Fusion For Miles

Trumpeter Russell Gunn has always been a forward-thinking musician, incorporating his love of hip-hop and electronics along with his obvious talent for edgy post-bop improvisation. So, it should come as no surprise that Russell Gunn Plays Miles, while obviously a record paying tribute to one of Gunn's biggest influences, the legendary trumpeter Miles Davis, is an edge-of-your-ear experience. Not only has Gunn not made a straight-ahead, acoustic jazz album, he's made a '70s-'80s fusion-era Davis album that defies expectations even on those far-reaching terms.

This single CD gives one a definitive look at Miles Davis' live show from his last three years. Using funky but unpredictable rhythm sections and leaving space for plenty of solos, Davis created a unique brand of fusion that has yet to be satisfactorily duplicated. Among his more notable sidemen during this era are altoist Kenny Garrett, Foley on lead bass (which he used as a lower-toned guitar), one or two keyboardists chosen from Joey DeFrancesco, Adam Holzman, Robert Irving III, Kei Akagi, and John Beasley, various bassists, drummers, and percussionists, and on "Amandla," the tenor of Rick Margitza. Davis is in consistently strong form throughout the numbers, which include "In a Silent Way," "New Blues," "Human Nature," "Tutu," and "Time After Time." Quite often the live versions of these songs are more creative and exciting than the ones previously issued.

This is where Miles Davis turned funk into jazz, rock into soul, and chaos into Beauty. With a rotating cast of bands featuring keyboardists Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea, guitarist John McLaughlin, percussionist Airto Moreira, saxophonists Gary Bartz and Wayne Shorter, and myriad other explorers, Davis kept up with the times…and surpassed them. He rocked harder than Sly, got funkier than J.B., and turned jazz inside out, slicing the music open till blood spilled on to the floor. More focused than Bitches Brew, which is all the more surprising since it's actually a piecemeal recording from various dates and venues–some in the studio, some on stage, but all very much l-i-v-e.

If you are familiar with the fragile, faltering trumpet sound Miles Davis revealed on his return to music in 1982 the first thing that will strike you here is that by 1985 the 'prince of darkness' had his strength and his embouchure back. By '85 Miles is both up to it and up for it. As are his band. Seasoned tenor firebrand Bob Berg and guitarist John Scofield share the frontline; Darryl Jones deploys his industrial strength funk bass to maximum effect and Miles' nephew Vince Wilburn Jr. proves that the drum kit Davis bought him as a Star kid was a sound investment. As always with Miles the set list is drawn from contemporaneous releases: Star People (1983), Decoy (1984) and predominantly You're Under Arrest (1985). Performed on July 28, 1985 at Yomiuri Land, Open Theatre East, Inagi, Japan and broadcast on NHK radio.

For over five decades, trumpeter/bandleader Miles Davis (1926-91) was a major innovator of cool, modal, avant-garde, and fusion jazz styles. This video captures Davis's last working band: alto saxophonist/flutist Kenny Garrett, drummer Ricky Wellman, percussionist John Bingham, keyboardist Kei Akagi, bassist Benjamin Rietveld, and lead bassist Foley McCreary, live at the 10th Annual Paris Jazz Festival on November 3, 1989.

Various Artists - Miles Espanol - New Sketches Of Spain (2011) {2CD Set, eOne EOM-CD-2104, Miles Davis related}
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© 2011 eOne Music | EOM-CD-2104
Jazz / Latin / Modern Creative / Fusion / Flamenco

Producer Bob Belden has turned reinventing the music of Miles Davis into a cottage industry, taking Davis to India for 2008’s Miles from India, and more recently Belden has given us Asiento, which re-imagined Bitches Brew as a slice of electronica. Now he gives us Miles Español, which finds Belden pairing veterans of Davis' various bands with musicians from Spain, Morocco, and Latin America on classic tracks from Davis' Sketches of Spain and Kind of Blue albums. Hearing Davis compositions with oud, bassoon, accordion, and bongos is certainly exotic and interesting, but one longs for the elegant, stately grace of the original albums.

Trumpeter, bandleader, composer, and one of the most important figures in jazz music history, and music history in general. Davis adopted a variety of musical directions in a five-decade career that kept him at the forefront of many major stylistic developments in jazz. Winner of eight Grammy awards…

Miles Davis - Tokyo 1973 (2016) {Iconography ICON056}
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© 1973, 2016 Iconography | ICON056
Jazz / Jazz Funk / Fusion / Jazz Rock / Trumpet

The early-to-mid 1970s marked perhaps the most unique and radical period in Miles Davis' career. With bands such as Sly & The Family Stone and Parliament/Funkadelic becoming increasingly popular, Davis began to draw considerable influence from their uptempo, electronic funk sound. As his then recently-developed penchant for including longer and longer compositions on his albums continued, Davis enlisted the talents of some of the finest jazz fusion players around, including John McLaughlin, Joe Zawinul, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter and Billy Cobham. With their abilities at hand, Davis would produce a trio of studio LPs that would be considered among the best in his catalogue: In A Silent Way (1969), Bitches Brew (1970) and Jack Johnson (1971).

Miles Davis - The Last Word, The Warner Bros. Years (2015) {8CD Box Set Fully Remastered , Warner Bros. 0081227950101}
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© 2015 Warner Bros. / Rhino | 0081227950101
Jazz / Contemporary Jazz / Fusion / Jazz-Pop / Jazz-Rap / Orchestral Jazz / Trumpet

In 1985, Miles Davis shocked the music world by moving from Columbia to Warner Bros.. He immediately started working on an album called Perfect Way after a tune by Scritti Politti, later renamed Tutu by producer Tommy LiPuma. When Tutu (a tribute to Desmond Tutu) was released in 1986, it re-ignited Miles Davis’ career, crossing over into the rock and pop markets and winning him two Grammy Awards. A definitive collection of the later part of Miles Davis’ work, lavishly packaged and remastered, from the Warner Bros studio albums Tutu, Amandla and Doo-Bop, the Dingo and Siesta soundtracks, live recordings with Quincy Jones, and the likes of Kenny Garrett, Foley and Adam Holzman.