Miles Davis Complete Blackhawk

[LouisvillePrez]

I recently came across a used copy of the 4 CD In Person Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk, Complete for a reasonable-to-me $27, and I have been listening to it a lot over the past week.  When I went to this site today to see what people have said about it, I noticed that it has not received much comment.  I am curious if people have any thoughts on the set they want to share.

For the past five or so years, thanks to Popmarket, I have been spending most of my live Miles time with the Plugged Nickel and Cellar Door sets.  And, in general, everything by the 2nd GQ is in heavy rotation.  So when I first put on the Blackhawk CDs (home stereo, iPod dock, iPod earbuds), I was struck by just how much I enjoy it.  I feel like I am getting to learn more about some great musicians I have neglected in my jazz listening over the years -- especially Wynton Kelly but also Hank Mobley and Jimmy Cobb,

Any strong or tepid opinions of the set?

.     

[BFrank]

I like it a LOT. Originally had the 2LP set, and was excited when the 4CD set came out. I think it has a great 'club vibe' to it and the performances are inspired. I think the knock on it is mostly about Mobley. Needless to say, he's not as adventurous as Trane or Shorter, but for me that doesn't matter.

[mjzee]

I've owned it since it came out.  I think Mobley and Miles don't jell, Jimmy Cobb plays rushed tempos, and IIRC Miles's solos are more a collection of sounds than coherent solos.  Wynton Kelly is the box's saving grace.

[danasgoodstuff]

I believe that Mr Sangrey described it in these pages as 'high level coasting' or something to that effect...that's a little harsh but I get his point.  Wynton Kelly is the most engaged, IMHO.

[jlhoots]

Naah - I like it.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

im just gonna say this dawg: if i was at the blackhawk, i would of been requesting the band play Roll Call, every night.  

[sonnyhill]

Naah - I like it.

I like it too. Love the rhythm section and Mobley.  I recall that there was a thread about that set. 

[JSngry]

I like it because you really don't have to worry about which of the four to put on!

[Larry Kart]

Strange that Mobley was making great albums under his own name for Blue Note at this time. I'll certainly listen to the Blackhawk set with some pleasure, but I agree with mjzee that it doesn't really jell. Miles reportedly was ragging on Mobley for musical and/or personal reasons, and I don't think that Hank's laidback, light-on-accents rhythmic feel jibed with Jimmy Cobb's glassy evenness, fine as that was for Kelly and others. Hank needed more interaction from his drummers.

[Gheorghe]

I have the original 2-LP set and it´s enough for me. Let´s say I enjoy it and spin it from time to time, but in General it´s the Kind of Miles I woudln´t prefer to other periods.

Those early 60s , you almost can feel that Miles got bored with the stuff and the surroundings.

If I want to hear 50´s Miles I listen to the Prestige and earlier CBS stuff (from Round Midnite to Sketches), and if I want to hear 60´s Miles I start with 1963 with Tony, Ron, Herbie.

 

[erwbol]

I've always somewhat neglected the Blackhawk recordings, but after considerable time has passed since the 4CD set's release and my jazz horizons have widened, I find them even harder to enjoy.

[king ubu]

I like it, but I prefer the Carnegie Hall concert:

 

There have been various previous threads of course:

htttp://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?/topic/1618-miles-blackhawk/

or

www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?/topic/1004-comp-miles-blackhawk-up-for-pre-order/

Edited October 28, 2015 by king ubu

[erwbol]

I haven't seriously listened to the Carnegie Hall concert in a long time and don't recall how I ranked it against the Blackhawk material, but I always preferred the recordings of the spring 1960 tour, like 20 March at the Olympia.

[king ubu]

I haven't seriously listened to the Carnegie Hall concert in a long time and don't recall how I ranked it against the Blackhawk material, but I always preferred the recordings of the spring 1960 tour, like 20 March at the Olympia.

Obviously, but that's a completely different thing ... switch one guy and the band is totally different. The fall 1960 tour with Stitt I'd also prefer to the Blackhawk recordings, I think, as Miles takes on the challenge there  (and Kelly reacts to that), while at the Blackhawk they're content to play in the pocket - nice enough and surely more difficult to do than it would seem, but over the course of four discs also somewhat boring, eventually. But I'd have a rather hard time thinking of better dinner party music  

[soulpope]

For sure a transitional recording for Miles Davis and although I do prefer Hank Mobley in his 50`s recordings its good to have his stint with this band well documented - and dinner party music ? Would be there as guest anytime ....

[mjzee]

Strange that Mobley was making great albums under his own name for Blue Note at this time. I'll certainly listen to the Blackhawk set with some pleasure, but I agree with mjzee that it doesn't really jell. Miles reportedly was ragging on Mobley for musical and/or personal reasons, and I don't think that Hank's laidback, light-on-accents rhythmic feel jibed with Jimmy Cobb's glassy evenness, fine as that was for Kelly and others. Hank needed more interaction from his drummers.

Yeah, Mobley really sounds like a bullied man.  You can hear his self-confidence shrinking (or at least I imagine it as such).  Sonny Stitt probably gave off a "don't mess with me" vibe, so Miles left him alone.

[mjzee]

Does anyone remember that weird cheapo Columbia LP series, cheaper even than Harmony, that had the original Friday and Saturday titles?  For a long while, that was the only way you could buy them - not in the Miles section, but in the budget racks.  

I think this was one of the covers: 

[jazzbo]

Yes, I have copies of both nights in this series. Bought in the 'seventies, and enjoyed til the complete cd sets came out.

[Steve Gray]

 

If I want to hear 50´s Miles I listen to the Prestige and earlier CBS stuff (from Round Midnite to Sketches), and if I want to hear 60´s Miles I start with 1963 with Tony, Ron, Herbie.

 

In my opinion that is very harsh on Someday My Prince Will Come.

[JSngry]

I think those weird single LPs were budget copies of the original LPs, just with really bad graphic reproductions. Seriously, I always figured them to be pirate copies, although who knows? Columbia had so may levels of "special product" lines, crazy.

At some point, columbia put out a 2 LP set of both albums, that's when I went ahead and bought it.

But in 1988, they released editions with restored solos and a new cover. I got Vol. 2 of those.

What I did not realize until recently, and what might explain the cachet these LPs had in certain circles, was that they were the first live albums of a Miles working band released in more or less real time. We take all the live Miles stuff so for granted now that it's easy to forget how it wasn't always so. So, you know, 1961 or so, Miles getting the full Columbia/Playboy/Etc. Apex Of Hip thing, and wow, here's your chance to be right there in the club while it happens!

[l p]

 

If I want to hear 50´s Miles I listen to the Prestige and earlier CBS stuff (from Round Midnite to Sketches), and if I want to hear 60´s Miles I start with 1963 with Tony, Ron, Herbie.

 

In my opinion that is very harsh on Someday My Prince Will Come.

and you skip the 1960 euro tour with jc, and the only 4 known versions of "Teo".

[king ubu]

... the "Teo" from Carnegie Hall is one great romp! And Mobley has some fine spots on "Someday" - the fact that it fell between the (sorta) complete boxes is quite sad indeed.

[Guy Berger]

I agree with JSngry's "high level coasting" description.  I don't view this as a negative characterization.  Certainly, there are plenty of well-regarded jazz albums from the "golden age" that also fit under that moniker.

[JSngry]

It's kind of the Sonny Stitt Record of Miles Davis records, with all the implications, fallacies, and limitations of that description fully and duly noted.

[Guy Berger]

What percentage of the work Hank Mobley did under his own name for BN could be characterized as "high level coasting"?  Pretty high, I think.