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Miles and Quincy
___________________________________________________
Miles & Quincy
Live at Montreux
Warner Bros. Records
9 45221-2
__________________________________________________
FEATURING MILES DAVIS PLAYING THE CLASSIC ARRANGEMENTS OF GIL EVANS
1. INTRODUCTION BY CLAUDE NOBS AND QUINCY JONES (1:23)
2. BOPLICITY (3:40)
(Cleo Henry) Sophisticate Music Inc. (BMI)
3. INTRODUCTION TO MILES AHEAD MEDLEY (:09)
4. SPRINGSVILLE (3:34)
(John Carisi) Celestial Harmonies (BMI)
5. MAIDS OF CADIZ (3:37)
(Gil Evans) Bopper Spock Suns Music (BMI)
6. THE DUKE (4:01)
(Dave Brubeck) Derry Music Company (BMI)
7. MY SHIP (4:11)
(Ira Gershwin/Kurt Weill) Ira Gershwin Music adm. by WB Music Corp./T.R.O. Hampshire House Publishing Corp. (ASCAP)
8. MILES AHEAD (3:39)
(Gil Evans) Bopper Spock Suns Music (BMI)
9. BLUES FOR PABLO (6:04)
(Gil Evans) Bopper Spock Suns Music (BMI)
10. INTRODUCTION TO PORGY AND BESS MEDLEY (:28)
11. ORGONE (4:09)
(Gil Evans) Bopper Spock Suns Music (BMI)
12. GONE, GONE, GONE (1:48)
(George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin/Du Bose Heyward) George Gershwin Music/Ira Gershwin Music/Du Bose & Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund Publishing/WB Music Corp. (ASCAP)
13. SUMMERTIME (2:54)
(George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin/Du Bose Heyward) George Gershwin Music/Ira Gershwin Music/Du Bose & Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund Publishing/WB Music Corp. (ASCAP)
14. HERE COME DE HONEY MAN (3:41)
(George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin/Du Bose Heyward) George Gershwin Music/Ira Gershwin Music/Du Bose & Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund Publishing/WB Music Corp. (ASCAP)
15. THE PAN PIPER* (1:40)
(Gil Evans) Bopper Spock Suns Music (BMI)
16 SOLEA* (11:44)
(Gil Evans) Bopper Spock Suns Music (BMI)
*SELECTIONS FROM SKETCHES OF SPAIN
Produced by QUINCY JONES FOR Quincy Jones Productions.
Executive Producers: CLAUDE NOBS AND LOUISE VELAZQUEZ
Associate Producer: JERRY HEY
Production Coordinator in Los Angeles: JOLIE LEVINE
Transcription and Additional Orchestration: GIL GOLDSTEIN
Transcription and Additional Orchestration on "Miles Ahead": MARIA SCHNEIDER Photography: ANNIE LEIBOWITZ
Quincy Jones Photo: PHILIPPE DUTOIT
Art Direction: JEFF GOLD AND JERI HEIDEN
Design: JOHN HEIDEN
__________________________________________________
Performed by THE GIL EVANS ORCHESTRA AND THE GEORGE GRUNTZ CONCERT JAZZ BAND
MILES DAVIS: Trumpet
CONDUCTOR: Quincy Jones
SOLOISTS:
KENNY GARRETT (Alto Saxophone)
WALLACE RONEY (Trumpet/Fluegelhorn)
THE GIL EVANS ORCHESTRA
Lew Soloff (Trumpet)
Miles Evans (Trumpet)
Tom Malone (Trombone)
Alex Foster (Alto Saxophone/Soprano Saxophone/Flute)
George Adams (Tenor Saxophone/Flute)
Gil Goldstein (Keyboard)
Delmar Brown (Keyboard)
Kennwood Dennard (Drums on "Orgone"/Percussion on other selections)
THE GEORGE GRUNTZ CONCERT JAZZ BAND
Marvin Stamm (Trumpet/Fluegelhorn)
John D'earth (Trumpet/Fluegelhorn)
Jack Walrath (Trumpet/Fluegelhorn)
John Clark (French Horn)
Tom Varner (French Horn)
Dave Bargeron (Euphonium/Trombone)
Earl McIntyre (Euphonium/Trombone)
Dave Taylor (Bass Trombone)
Howard Johnson (Tuba/Baritone Saxophone)
Sal Giorgianni (Alto Saxophone)
Bob Malach (Tenor Saxophone/Flute/Clarinet)
Larry Schneider (Tenor Saxophone/Oboe/Flute/Clarinet)
Jerry Bergonzi (Tenor Saxophone)
George Gruntz (Piano/Leader)
Mike Richmond (Bass)
John Riley (Drums/Percussion)
Wallace Roney (Trumpet/Fluegelhorn)
ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS WITH THE GEORGE GRUNTZ CONCERT JAZZ BAND
Manfred Schoof (Trumpet/Fluegelhorn)
Ack van Royen (Tmmpet/Fluegelhorn)
Alex Brofsky (French Horn)
Roland Dahinden (Trombone)
Claudio Pontiggia (French Horn)
Anne O'Brien (Flute)
Julian Cawdry (Flute/Piccolo/Alto Flute)
Hanspeter Frehner (Flute/Piccolo/Alto Flute)
