/release dates of other notable jazz rock albums. The obsessive bit took over and I ended up with a much fuller Machine discography than I originally intend - i.e. nearly complete from Wilde Flowers to Soft Ware.  Sourcing LPs, CDs, books, websites, Robert Wyatt's biography, and Pete Frames Rock Family Trees, I got to what I guess was about 95% of my info. I asked my "friend" Alan Freeman of Ultima Thule in Leicester, if he would check it out the electronic version I'd made. It appears he contacted Bran Hopper (Machine's unofficial historian and collector of clippings etc), who passed the file to Hugh who contacted me (out of the blue!!) and recommended I contact Graham Bennett. Bennett put me straight on several things, and revealed he was near completing a Soft Machine biography. I volunteered to proof read it once completed it  and he accepted my offer - that what I did this last summer and that guy knows  (watch out for the pun) miles more than I do.

BTW a still incomplete (and with some of the  errors Bennet pointed out still in place) Soft MAchine discography sits in this PC, possibly waiting a home.