MAY 1996
A JOINT VENTURE FROM THE GOLDEN AGE
The trumpeter Miles Davis and the arranger Gil Evans had the most probing and poetic partnership in jazz history. From their 1947 meeting until Evans's death, in 1988, the pair shared a fascination with harmonic motion, rhythmic variety, the weight of sound, and the kinetics of silence. While the influence of Evans on such diverse Davis small-group classics as " 'Round Midnight" and "Filles de Kilimanjaro" often went uncredited, his contribution was front and center in the late 1950s and early 1960s, resulting in three of the supreme recorded efforts of the twentieth century, which are now collected and expanded on Miles Davis & Gil Evans: The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings (six Columbia CDs, nine Mosaic LPs, appearing in mid-May).
Columbia paired Davis and Evans on the strength of their early success with the Davis Nonet, yet could hardly have expected that a larger ensemble would prove so inspirational. The two seized the opportunity to display their emotional compatibility, expressing feelings from tenderness to agony with total honesty and a most modern edge, while simultaneously pressing against accepted definitions of fitting jazz material. If the trumpeter had the tonal presence to sustain interest over an entire album, the writer matched it with expansive concepts that linked discrete pieces into larger unified statements.
Three of their efforts produced outright masterpieces. Miles Ahead (1957) blended pop ballads and material from friends Ahmad Jamal, Dave Brubeck, and J. J. Johnson into a continuous suite, with Davis playing at his most heartfelt (primarily on the richer-sounding flugelhorn) while the band constantly foreshadowed and reintegrated the material. For Porgy and Bess (1958) Evans reordered the Gershwin score, mixing lyrical rambles with bold street cries and angst-ridden ensemble blasts that turned an opera for several players into an instrumental soliloquy that was ahead of its time. Sketches of Spain (1959-1960) was even bolder, pairing classical compositions with open-ended originals based on Spanish folk tunes. Both Davis and Evans reached a creative peak in their reimagining of the adagio movement from Rodrigo's Concierto de Aranjuez. An attempt to ride the bossa nova bandwagon led to Quiet Nights (1962-1963), a fragmented and incomplete yet occasionally pungent finale to their peak period.
There are several good reasons to acquire the new boxed set as opposed to the separate albums. Sonic shortcomings, which have dogged the originals since Miles Ahead was first released in reprocessed stereo, have been overcome by the newly mastered discs and audiophile vinyl (the latter available by mail order from Mosaic at 35 Melrose Place, Stamford, Connecticut 06902). Odd projects, such as recordings from Davis's 1962 pianoless septet and the previously unreleased score for the 1963 play The Time of the Barracudas, are included. Alternate takes and excerpts from rehearsals find Davis and Evans fine-tuning their creations. And Miles Ahead, Porgy and Bess, and Sketches of Spain belong together, the shared pinnacle of two jazz giants. --B.B.
Working on Quiet Nights
Photo: Don Hunstein
NOT A BAND TO BRING HOME TO YOUR PARENTS
One of the most uncompromising and politically radical bands ever to appear on a major label, Rage Against the Machine has sold more than three million copies of its eponymous debut album, released in 1992. Receiving little radio play, the band achieved notoriety for protesting censorship and for publicizing the plight of the imprisoned American Indian Movement leader Leonard Peltier with their video "Freedom" on MTV. The album cover alone--a photo of a Buddhist priest burning himself to death to protest the Vietnam War--probably cost the band a few million in sales. After many rumors of its breakup, Rage has finally returned with its second album, Evil Empire (Epic), which picks up where the first one left off. The singer-lyricist Zack de la Rocha continues his obsession with history, declaring it a "flowery cancerous mess" and demanding that it be "broken, bloody and undressed." He undresses it by naming names in politics and the Pentagon ("that five sided Fist-a-gon"), demanding justice for the oppressed, and reminding everyone that the same forces that brought us Vietnam ("Vietnow," he calls it) remain in place. The guitarist Tom Morello, one of the few Harvard graduates to become a serious contender in rock-and-roll, has the musical imagination and ferocious energy to match De la Rocha's declamations, and the rhythm section of Tim Bob on bass and Brad Wilk on drums manages the difficult balance between heavy and tight as well as anyone on the planet. Watch for their tour. It'll remind you of 1968. --C.M.Y.
The controversial band
Photo: Lisa Johnson
Bob Blumenthal is a jazz critic for The Boston Globe.
Charles M. Young reviews popular music for Playboy, Musician, and other publications.
