Rebooted...
Last posted April 23, 2020
July 10, 1973
Miles Davis (tpt, org); Dave Liebman (ss, ts, fl); Pete Cosey (g, perc); Reggie Lucas (g);
Michael Henderson (el-b); Al Foster (d); James Mtume Foreman (cga, perc)
In 1972, Miles Davis released On The Corner. In his autobiography,
Miles felt Columbia Records didn't push the album, which added to his
frustrations, but it was also a time when Miles learnt more of
Stockhausen's concepts of music. He said: "I had always written in a
circular way and through Stockhausen I could see that I didn't want to
ever play again from eight bars to eight bars, because I never end
songs; they just keep going on."
With percussionist Mtume Heath and guitarist Pete Cosey in the
lineup, "the band settled down into a deep African thing, a deep
African-American groove, with a lot of emphasis on drums and rhythm, and
not on individual solos."
Miles added: "I would try exploring one chord with this band, one
chord in a tune, trying to get everyone to master these small little
simple things like rhythm. We would take a chord and make it work for
five minutes with variations, cross rhythms, things like that. Say Al
Foster is playing in 4/4, Mtume might be playing in 6/8, or 7/4, and the
guitarist might be comping in another time signature, or another rhythm
altogether different. That's a lot of intricate shit we were working
off this one chord."
For audiences attending this show in London in 1973, they would have
thought of Miles playing tracks from On The Corner. But for many, the
performance, though fiery, probably sounded more like improvisations and
noddlings. Tracks like Turnaroundphrase and Tune In 5, which featured
here, would only reach a wider audience with the release of the Dark
Magus live album in 1974.
For now, fans can say a word of thanks to saxophonist Dave Liebman
who had the presence of mind to put a tape recorder on stage and record
the shows.
As valleybird commented on the internet: "This is an excellent stage
recording, and so is the performance itself! Click on start, close your
eyes if you like, and be on stage with the band! Thanks to Dave Liebman,
who I believe is the source of this tape. What you get here is an
excellent capture of the stage sound at a Victorian entertainment
theater, the Rainbow Theater. The sound of the drums sound natural...
There is only low interference of the PA, what you get is their stage
amp line, which wasn't so bad for this time. A really interesting
recording for audiophiles too."
~by bluesever
First set
Turnaroundphrase (M. Davis) 11:55
Tune in 5 (M. Davis) 10:24
Unknown title 730620 (M. Davis) (with applause, announcement) 21:27
Second set
Right Off (M. Davis) 13:38
Ife (M. Davis) 20:50
Calypso Frelimo (M. Davis) (incomplete) 12:18
Cut off at 12:18.
fbsvw