I wanted to try something different with this post. I recently bought a bunch of albums from a small record store and decided to record the immediate thoughts I had listening to them, a kind of live-blogging for albums. Because my cd player does not have elapsed time on it, I'm just going to type without any kind of timestamp. I know, it kind of dilutes the experience of live-blogging, but I swear I typed all of this as I was listening. So.. here goes nothing.
Context: Sitting on my bed finishing a presentation for work while drinking Leffe, a smooth blond Belgian Beer.
Some background:
Concierto de Aranjuez (adagio): I have to admit (even though it's blasphemous) that during his Gil Evans period, I find Miles' horn to be, at times, far too piercing. It feels like my ear drum is being punctured with every note. I much prefer him in the lower register, it just feels so much warmer. Right now it just reminds me of a gnat. Towards the middle he makes a seamless transition from sadness to something far more... I guess grand is the right word. This is jazz at its most orchestral, something I tend not to associate with the era of small band jazz. I guess it has to do with the ensemble that Evans put together. Man his arrangements are amazing.
Will O the Wisp: The first thing that comes to my mind- playfully scary. If Miles at the beginning of Concierto is a gnat, right here he's a graceful dragonfly, darting between his backing horns (the french horn in particular is daunting in this piece). The songs called Will O the Wisp and it feels just right, like a reed in the lake moving gently in the wind.
The Pan Piper: The start is Miles at his most annoying living in the upper register and rarely coming back down to earth. But as much as I'm annoyed by some of the sounds, I also find this to be Miles at his most compelling. It sounds like a bad dream out of Fantasia or the playing of the Pied Piper gone horribly wrong. I was introduced to this song from a British compilation, Blues Miles, a mood compilation of sorts as it contains a bunch of songs from different periods in Miles' career. I had just started getting into jazz and it was the first time I'd HEARD Miles Davis. Like Woody Harrelson, I'd listened to Miles a few times, but this time I was Wesley Snipes and I heard him like he heard Jimi. And really, I've only heard Miles more clearly on one other occasion. First week in January, Sunday morning after a night of partying and big swigs of Jim Beam, I went to work with an epic hangover, and the sounds of the 42 minute monster Zimbabwe, from the album Pangaea punctuated every step I took.
But man the smoothness returns, and it takes me back to hot summers in Milwaukee, the kind of hot where the sweat becomes a string of beads across your forehead and upper lip. My mom use to work late nights at JC Penneys, so at night me and my brother, when we weren't fighting or watching crappy shows on the WB, would sit at the kitchen table and talk about life while listening to Miles Davis. My mom use to keep a jug of red wine on the table and we use to get the nice small glasses out of the cabinet and mix the wine with pepsi and ice. Made us feel like two grown men at a smoke filled jazz club. Man were we corny, but it was such a good time in my life, and Pan Piper takes me back there.
Saeta: A march! For some reason, I think of Verdi's Aida when I hear this. Genuinely happy, on an album thats mostly somber and reflective. I feel triumphant just listening to it, if I made a mixtape for my entrance music, this would definitely be the jazz entry.
Solea: And right back to sad, then an even swifter transition to exuberant. Man does the Davis/Evans combo know how to jerk you around. I can't quite call it a musical rollercoaster, because there is never a doubt where the tone lies or where they eventually want to take you. This song loses a bit of steam towards the end, Miles seems to be meandering a bit. Maybe he's a bit tired from all of the work he's put in earlier? The backing band seems to follow him as well; they're solid but that's not saying much on an album that's been so much more than that.
Song of Our Country: Not included on the original, but it's here and I'm grateful. It would have been a shame if the album ended with Solea, because it would not have done Sketches of Spain justice. Miles sounds drunk here, but much more purposeful, like the last few minutes of a workout, he knows the end is coming and he wants the finale to be exciting. He turns in some incredibly fast and skillful runs, with the trombone placing some fills where Miles gives him space. My last impression is that, damn Evans put together a group worthy of playing with Miles. They give him time to shine throughout, and especially on this song, while not completely fading into the background.
The last two songs are replays of Concierto. I've never been much of a completist, so I don't particularly care about the alternate takes on jazz reissues (the alternates on Tiajuana Moods being one of the exceptions). A lot of it has to do with the fact that, though I fancy otherwise, I'm just not as sophisticated a jazz listener as I want to be. Mostly I'm caught in a supreme no man's land- I know just enough to be uninformed. I can appreciate some of the subtleties of the different takes (one of them used a different producer for Concierto) but I'd be lying if I said that I noticed them without listening to each track back to back repeatedly.
Part one is a little more mild, the main theme just a tad slower. Best of all though, Miles is playing exactly where I want him, in the lower and middle registers with only a few forays into piercing gnat territory. Part two is just a replay of Concierto's ending, and I honestly, I have no clue what to say about it.
To me this is the most ambitious of the three Evans/Davis sets, because they try to interpret pieces in a jazz format that do not immediately fit. There's not much of an opportunity to really cook as in more mainstream jazz. Many people have said that this is one of Miles most accessible albums, some calling it "elevated elevator music" but I only think that's partially correct. For someone with an inclination about what jazz is supposed to be, this is nowhere near as accessible as Birth of Cool or Miles Ahead or Kind of Blue. For someone who is looking for a gateway from classical to jazz or something light to chew on before digging into the something like hardbop, then maybe they're right. Out of all the Evans/Davis sets, I think both Miles Ahead and Porgy and Bess are easier to listen to, and, in my opinion, they're both better as well. Not to say that SoS isn't great, basically any Miles in this period qualifies as such. Sketches of Spain is definitely still worthy of a buy and repeated listens, especially if you enjoy some of the lighter and yet in some ways more challenging work.
Thanks for reading and tell me what you think!
*Edit- After reading a lot of reviews, it seems that most people love Solea, while it was my least favorite track on the album. I'll have to take another listen to it. But I guess it's worth noting that my favorite songs were all of the short variety, maybe I just don't have the attention span for some of the long-form cuts. Maybe with repeated listens my favorites will switch.
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