Miles Davis Bootleg Series Vol. 5

[jazzbo]

Surprising news courtesy of Pete Losin's site (and thanks to subtr at the Hoffman forum for the news):

http://www.plosin.com/milesahead/mdNews.html

From Sony:

"To continue with the year of Miles Davis we have another installment of the successful Bootleg Series set for release on October 14th. Miles Davis Quintet: Freedom Jazz Dance: The Bootleg Series, Vol 5 focuses on the music recorded by the 2nd Great Quintet of Miles Davis from 1965 to 1968. The 3CD set features studio sessions of key tracks from the albums recorded in that time frame and includes dialogue between Miles and the rest of the quintet. Fans will get to experience the evolution of these songs and then hear the master take as well. This year is also the 50th Anniversary of Miles Smiles which makes up a big portion of this release."
2nd Great Quintet of Miles Davis:
Miles Davis - Trumpet
Ron Carter - Bass
Herbie Hancock - Piano
Wayne Shorter - Saxophone
Tony Williams - Drums
TRACK LIST
Disc 1:
1. Freedom Jazz Dance (session reel) 23:15
2. Freedom Jazz Dance (master take) 7:14
3. Circle (session reel) 11:45
4. Circle (take 5 – closing theme used on master take) 5:23
5. Circle (take 6 – released master take excluding closing theme) 5:48
6. Dolores (session reel) 5:17
7. Dolores (master take) 6:23
Disc 2:
1. Orbits (session reel) 14:44
2. Orbits (master take) 4:41
3. Footprints (session reel) 5:48
4. Footprints (master take) 9:52
5. Gingerbread Boy (session reel) 3:44
6. Gingerbread Boy (master take) 7:45
7. Nefertiti (session reel) 11:05
8. Nefertiti (master take) 8:04
Disc 3:
1. Fall (session reel) 19:44
2. Fall (master take) 6:40
3. Water Babies (session reel) 8:33
4. Water Babies (master take) 5:09
5. Masqualero (alternate take/take 3) 7:59
6. Country Son (rhythm section rehearsal) 7:43
7. Blues In F (My Ding) 7:29
8. Your Eight (Miles Speaks) 0:06
** All session tracks are previously unreleased**

 

 

[Tom 1960]

Count me in.

[Guy Berger]

Love live recordings.  Not interested in this.

[Stefan Wood]

interesting.  An expansion of Water Babies and Miles Smiles.  I'm in.

[JSngry]

The more intelligible the chatter, the more in I am.

[jazzbo]

I'm in too.

[GA Russell]

How different is this from the yellow box already out?  The description sounds very much like the sales pitch for that one.

[JSngry]

That was takes. These are session reels. One is like Miles comes home for the day and lets you hear some of what they did that day. The other is like Miles invites you to the studio for the session, and this is what happened while you where there. Minus, of course, the setups and shit. And the reel changes and such.

And for my money, the grandest Miles outtake of all is from the Miles Ahead session, the last take of the last cut on the last day, where Miles is talking to everybody as they pack up. You can hear the sound of a man who knows his life has just changed for the better forever, right there, right then, got it done, now let's go. Just a remarkable moment, I think.

I don't expect any of that on this set, but I have heard a few Miles session reels, and they've been fun enough that I'm in for more, and like I said, the more intelligible the conversations are, the more I'm in.

[Rooster_Ties]

I'm in too. Am sure this will mostly be pretty facinating - if not all equally so, much of it at least.

[John L]

Yes, these sessions were important and amazing enough to make one VERY curious about how it all went down. 

[king ubu]

7 hours ago, JSngry said:

The more intelligible the chatter, the more in I am.

[rasp]Teo, don't say that to me[/rasp]

Can't say I'm too flabbergasted by this news ... still hoping for sets of the 1971 and 1973 tours (and maybe a 1972/73 sitar band set, too?) and more the like.

But still interested enough to buy and hope for a couple of revelations.

[felser]

This is something I'd like to hear once,  so there is a price point I am in/out at.  

[Rooster_Ties]

6 hours ago, felser said:

This is something I'd like to hear once,  so there is a price point I am in/out at.  

Well, we all have our price-point, I'm sure.  Much as I'm genuinely interested in this set, I'm sure I wouldn't pay more than about $50 for it (tops) -- but thankfully, I don't expect it to go for anything more than about $39 (tops), and it could even be a little less than that (if my guess is right), maybe $36?

Every Miles box from Columbia has been enjoyable, each with a number of surprises -- even if every minute hasn't been revelatory.

At this point, I'm just kinda shocked that the Miles "Bootleg Series" sets have made it this far, to be honest.  After the first three (3), I honestly thought that might be about it -- not that there wasn't more they could do -- but whether they'd even bother, that's what I've always wondered.

Overall, they seem to be fairly "thoughtfully" produced, in terms of what material they've included.  Not perfect, but in this day and age, what the hell is?

