Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Miles Davis: Seven Steps to Heaven

445

Miles Davis: Seven Steps to Heaven

By

View read count
It's easy to pigeonhole this '63 Miles Davis recording as a "transition" period between his classic quintets, but one thing is quite clear: Miles was always in transition. Each Davis band was going through a musical or personnel metamorphosis, so we might as well simply take the music on its own terms and forget about the historical context. On that standard alone, Seven Steps to Heaven is an absolute gem.

Recorded in two locations, Miles, Ron Carter, and George Coleman hooked up with the "Los Angeles" quintet, featuring Victor Feldman (piano) and Frank Butler (drums), for a set of dreamy, moody and ultra hip versions of songs not usually associated with '60s modal music. On "Basin Street Blues" and "Baby Won't You Please Come Home," Miles, armed with his mute, is spellbinding as he squeezes notes for all of their glorious agony. His interpretation of "I Fall in Love Too Easily" makes Chet Baker's version seem insouciant by comparison.

Relocating three thousand miles to New York with Herbie Hancock (piano) and Tony Williams (drums) taking over, the quintet was on its way to become the standard by which all subsequent bands would be measured. Introducing two future classics, Miles and company tear through "Joshua" and "Seven Steps to Heaven" and set the world on notice: life in the music world would never be the same again.

If you've only heard of Miles because of Kind of Blue, this would be a great next step.

Track Listing

Basin Street Blues; Seven Steps to Heaven; I Fall in Love Too Easily; So Near, So Far; Baby Won't You Please Come Home; Joshua; So Near, So Far; Summer Night.

Personnel

Miles Davis
trumpet

Miles Davis: trumpet; George Coleman: tenor saxophone; Herbie Hancock, Victor Feldman: piano; Ron Carter: bass; Tony Williams, Frank Butler: drums.

Album information

Title: Seven Steps to Heaven | Year Released: 2005 | Record Label: Sony Music


About Miles Davis

Tags


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Become a Sustaining Member

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter

Since 1995, All About Jazz has championed jazz as an art form and supported the musicians who create it. Over three decades, it has grown into one of the world's leading jazz resources, serving hundreds of thousands of readers, musicians, presenters and industry professionals each month.

Help Build the Future of All About Jazz

Your support helps us continue building All About Jazz for the next generation—expanding our editorial coverage, preserving jazz history, developing new community features and creating better ways to discover the music and the people behind it.

Become a sustaining member for as little as $20 per year and you'll immediately enjoy an ad-free experience along with access to subscriber features and future articles for a full year.

Together, we're not simply sustaining All About Jazz—we're building its future. Thank you for being part of the journey.

More

Kevin Sun, I.
Kevin Sun
Solitary Moon
Tommy Muellner
Guinnevere
Peter Sprague
Soho Elegy
Rachael Calladine Quintet

Popular

Desolation Row
David Maranha / Rodrigo Amado
2014 NYC
King Crimson
Beneath Lifted Skies
Linda May Han Oh & Melissa Aldana
Talamanti
Patricia Brennan and Sylvie Courvoisier

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletters highlight our top stories, top album reviews, website news, free songs, radio & podcast shows, news, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.