Miles From India

[7/4]

Did Miles wear socks?

.

[shadowhillway]

Definitely. Studio chatter clearly shows that Teo wanted Miles to give him a sock. Furthermore, Miles totally misunderstood why Wynton went onstage unannounced that one time. Wynton really admired Miles's socks from down on the audience floor and was just eager to find out where he could get a similar pair. He should have taken a cue from Teo. And why do you think the Messengers left Japan in tears? Cuz they knew they wouldn't be able to get those great Japanese socks in the States. But again, they should have just asked Miles.

[WorldB3]

I went to the Saturday show in SF.

While I was entertained I thought for the most part it was how the French say “Au chien qui fume (the dog that smokes)”.

I thought the KOB stuff for the first set didn’t work. The Sitar wasn’t really made to play blues scales like in So What and All Blues. Blue In Green should have been mind blowing but I found the singer to be over the top for a song that is all about understatement. Blue In Green had some great moments in the middle section of solo’s but it took way to long to get there.

Highlights for first set were Ron Carter and Rudresh Mahanthappa’s solos on All Blues.

The 2nd set which focused on the electric period worked much better. They locked into some nice grooves and Roney sounded great. Pete Cosy couldn’t make it so Henry Kaiser filled in for him at the last minute and he seemed to not really fit in.

The highlight for the second set and the night was Badal Roy’s solo. I will be looking into more of his recorded works.

Overall it was cool but nothing I heard really compelled me to go out and get the record.

[David Gitin]

Also attended San Francisco show and I agree with the comments on it. Kaiser almost took a great solo, but Adam H gave him a signal to defer to Robert Irving for a solo!

[RDK]

Caught the free L.A. show last night. Interesting more than good, imo. There were parts were it really came together (mostly of the electric-era stuff), which was odd for me because I usually prefer the KOB material. Fun concert, but I'm not sure I'd care to listen to the music repeatedly on disc.

I missed getting this from emusic; it's no longer available there.

[Hot Ptah]

Might be time to move on.

What? While there's still money to be made off of his name? Hey, this is America! Surely you jest.

[JSngry]

Finally got around to giving this a good listen, and truthfully, I have no problems with any of it. Definitely like the more "meandering" stuff than the "straight ahead" pieces though. Those things seem to be the most natural.

In the end, neither fish nor fowl, but certainly neither fishy nor foul either, not by a long shot. Never predictable, and never less than interesting. If this is the worst new release I hear this year, hey, life's done gone & gotten a helluva lot better when I wasn't looking.

[jazzbo]

[JSngry]

si Tejas but i suspect you'd be far more pleased-- & if not pleased, then at least intrigued/inspired-- to hear any of the...

... Mike Ladd records that Vijay Iyer plays on.

who? that's exactly the got-damn point, tho' not one edc would make to you specifically... heel toe, heel toe, heel toe, hop forward, hop back, hop hop hop.

I believe that I've recommended Mike Ladd's work here on several occasions. He's somebody who I try to stay current with, definitely. Mike Ladd is a baaaaad man.

I just like what Bob's done here, that's all. It's kind of "parallel universe" music to me, something that's real and not real at the same time.

Now, Belden's Turnadot, that's totally parallel universe music. Puccini as late-60s/early 70s Miles (or vice-versa). It's at once wholly, shamelessly derivative and wholly, wackedly original.

I got room for some of that, I do.

[Aggie87]

Now, Belden's Turnadot, that's totally parallel universe music. Puccini as late-60s/early 70s Miles (or vice-versa). It's at once wholly, shamelessly derivative and wholly, wackedly original.

Was this ever reissued, or is it still pretty much impossible to find?

[JSngry]

Pretty much impossible to find.

Which sucks.

[JSngry]

Oh No riff on Galt McDermot is a much stronger reimagining-- you know dat one, Tejas? a

Not until now, but it looks interesting. Thanks for the tip!

[Shawn]

Just hearing this one for the first time and I'm REALLY enjoying it! It sounds like a "labor of love" project and the world could use more of those.

[hepcat1950]

Kilometers From Africa

I've been a Miles Davis fan since the mid-60s of the last century owning a pretty complete collection of his amazing work (more than 170 items). But I've never been much interested in the remix things of Bob Belden and all those remembering Miles and other releases. To be honest this Miles From India project also doesn't attract me at all. If I'm in the mood for listening to a merger of Indian music and jazz I prefer to listen to some of Charlie Mariano's recordings with the Karnataka College Of Percussion. This is some hand made music either recorded live or in a studio session with all musicians playing together at the same time. In addition to that Charlie Mariano actually knows a good deal about Indian music. (btw: Charlie Mariano played with Louis Banks when he stayed in Bombay in 1976.) No files exchanged arround the world between musicians who never met each other in person. Maybe I'm old-fashioned with regard to this topic. I think that not everything should be done for the only sake of being possible to do.

Jimmy Cobb, Ron Carter, and others joined in ?!?!?!?!?

[Rooster_Ties]

Appears you can stream the entire "Miles From India" album (each track, one by one) for free (legally?) at this link...

http://free.napster.com/view/album/index.html?id=12778985

Been meaning to pick this one up, and the more I can hear of it - the more quickly I'll probably do so.

