darkprinceofjazz We Want Miles From 1982, Shows trumpeter Miles Davis almost returning to his past form, In fact listening to this live double vinyl twice in the last few days, I am struck at how this music really sounds a lot like where Agharta and Pangaea leave off in 1975, The sound is a bit more polished, and the rough edges aren't there, maybe a little of the excitement is lost as well, but not much, This is hard funk jazz with Miles really feeling his oats, in my opinion We Want Miles is the best album from the 80's, Marcus Miller plays some mean funk Bass on this too, he has a crisp no none sense sound, you have some seriously good conga grooves being laid down by Minu Cinelu especially on "Fast Track", Mike Stern plays some mean guitar as well, he has a nice clean sound that cuts through the mix, I am also struck at how clean this recording is too, all instruments are clean and ringing through the mix, it's a product of it's time, I hear some of that 80's New Wave Synth mixed in here and there, that does kind of date the album a bit, but it's not over the top in any way.

I don't know if too many will agree with this, But I swear on "Fast Track' I hear clear influences of early 80's King Crimson, The last 5 minutes in particular, Miles is really cooking as I write this, This music surely makes you wish that miles would have built on this a little more in future music, you can run out and buy that 19 CD Montreux Box and lose your self in that for weeks.

"Jean-Pierre" gets a couple of readings on this double vinyl, both are the weak point on the album, sort of comes of as filler, though after repeated listening they do kind of grow on you, with the minimalist child like theme, and and nice varied solos buy all concerned, Saxophone Bill Evans doesn't embarrass him self either on the album.

The 20 minute "My Man's Gone Now" is the High Point of a stellar 80 minutes of music, But this aint 1958, and sure as hell wasn't arranged by Gil Evans, But Miles plays it kind of straight the first few minutes in, the funk builds through out the track, and that raunchy blues funk swagger builds, then all of a sudden the return to 1958 and they play it straight, which is a treat to say the least, Then its back to funk n blues and miles trilling and hanging those call and response notes, giving plenty of space to breath, Miles stretches all over the map here, he still seems a little shaky at times, but to be honest, in some ways, that fractured wounded tone is irresistible and part of what Miles was, and appealing to my ears.

I don't think I would have any problem saying this album is worthy of being grouped in with the other essential electric albums, I can't imagine how thrilled people were to hear this in 1982, after miles had basically been gone for 7 years, and and damn near didn't make it out of the 70's alive, Miles would play it safe the rest of the decade, in the studio in particular, many a live document available though, to show miles still had some chops left, We Want Miles and Aura I think are the best from the 80's, with Star People a distant second, if your new to Miles, and this is where you start in the 80's you may be disappointed at other albums. We Want Miles is Easily worth 5 stars in my book.

js We Want Miles is Miles' first live album since his lengthy hiatus and finds him more or less picking up where he left off in the mid-70s, albeit with some changes for the new decade. The basic approach of his live music here has remained the same in that Davis is still working with very spare musical ideas and counting on talented side men to make something happen with his bare riffs and rhythms. Most of these songs are extended jams based on short melodies, or sometimes just a groove, but this sort of loose structure has served Miles very well over much of his career. Although the music on here has a similar organizational approach to much of his music in the 70s, there are some distinct differences to these new Miles jams of the early 80s. Overall there is a much leaner and cleaner texture, soloists are often left with only bass and drums/percussion to back them up thereby leaving a lot of breathing room and space in the solos. Marcus Miller on bass lends a very modern and virtuostic approach to the bass that was lacking from previous Davis jams and Mike Stern brings a fresh 80s styled tapping oriented guitar solo sound to the band. It's that leaner texture though that makes this 80s version of the Miles jam session slightly inferior to much of his 70s work. This kind of improvised music thrives on a busy rhythm section and it's the reason for the great music found in records like Live at the Fillmore, with Corea and Jarret's ongoing 'keyboard battle', and Agharta, with Cosey and Lucas' intuitive guitar interplay. It's those doubled up rhythm sections filling in the background for the soloist to float on top of that made so many of those 70s recordings so great.

Having said all that, there is some excellent music on here. Mike stern's guitar player is incredible as he blends his be-bop chops with Miles' recommendation to put some Eddie Van Halen in his solos. Alex Foster's powerful drumming helps the new band's sparse approach to accompaniments work, as he is almost an orchestra in himself and can go from a whisper, to gradually building to a busy roar that fills every space and pushes soloists to their maximum. Throughout this album Miles and his crew hit some moments that match past glories, particularly when Miles or saxophonist Bill Evans beef up the rhythm sound with some background keyboards to help push the solos.

Some drawbacks include a couple jams that are a little on the cute side with child-like melodies and/or 80s styled pop-reggae rhythms, but it was the 80s and we were supposed to 'be happy don't worry'. Overall this is a great album with slammin Miles styled free jams that suffer only when compared to Miles' 70s free jam masterworks such as Agharta or Pangea.