Miles Electric: A Different Kind of Blue

John Kelman

Senior Editor since 2004

With the realization that there will always be more music coming at him than he can keep up with, John wonders why anyone would think that jazz is dead or dying.

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Published: December 17, 2004

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And the musicians were sometimes unsure about what they were doing, but that was simply part of Miles' way to get people to "play what you don't know." By putting the players off-balance, he encouraged experimentation. Hancock relates how, after one particular recording session, guitarist John McLaughlin asked him if what they had done was any good. Hancock replied that he didn't know, but that when it ended up on record it always sounded good. This degree of unbalance and uncertainty created an environment where anything was possible and nothing was out of order, again strongly demonstrated on the Isle of Wight performance.

The documentary is also peppered with other brief performance segments, including a '64 performance of "So What," a later clip of "Bitches Brew" and some '70s footage with saxophonist Dave Liebman and guitarist Pete Cosey, helping to place the Isle of Wight performance in historical context. And the interviews, with everyone from the band plus a number of other Davis collaborators and appreciators over the years including James Mtume, Pete Cosey, Joni Mitchell and Carlos Santana, paint a portrait of Miles as a man who may have said very little, but was always profound. And at the conclusion of the Isle of Wight performance are a number of tributes to Miles: a painting by Mitchell that is uncannily blue in tone; Santana demonstrating Miles' use of space in an interpretation of Sketches of Spain on guitar; a rousing percussion tribute by Moreira; and an impressionistic electric piano elegy by Hancock.

Along with the 85-minute documentary/performance, the DVD includes over half an hour of additional interview footage that includes an especially enlightening interview with bassist Marcus Miller, talking about how his relationship with Miles in the '80s evolved. There's also a sessionography of Miles' first electric period from '67 to '75, available on DVD-ROM.

Miles Electric: A Different Kind of Blue may not convert any purists who looked at Miles' electric work as something less than the greatness he had achieved in the past, but it may give them some perspective and shed new light on an period which, in the past 15 years, is finally being recognized for the groundbreaking music it truly was. And fans of the era can rejoice that this footage has finally been released and, even better, surrounded by an informative documentary that, in the words of those who knew him, provide insights into the often enigmatic Miles Davis.

Track Listing: A Spiritual Orgasm; "So What" Kind of Blue 1964; Fender Rhodes Piano, The New Electric Toy; Bitches Brew Shaking the Foundations; Betty Davis and Miles' Hard Core Rock; Boxing, Improvisation and Miles' Music; Caught Up in the Craziness of the Sixties; The Critics' Jazz - The Dirty Word; Embracing the Shock of Electricity; The Isle of Wight - The Sidemen; "Call It Anything" - The Isle of Wight Concert 1970; Tributes to Miles' Genius; End Credits
Bonus Features: Additional Interview Footage; First Electric Period Sessionography 1967-1975, compiled by Enrico Merlin (DVD-ROM only)

Personnel: Isle of Wight performance by: Miles Davis (trumpet), Gary Bartz (soprano saxophone), Chick Corea (piano), Keith Jarrett (organ), Dave Holland (electric bass), Jack DeJohnette (drums), Airto Moreira (percussion)
Featured interviews with the band plus Carlos Santana, James Mtume, Herbie Hancock, Marcus Miller, Stanley Crouch, Dave Liebman, Joni Mitchell, Paul Buckmaster, Bob Belden, Pete Cosey
Additional performance footage including Wayne Shorter (tenor saxophone), Herbie Hancock (piano), Ron Carter (bass), Tony Williams (drums), Pete Cosey (guitar), James Mtume (percussion), Dave Liebman (soprano saxophone) and others.

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