Edited July 15, 2008 by Rooster_Ties

[king ubu]

catching up... (another badly clem-ified thread here, it seems)

Got the CD as a gift from my dad recently and enjoy parts of it very much - the 70s parts, that is... the opening "Spanish Key" is great, even though Rooney's Miles-isms do get a bit boring over time. But the groove's there, and Michael Henderson is great on "Ife". And Gary Bartz is smokin', too! (And Vince Wilburn Jr. still sucks.)

[Pete C]

I saw this excellent lineup in Montreal in '09. Rudresh was fantastic.

Miles from India

Darryl Jones of the Rolling Stones and Selvaganesh of Remember Shakti add their talents.

Miles goes Indian… or vice-versa? The Festival presents another concert homage to the legend, this time with a major musical project spiced with a delicious touch of exoticism. Inspired by the double album of the same name, Miles from India is a musical fusion of Indian and American cultures. Two groups, one composed of elite Indian musicians, the other of American jazzmen who’ve previously collaborated with Miles, unite onstage for a Subcontinental, spiritual celebration of the master’s music. A remarkable project in its exclusive Canadian presentation!

Nicholas Payton • Trumpet

Robert Irving III • Keyboards

Bill Evans • Tenor Saxophone

R. Mahanthappa • Saxophones

Darry Jones • Bass

John Beasley • Keyboards

Badal Roy • Tabla

U. Shrinivas • Mandolin

Lenny White • Drums

Ndugu Chancler • Percussions

Vince Wilburn • Drums

Anantha Krishnan • Mridangan

Hidayat Khan • Sitar

V.K. Raman • Flute/Vocal

Selvaganesh • Khanjira

[Guy Berger]

I caught a reconstituted lineup of Miles from India at SFJazz over the weekend.

I enjoyed it quite a bit, especially the first set - they just sounded great playing the late 1960s Miles stuff. The Indian music was not super well integrated but it didn’t really matter.

The band did have a weird vibe though - the soloists didn’t really seem to be enjoying the music, and the saxophonist (Javon Jackson) left partway through the second set to catch a flight.

[Gheorghe]

I´ve thought that a bit of India influence in Miles´ music was a bit later that the late 60´s ? 

Shortly before I got acquainted to the music of Miles, there was that album "Miles in Concert" 1972 where they have Badal Roy, and a guy who´s name is Balakrishna or somethin like that. 
The 1973 Miles I heard didn´t have the indian touch anymore, but was very fine. But the actual album in the record stores was "In Concert". 

[jazzbo]

Balakrishna and Sharma et al were playing with Miles as early as late 1969. I'm not sure how much Miles was directly influenced by Indian music or whether the influence came through rock incorporation of Indian instrumentation and forms.

[Gheorghe]

1 hour ago, jazzbo said:

Balakrishna and Sharma et al were playing with Miles as early as late 1969. I'm not sure how much Miles was directly influenced by Indian music or whether the influence came through rock incorporation of Indian instrumentation and forms.

really, late 1969 ? And for your thought: I´m sure you are right, that Miles may not have been directly influenced by Indian music, and that it came through rock incorporation of indian instrumentations. 
I know that there were tons of unissued studio material from around 1970 but I must admit I never collected that. I had the Miles Davis albums subsequently from 1972-75, and retrospective the released LPs from the older "Filles de Kilimangiaro" "Silent Way" and "Bitches Brew" and the almost forgotten "Jack Johnson", that was what I found in the stores, and rare during that time you might have found a "Steamin´" with another LP cover (which coincidentially was my first Miles LP). It must have been issued in 1971 or so). 

And about the Indian influence. I think mostly Alice Coltrane had that thing. There were still a lot of hippies who loved India when I was in that period. The only association I had is that there were those shops for hip clothing for youngsters where I bought some "indian shirts" ....

I think real indian influence if people/artists had that, it included much more than just music,  it might have been some religion or philosophy, and what I had heard about Miles I doubt he would have been receptive for that stuff. 

[jazzbo]

Well, there was authentic influence from Ravi Shankar et al, and yes religious/spiritual fascination for many in the culture during the whole decade of the 'sixties in the US. Miles did use sitar and tabla in 1969 and I think it was more for texture and to bring in "hip" instrumentation or introduce novel sounds. 

I was all in on Miles' "New Directions in Music" when "In Concert" was released and jumped right onto that and followed everything Miles released after that. For me MIles' music has always seemed a world of its own. Even as far back as the Prestige days there was something fundamentally unique about much of Miles' work. A good thing.

[Teasing the Korean]

I would have liked more sitar on this album.

[medjuck]

2 hours ago, jazzbo said:

 

I was all in on Miles' "New Directions in Music" when "In Concert" was released and jumped right onto that and followed everything Miles released after that. For me MIles' music has always seemed a world of its own. Even as far back as the Prestige days there was something fundamentally unique about much of Miles' work. A good thing.

What was the fist "New Directions in Music" Lp?

[jazzbo]

I think it was "Directions in Music" on Filles de Kiliminjaro.