Miles Davis Quintet - European Tour 1967

Product Details

Artist : Miles Davis Quintet
Format : PAL
Binding : DVD
EAN : 8436028695188
Number of Discs : 1
Product Group : DVD
Region Code : 2
Release Date : 2006-10-30
Running Time : 75minutes
Studio : Discovery Records

ASIN : B000JCDTX4

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Customer Reviews

Miles Davis taking it out as far as it can go (2007-07-21)

Firstly, if you have any of the four mid-sixties album this quintet recorded then don't hesitate to buy this. It was recorded as part of a "Newport Festival" on tour presentation in Europe in 1967. What you get are 2 half-hour sets in Sweden and Germany which is probably preferable to a full concert. "Agitation", "Footprints" and "Gingerbread Boy" appear in both 5 song sets, but this band was capable of producing completely new interpretations every time. Miles Davis seems more engaged in the second set, but plays a beautiful intro and first chorus of Monk's "Round Midnight" in the first set. There is a long ballad performance of "I fall in love too easily" in the second set that allows him to employ the reflective, breathy laid-back sound he was famous for before shifting to an uptempo romp - it moves without a break into "Walkin'". In this band he can also be blistering and intense. Wayne Shorter goes in for a more free-jazz style here, more intense than lyrical to my ear, but there is one extraordinary moment in "Walkin" in when he seems to become possessed by the spirit of early "sheets of sound" John Coltrane. Herbie Hancock stops playing and just stares at him. Shorter himself seems a bit shocked. Hancock provides a nice change of atmosphere throughout, usually calming things down in his solo, providing accompaniments by turns shimmering and rhythmic, sometimes duetting nicely with Ron Carter on bass. The second set has a camera on stage behind drummer Tony Willliams, staring over his shoulder , so we actually see the way he drives the band - his rhythmic intensity and variations are exhilarating. The way the band can shift simultaneously and seamlessly from one mood to another without missing a beat, as if moved by the same thought, is tremendous. The audience in both sets are polite, but seem a bit bemused by it. It is interesting to compare with the DVD "Another Kind of Blue" of Davis's rock-fusion performance at the Isle of Wight in 1970 - you get a sense that he has come to the end of what he can do in acoustic jazz in these 1967 sets and makes the 1970 performance more comprehensible. It's in black and white and has a few visual blips but the sound is clear. For a condensed experience of the second great Miles Davis Quintet, it's absolutely essential viewing. It might well be Miles's last acoustic recording.

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