Thursday 20 December, 2007

Miles Davis - Big Fun (1974)



A few months after the Bitches Brew sessions that broke jazz-rock out like Phoenix from the flames, Miles Davis returned to the Columbia recording studios with the intent to push his music in yet another startling direction. This time around, Miles took inspiration from classical Indian music, interpolating it into rock and jazz structures as the Beatles, altoist Toby Harriott, and others had done before. But, as expected from Davis, he did it in an entirely new and unexpected manner.





Personnel: Miles Davis, trumpet; Steve Grossman, Carlos Garnett, Wayne Shorter, soprano sax; Bennie Maupin, bass clarinet, clarinet, flute; Sonny Fortune, soprano sax, flute; John McLaughlin, electric guitar; Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, electric piano; Joe Zawinul, electric piano, Farfisa; Lonnie Smith, Harold I. Williams, piano; Larry Young, organ, celeste; Khalil Balakrishna, electric sitar; Bihari Sharma, tambura; Ron Carter, Dave Holland, acoustic bass; Harvey Brooks, Michael Henderson, electric bass; Al Foster, Billy Hart, Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette, drums; Airto Moreira, percussion; Badal Roy, tabla; Mtume, African percussion.


Disc I

1. Great Expectations — 27:23
2. Ife — 21:34
3. Recollections — 18:55
4. Trevere — 5:55

Disc II

1. Go Ahead John — 28:27
2. Lonely Fire — 21:21
3. The Little Blue Frog — 9:10
4. Yaphet — 9:39

Link@320 Disc 1 :: Disc 2

8 comments:

kingpossum said...

Excellent post, Bravo Juju. This is an overlooked gem in Miles' catalog.

bravo juju said...

thank you it's an early xmas gift

Anonymous said...

This is on CD, reissued by Legacy in '00. Please take it down and encourage people to buy the real thing.

Anonymous said...

big "thanks"!

Anonymous said...

"This is on CD, reissued by Legacy in '00. Please take it down and encourage people to buy the real thing."

Not everybody can afford to buy every album they hear about (although in Miles' case they should =P)...

Please DON'T take it down, but do encourage people to buy the real thing if they like it.

(Remember: The CD, with enough care, will NEVER blue-screen on you, nor will it leave you staring at a recurrent apple logo with all your music inaccessible ;D)

Great post, great taste.

bravo juju said...

MP3 files, even @320, are nothing compared to the CD or Vinyl experience. No serious listener will be satisfied with a MP3. If I download a record I really like and it is easily available on CD or Vinyl, I buy it - just like any serious music lover.
So, download everything you want, buy everything you like/can.
Cheers

Anonymous said...

So, um, what happened to the link?

Anonymous said...

link's dead! please repost?!?