Miles enjoyed an extraordinary burst of creativity from ‘In a Silent Way’ and ‘Bitches Brew’ recorded in 1969 through to 1975.
The LPs that came out of these years of relentlessly touring the world include On The Corner, Big Fun, Get Up With It, Agharta, Pangaea and Dark Magus (all, iirc, produced by Teo Macero).
I’ve recently been drawn to watching videos of gigs from that period.
This is musically fascinating, and is connecting me to the music and the stellar cast of musicians that Miles played with then including Keith Jarrett, Jack deJohnette, Dave Liebmann, Chick Corea, Dave Holland et al.
e.g. This video of the band playing to 600,000 people at the Isle of Wight in 1970 is one piece of 38 minutes - the whole set:
And this one of a gig at Tanglewood in Massacusetts is also excellent:
I have listened to my CD of ‘In a Silent Way’ about 50 times.
But I haven’t heard it once since selling my CD5 and getting the 272.
I intend to give it a spin again this week.
Previously I knew nothing at all about the musicians and what brought it about and how Miles’ life went into that LP and came out of it.
I’m looking forward to rediscovering it - with added context in my head (and a lot of added SQ from my electronics).
There are some things that take several tries before they click with you, and vice versa.
(In my case this includes John Zorn, Bitches Brew, Henry Miller, ‘Journey to the End of the Night’, curries and whisky - at least not all at the same time).
When I discovered this lp, I was quite in hypnotic state. No one else can or could do that.
Dark Magus is wonderful too.
Another big lp concert is “ we want Miles”, 2X lp, concert from 1981. Miles stopped drugs and had a long break between 1975 and 1981. This concert is his return on the scene. Magistral .
