never enough
Miles Davis (1926-1991, trumpet) with Wayne Shorter (1933-2023, tenor saxophone), Herbie Hancock (1940-, keyboards), Ron Carter (1937-, bass), Tony Williams (1945-1997, drums), “Filles de Kilimanjaro” (M. Davis), 1968
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Illinois
passings
Wayne Shorter, saxophonist, composer, August 25, 1933–March 2, 2023
With Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers (AB, drums; WS, tenor saxophone; Lee Morgan, trumpet; Bobby Timmons, piano; Jymie Merritt, bass), “The Summit” (W. Shorter), live, Tokyo, 1961
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With the Miles Davis Quintet (MD, trumpet; WS, tenor saxophone; Herbie Hancock, piano; Ron Carter, bass; Tony Williams, drums), “Footprints” (W. Shorter), live, Sweden, 1967
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With his quartet (WS, tenor saxophone; Danilo Perez, piano; John Patitucci, bass; Brian Blade, drums), “Masqualero” (W. Shorter), live, Montreal, 2003
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
never enough
Yesterday afternoon, feeling in a bit of a funk before visiting a client in jail, I stumbled upon this and within moments, it seemed, the air began to lighten.
Miles Davis Quintet (MD [1926-1991], trumpet; Wayne Shorter [1933-], tenor saxophone; Herbie Hancock [1940-], piano; Ron Carter [1937-], bass; Tony Williams [1945-1997], drums), live, Stockholm (Sweden), 1967
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lagniappe
random sights
other day, Chicago
timeless
Miles Davis Quintet (MD, 1926-1991, trumpet; Wayne Shorter, 1933-, tenor saxophone; Herbie Hancock, 1940-, piano; Ron Carter, 1937-, bass; Tony Williams, 1945-1997, drums) , live, Italy (Milan), 1964
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Herbie Hancock: “the best thing that Miles ever said to me.”
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random sights
other day, Oak Park, Ill.
never enough
Miles Davis (with Wayne Shorter, tenor saxophone; Herbie Hancock, piano; Ron Carter, bass; Tony Williams, drums), live, Italy (Milan), 1964*
Listening to Tony Williams never fails to leave me feeling lighter.
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Art Institute of Chicago
Arshile Gorky (1904-1948), The Plough and the Song, 1946-47
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*Setlist (courtesy of YouTube):
1. Autumn Leaves 0:43
2. My Funny Valentine 14:34
3. All Blues 26:22
4. All of You 40:03
5. Joshua 50:41
Miles
Miles Davis Quintet (MD, trumpet; Wayne Shorter, tenor saxophone; Herbie Hancock, piano, Ron Carter, bass; Tony Williams, drums), live, Europe (Karlsruhe, Germany; Stockholm, Sweden), 1967
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lagniappe
musical thoughts
Miles may not be the greatest trumpet player in the history of jazz, but he’s arguably the greatest bandleader. Only someone with supreme self-confidence could do what he did. A brilliant judge of talent, a leader who expected, and enabled, others to flourish, he could seem, at times, the least interesting player in his own band.
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reading table
Winter solitude—
in a world of one color
the sound of wind.—Matsuo Basho (1644-1694, translated from Japanese by Robert Hass)
protean, adj. 1. Of or resembling Proteus in having a varied nature or ability to assume different forms. 2. Displaying great diversity or variety. E.g., Miles Davis.
Miles Davis Quintet (MD, trumpet; Wayne Shorter, tenor saxophone; Herbie Hancock, piano; Ron Carter, bass; Tony Williams, drums), “I Fall In Love Too Easily,” live, Germany (Karlsruhe), 1967
More? Here. And here. And here.
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lagniappe
last night
There’s something in nothing, and we’ll never know what it is.
—Susan Howe, poet, after a performance of Frolic Architecture with composer and musician David Grubbs at the University of Chicago’s Bond Chapel
Miles Davis Quintet (MD, trumpet; Wayne Shorter, tenor saxophone; Herbie Hancock, piano; Ron Carter, bass; Tony Williams, drums), “Footprints” (W. Shorter), live, Sweden, 1967
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Time for just one note? 3:34. (Shorter’s entire solo is a marvel [1:54-3:54]: it’s as intimate and delicate as a dream.)
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lagniappe
reading table
just the other day
we said goodbye . . .
dewy grave—Kobayashi Issa, 1790s (trans. David G. Lanoue)
Two takes, two tempos, two bands—one Miles.
Miles Davis, “So What”
Take 1
With John Coltrane (saxophone), Wynton Kelly (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), Jimmy Cobb (drums), Gil Evans Orchestra; live (TV Broadcast), 1959
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Take 2
With Wayne Shorter (saxophone), Herbie Hancock (piano), Ron Carter (bass), Tony Williams (drums); live (TV broadcast), 1964
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[Many admirers of Kind of Blue] are forced to reach back before the modern era to find its measure. Drummer Elvin Jones hears the same timeless sublimity and depth of feeling ‘in some of the movements of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, or when I hear Pablo Casals play unaccompanied cello.’ ‘It’s like listening to Tosca, says pianist/singer Shirley Horn. ‘ You know, you always cry, or at least I do.’
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Quincy Jones: ‘That will always be my music, man. I play Kind of Blue every day—it’s my orange juice. It still sounds like it was made yesterday.’
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Chick Corea: ‘It’s one thing to just play a tune, or play a program of music, but it’s another thing to practically create a new language of music, which is what Kind of Blue did.’
—Ashley Kahn, Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece (2000)
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