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473

Album Review

Miles Davis: The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions

Read "The Complete In a Silent Way Sessions" reviewed by Michael Fortuna

by Michael Fortuna
December 1, 2001

Miles Davis was an innovator from the moment he first picked up the trumpet. But for years, the public didn't have a clear enough picture of Davis' journey from jazz into the rock/funk sounds of James Brown and Jimi Hendrix as well as his use of electric instruments.At the time, all the public knew of was the funk groove and electric piano sounds of “Stuff" from Miles in the Sky, followed by more electric sounds on Filles de ...

386

Album Review

Miles Davis: The Complete In A Silent Way Sessions

Read "The Complete In A Silent Way Sessions" reviewed by Jim Santella

by Jim Santella
August 1, 2001

Three previously unissued performances and six months of Miles Davis' recording activity mark this 3-CD set as something special. This was a transitional time for the bandleader. It marked the beginning of a fusion. The package documents this period very well. Davis wanted a new sound. With several keyboards and significant changes in personnel, he got it. The trumpeter introduced his musical changes gradually. The more radical shift would come later. These sessions are pleasant and full of intrigue. In ...

414

Album Review

Miles Davis: The Complete In A Silent Way Sessions

Read "The Complete In A Silent Way Sessions" reviewed by Todd S. Jenkins

by Todd S. Jenkins
June 1, 2001

Another Miles classic re-excavated with grand results. In A Silent Way was an astonishing step further towards a fusion of jazz and rock for Miles Davis, and for jazz in general, when it was released in 1969. The acoustic instruments of Davis, Wayne Shorter, Dave Holland and Tony Williams were combined with John McLaughlin’s electric guitar, Joe Zawinul’s organ, and the twin electric pianos of Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock. Each LP side held a medley of two themes. Miles’ ...

191

Album Review

Miles Davis: In A Silent Way

Read "In A Silent Way" reviewed by John Ballon

by John Ballon
September 1, 2000

Miles Davis was going through exciting musical changes in 1968, listening and playing things which were leading him into the future and into In a Silent Way. His music and lifestyle were being influenced by a wave of new sounds and ideas, and he was responding deeply to the music of James Brown, Sly Stone, and Jimi Hendrix. Having already pushed acoustic jazz to the limits with his mid-Sixties quintet, Miles metamorphosed the new sounds around him, creating a work ...

252

Album Review

Miles Davis: In A Silent Way

by John Ballon
September 1, 2000

459

Album Review

Tony Williams: Wilderness

by Jim Santella
June 1, 1997

A full orchestra joins Tony Williams, Herbie Hancock, Michael Brecker, Pat Metheny and Stanley Clarke in this collection of tone poems that compare and contrast several takes on the meaning of wilderness. The leader provides a glimpse of the moods being portrayed through his choice of titles, as well as by supplying in the liner notes several familiar quotations about mankind and the natural world. Drummer Williams, who led the fusion band Lifetime in decades past, opts to ...

428

Album Review

The Tony Williams Lifetime: Spectrum: The Anthology

Read "Spectrum: The Anthology" reviewed by Douglas Payne

by Douglas Payne
May 1, 1997

Tony Williams's pioneering electric trio Lifetime made two stunning, yet imperfect records in the early 1970s in Emergency! and Turn It Over. A reflection of the turbulence of its times and the new attitudes that were being shaped, Lifetime began life as one of jazz's first all-star power trios: the brilliant Larry Young on organ, the multitalented John McLaughlin on guitar and Williams, a complete arsenal of one on drums. Some of the music this group made was powerful and ...