VA - Fusion for Miles (A Guitar Tribute)
Release Date.: 01-31-2006
Street Date..: 08-31-2005
Label........: Tone Center
Genre........: Fusion
Playtime.....: 62:59 min
Grabber......: Audiograbber
Encoder......: Lame 3.90.3
Quality......: VBR APS
Rippers Notes:
Although the purists may scream and wail even after
all these years, there is something enduringly
fascinating about late-era Miles Davis. Sure, it was
wild, it was buggy, it was chaotic and willfully
spastic, but it was also electrically charged,
occasionally brilliant and never less than
engrossing. There is something intimidating about the
many perfect albums Davis recorded before Bitches
Brew, a certain chilled self-possession on records
like Birth of the Cool and Kind of Blue that renders
them almost inert to the modern critical faculty.
Davis' fusion, on the other hand, is full of jagged
edges, unrequited passion and recondite allusions;
the sonic equivalent of a man with a book of matches
going nuts in a house made of gasoline-soaked tinder.
The interplay between control and chaos was crucial
to Davis' fusion arrangements. Although he could be
imperious and downright unpleasant to the musicians
who worked with him, he made up for it in terms of
the generosity he accorded them onstage. Anyone who
has ever heard any of Davis' performances, from any
era, can attest to the fact that the kind of
incredibly intricate jazz Davis played required
absolute trust on the part of his groups, and this is
especially true for the post-Bitches Brew fusion
combos that toured incessantly in the '70s. The
spontaneity and energy that was essential to the
appeal of tracks like "Spanish Key" and "Black Satin"
just couldn't have been achieved without a healthy
dose of danger.
This element is exactly what's missing from Fusion
For Miles. Although my curiosity was initially piqued
by the album's concept -- some of the best modern
guitarists tackling the horn parts in new
arrangements of Davis classics, with a special focus
on the fusion era -- the execution leaves a lot to be
desired. I've been struggling to find an appropriate
way to express what exactly is missing from this
recording without sounding downright pejorative, but
I'll just come out and say it: this CD sounds really,
really white.
There's a pinched exactitude about the playing and
arrangements on here that almost strangles any life
from the compositions. I would not have thought that
later Miles could ever be turned into Muzak -- that
isn't exactly what happened here, but it comes
frighteningly close in places.
Jeff Richman's arrangement and production is just too
damn polite. Vinnie Colaiuta's drums are spot-on for
the entirety of the disc, but his precision is too
subdued to really hit the needling sensuality that
undercut Davis' later material. I have to give props
to the consistently excellent Bill Frisell for
delivering an appropriately harried interpretation of
Wayne Shorter's "Nefertiti". Although his name is
only vaguely familiar to me I'll be on the lookout
for more work from Bill Connors on the strength of
his fevered fret board workout on "Eighty One".
But unfortunately, those are the only real
highlights. Eric Johnson, never my favorite guitarist
to begin with, gives a positively somnolent
performance on "Jean Pierre". I had some hope that
Warren Haynes might be able to inject some energy
into "It's About That Time", but unfortunately he
doesn't seem to really get into it beyond a brace of
sub-Stevie Ray blues licks.
Perhaps expecting a truly funky interpretation of
some really wild music from a bunch of pasty looking
white guys was a bit much. I dunno if that has
anything to do with it. But if I was in charge of a
disc like this, I'd track down one of those young
psychotic bands -- Lightning Bolt or the Mars Volta
-- lock them in a studio with a bag of magic
mushrooms and ecstasy, with John Zorn on the boards,
and then come back a week later. It probably wouldn't
be the most technically proficient Davis tribute
ever, but it would probably be loud and angry and
sexy, without a hint of the professional politesse
that mars this release.
Tracklist:
01 - Jimmy Herring - Black Satin [06:28]
02 - Jeff Richman - Splatch [05:06]
03 - Eric Johnson - Jean Pierre [06:24]
04 - Mike Stern - So What [05:53]
05 - Bill Frisell - Nefertiti [05:42]
06 - Bill Connors - Eighty One [06:09]
07 - Pat Martino - Serpents Tooth [05:25]
08 - Warren Haynes - It's About that Time [06:10]
09 - Steve Kimmock - Back Seat Betty [06:30]
10 - Bireli Lagrene - Spanish Key [09:12]
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