Edited July 18, 2016 by Rooster_Ties

[felser]

Take out the master takes, which we already own, and there is about 2 CD's worth of rehearsal tapes on there.  I'm not paying anywhere near $35 for that.  That was what I meant about "price point".  I've been "in" on the previous sets, but this is different.

[Rooster_Ties]

Yeah, I hear you.  If the master-takes are the exact same as what's been released already (I haven't checked the track-times, but I suppose they are identical?) -- then that is unnecessary duplication. But as with all meals, often not every component is necessary - but you get what's on the menu, no substitutions please (period).

BTW, my hunch is that "Country Son (rhythm section rehearsal) 7:43" may be be one of the coolest tracks out of the whole set.  Sure, it (probably) won't be close a fully-formed "take" -- but much like the rehearsal takes of "I Have A Dream" and "Speak Like A Child" -- it should definitely shed very new light on something familiar.

[jlhoots]

1 hour ago, felser said:

Take out the master takes, which we already own, and there is about 2 CD's worth of rehearsal tapes on there.  I'm not paying anywhere near $35 for that.  That was what I meant about "price point".  I've been "in" on the previous sets, but this is different.

I agree with you.

[jazzbo]

I imagine patience will bring a "price point" eventually. This is only three cds. Right now you can get rather decent prices on the earlier, larger sets, sure they were more expensive before but time has changed that.

[king ubu]

2 hours ago, felser said:

Take out the master takes, which we already own, and there is about 2 CD's worth of rehearsal tapes on there.  I'm not paying anywhere near $35 for that.  That was what I meant about "price point".  I've been "in" on the previous sets, but this is different.

Yeah, but take out the master takes and this release wouldn't make much sense ... but yeah, this could have been Vol. 27 or they could throw in a fourth disc with a great live concert.

[Rooster_Ties]

1 hour ago, king ubu said:

Yeah, but take out the master takes and this release wouldn't make much sense ... but yeah, this could have been Vol. 27 or they could throw in a fourth disc with a great live concert.

Pretty hard to imagine anyone buying this particular new set (given what it's made up of), without already owning all the master-takes.  But I agree, it makes for an easier "comparison" experience to have included them.  And yet, I'm betting I'll be mighty tempted to burn me a 2-CD set of just the session reel (and rehearsal) sequences.

Still, all in all, I'm thankful this kind of material is seeing the light of day.  One could argue the last couple discs of the Miles & Gil Evans box are kind of similar: odds & ends (at best).  And yet, I suspect I'll be spinning this Bootleg Series Vol. 5 more often than any of those last couple Miles & Gil "odds and ends" discs.

The way I figure, at least they're being open-minded about what kinds of material they're considering for these releases.   Not entirely unlike the Jimi Hendirx "Dagger" releases, in a way, which are also (arguably) of lesser interest (especially to general audiences) -- but still kind of revelatory, in their own way.

Edited July 18, 2016 by Rooster_Ties

[JSngry]

My price point is built on a formula of Initial Interest bumped up against Replay Value which itself is totally driven by Context Within The Specific Listening Environment.

Walking or driving w a lot of ambient noise on all side, value lessens. Listening to it on phonebudplugs in a quiet office environment or some other such where I can go there, be in the studio to be a fly on more than just the wall, it rises.

Either way, Initial Interest is by definition high. Great band being documented not just after having made but while in the process of making music that matters a lot to me. Solid vs liquid, photo vs home movie, prepared statement vs unedited interview transcript.

[l p]

19 hours ago, JSngry said:

Miles Ahead session, the last take of the last cut on the last day, where Miles is talking to everybody as they pack up.

 

where's this on the box set? i can't find it.

[JSngry]

It's on the Miles/Gil box, very last cut of the set iirc.

[l p]

no, not there.

[JSngry]

Ok,.my bad, severe cranial flatulence. I conflated several of the studio chatter tracks, like the ones about schedules and W2s into one thing, obviously wrong, and again, sorry about that.

But...The thing that does, to my ears, have the whole "life forever changed" thing is on Disc 6, the very first cut, after the decision to leave open spaces in the charts to allow for later solo overdubbing has been made. Miles says he's going to leave out one bit, then a few seconds later he starts laughing and saying I might leave the whole thing out, like, yeah, this is Columbia, I got resources now. I can just hear him imagining all the possibilities and being delighted as hell that they will be his, no more of this one take make it all at once or don't make it at all shit for me, no sir. He has seen the game and likes his odds even better than ever. And he laughs.

That laugh is priceless to me,, it's one of those ton of bricks micro-moments. Or maybe it's not. But that's why I'm always in for full studio chatter of anything at least once.

[l p]

some of the most colorful miles studio dialogue is on this session, transcribed for our convenience. 

http://www.plosin.com/milesAhead/Sessions.aspx?s=630416