Miles Davis in the 80s
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Forum Name: Jazz Music Recommendations/Featured albums
Forum Description: Make or seek recommendations and discuss specific jazz music albums
URL: http://www.JazzMusicArchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=339
Printed Date: 18 Apr 2024 at 10:00pm
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Topic: Miles Davis in the 80s
Posted By: Cannonball With Hat
Subject: Miles Davis in the 80s
Date Posted: 20 Apr 2011 at 4:53pm
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Or a more proper title would be post-Big Fun Miles Davis.
I've heard approximately 0% discussion on this part of Davis' career (admittedly not that I listen for it often). On PA most of them are rated pretty low and/or have few ratings/reviews, but thats a prog site, so I can understand it. So I figured this would be a good place to ask.
So...What are these albums like? Which would you recommend/which do you consider the best? (If it helps I'm a fan of the avant and faster tempoed MD stuff...though I'm pretty much open to anything on the adventurous side)
Thanks in advance. ------------- Hit it on Five. Saxophone Scatterbrain Blitzberg Stab them in the ears. |
Replies:
Posted By: js
Date Posted: 20 Apr 2011 at 6:09pm
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The 'We want Miles" live album is a pretty safe bet. Its classic Miles flavored hard rock fusion with Mike Stern on screaming electric guitar. The others are hit and miss, but I also like "Amandla" its fairly mellow, but the songwriting is excellent, I have a review on this site. I also have reviews of his other 80s albums, but they may not all be posted here yet.
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Posted By: darkshade
Date Posted: 20 Apr 2011 at 6:17pm
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Star People is also good, featuring John Scofield on guitar
------------- http://www.last.fm/user/MysticBoogy" rel="nofollow - My Last.fm |
Posted By: Kazuhiro
Date Posted: 20 Apr 2011 at 7:07pm
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Yes. We Want Miles and Star People are good certainly albums. You 're Under Arrest might be compared with them and it be too unpopular. Oh dear details that Sting participated in the album anywayOr, the point to have quoted the theme of Jack Johnson again. And, the fact that performs Time After Time and Human Nature might be evidence that Miles Davis at least admitted those tunes. |
Posted By: Pekka
Date Posted: 21 Apr 2011 at 12:47am
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I guess I should spin them again some day, but the Columbia albums of the era I've heard had way too... 80s production values for my tastes, compared to the grittier sound of the previous decade. ------------- 
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Posted By: bigtiny
Date Posted: 23 Apr 2011 at 1:50am
Actually there was a bunch of stuff after Big Fun but before the 80s.....(On the Corner, Get Up With It, Live Evil, etc.) but I assume you mean the post-retirement stuff from the 80s. The best stuff, in my opinion is 'We Want Miles'. I think that was his strongest band and his most precise presentation of his musical vision at the time. I always found 'Star Time' to be pointless and meandering. I didn't dig any of the subsequent Columbias ('You're Under Arrest', etc.) I did like 'tutu'. It would have been nice to have heard more live musicians on it, but Marcus Miller did a pretty good electronic version of Gil Evans, the tunes are pretty hip, and I thought Miles played strongly on it. About the same time there was a soundtrack album for a film called 'Siesta' that is also pretty good. And that's about it for me...I didn't dig the hip hop experiments... bigtiny |
Cannonball With Hat wrote:Posted By: js
Date Posted: 23 Apr 2011 at 5:59am
| Tutu has its moments, but I thought Amandla did a better job of getting an electronic Gil Evans album. |
Posted By: darkshade
Date Posted: 23 Apr 2011 at 12:39pm
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Do try and find a live recording called "Warsaw 1983" it features his
band with John Scofield and Al Foster and contains some of the tightest
playing Ive heard from his 80s work. On par with his 70s recordings. It
is a bootleg, but excellent quality. I dont know how far you're looking to go, but Doo-Bop (1991), Miles' last album is enjoyable hip-hop/acid jazz, though unfortunately was not finished before Davis died, and you can tell it wasn't; but I enjoy it for what it is. ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/MysticBoogy" rel="nofollow - My Last.fm |
Posted By: Cannonball With Hat
Date Posted: 24 Apr 2011 at 3:36pm
Hmm...well I was just going with what the progarchives database has. It lists Big Fun after Get Up With It in its chronological organization. Granted, its older material but at least the release date I saw was 1974 (again, on PA...no idea what it is here).
But, yes. I did mean post retirement stuff. I have most of the "classic" electric era stuff (barring some live albums) which have certainly been growing on me as of late (and actually what inspired me to start this thread). And thanks for the informative post.  ------------- Hit it on Five. Saxophone Scatterbrain Blitzberg Stab them in the ears. |
Posted By: Cannonball With Hat
Date Posted: 24 Apr 2011 at 3:40pm
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Thanks for all the responses thus far.
We Want Miles seems to be the winner here. I listened to a few samples from Star People, which didn't thrill me too much.
And just to avoid posting three times in a row:
@ Darkshade: '91 is close enough to the 80s for me.  Though hip hop isn't my thing. However, the Warsaw one sounds intriguing. I like what I've heard from Scofield, so I'll put it on my radar.------------- Hit it on Five. Saxophone Scatterbrain Blitzberg Stab them in the ears. |
Posted By: darkshade
Date Posted: 24 Apr 2011 at 3:53pm
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Here's some of that Warsaw 1983 show ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/MysticBoogy" rel="nofollow - My Last.fm |
Posted By: Cannonball With Hat
Date Posted: 26 Apr 2011 at 6:08pm
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^ Not bad. Not bad at all. I don't know if I'd put in on par with the mid 70s stuff (though it was only one run through) but for being the 80s it certainly isn't that bad. Thanks for the links. ------------- Hit it on Five. Saxophone Scatterbrain Blitzberg Stab them in the ears. |
Posted By: dwill123
Date Posted: 26 Apr 2011 at 9:14pm
"You're Under Arrest" (1985) by no means his best work but one song from this album is constantly considered one of the best things he ever did during this period. A remake of the Michael Jackson song "Human Nature". Released just a few years before his death you can tell he's not in top form but his arrangement and phrasing in this song is just beautiful. |
Posted By: js
Date Posted: 26 Apr 2011 at 9:23pm
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Yes, Miles' version of 'Human Nature' is excellent, its a great song to begin with. I saw Miles live about a year before he passed away and the version of "Time after Time' they played was so bizarre and wonderful. The song had become much slower and more abstract, you could barely recognize what song it was.
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Posted By: darkshade
Date Posted: 29 Apr 2011 at 1:50am
no prob. Yea it shows Miles could still kick ass in the 80s. I was surprised when I started checking out his 80s output; though I don't always gravitate towards it when I want some Miles, it's awesome he didn't regress back to post-bop, and kept moving forward. It would have been great if he lived long enough to finish Doo-Bop, it would have been a great swan song, and Miles seems real comfortable in that acid jazz/hip-hop sound, more so than some of the 80s stuff ------------- http://www.last.fm/user/MysticBoogy" rel="nofollow - My Last.fm |