Michel Weber (Clarinet)
Christian Gavillet (Bass Clarinet/Baritone Saxophone)
Tilman Zahn (Oboe)
Dave Seghezzo (Oboe)
Xavier Duss (Oboe)
Judith Wenziker (Oboe)
Christian Rabe (Bassoon)
Reiner Erb (Bassoon)
Xenia Schindler (Harp)
Conrad Herwig (Trombone)
Roger Rosenberg (Bass Clarinet/Baritone Saxophone)
ADDITIONAL PARTICIPATING MUSICIANS
Benny Bailey (Trumpet/FIuegelhorn)
Carles Benavent (Bass/Electric Bass on "The Pan Piper" and "Solea")
Grady Tate (Drums)
Wallace Roney appears courtesy of Muse Records
Recorded live at the 25th Anniversary of the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 8, 1991.
Live sound recording by David Richards and Justin Shirley-Smith on-site at Mountain Studios.
Audio coordinating by Ron Lorman.
Additional assistance provided by Andreas Galle and Walter Fiklocki.
Mixed by Mick Guzauski at Capitol Studios in Hollywood, CA.
Mastered by Bernie Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering, Hollywood, CA.
Technical Director: Leslie Ann Jones.
Editor: Larry Walsh.
Music Preparation Supervisor: Joe Muccioli at the King Brand Company.
___________________________________________________
With love and gratitude from deep, deep down:
To Miles Dewey Davis, the Master Painter. For over 42 years, your friendship, style and givingness has touched the bottom of my soul. It was a lifetime dream to have had the honor of conducting the masterpieces of Gil Evans with someone who has been my idol since the age of 13. Your music is unconditionally my favorite music on the planet. I love you. You really did revolutionize jazz five times. After you, who?
To Claude Nobs, for your generosity, and for sharing this rare experience of Montreux with me. For 27 years your nurturing spirit has inspired the perfect 360 degree audience "that won't stop until it gets enough."
To Nastassja, for knowing exactly which night to come to Montreux and for spraying your magical light all over this special night.
To little Kenya, for your rare Uranus-Neptune conjunction and your sweet and beautiful soul.
To Miles' family, and to my family - my children, and friends - who came to Montreux to be with Miles, God bless you all for your support and for always being there and for making life a joy for so many, starting with this short, happy, bow-legged conductor/composer.
I would like to thank Anita Evans and the estate of Gil Evans for their help in providing the original charts for Gil's historical arrangements. A big thank you also goes to Gil Goldstein for his tireless assistance in restoring many of the elements which were missing from the original Gil Evans charts.
George Gruntz and the members of his Concert Jazz Band, the Gil Evans Orchestra and the special guests that travelled great distances to come together and make the music happen will always have a special place in my heart. Jerry Hey helped hold it all together through to the end and I will be forever grateful for his help.
The business of putting all of this together was long and complicated and there are so many people that made this recording possible. I would like to thank the following people for their special contributions; Mo Ostin, Peter Shukat, Gordon Meltzer, Gordon Parks, Shohachi Sakai and the Sony HDTV Division, Claude Nobs, Louise Velazquez, Jim Beach, Michel Ferla, Jim Swindel, David Altschul, Fred Brown, Donald Passman, Gregg Harrison, Noel Silverman, Gavin Taylor, Bernie Grundman, Jerry Hey, Mick Guzauski, Lesley Ann Jones, Larry Walsh, Ray Harris, Ricky Schultz, Matt Pierson, Jolie Levine, Jeff Gold, Jeri Heiden and all of the crews and staff members that worked with us in Montreux and L.A.
- Quincy Jones
__________________________________________________
There have been a few events in jazz history that have endured in our memory above and beyond anything else that occurred in the same generation. Such were the unique collaborations of a genius improviser, Miles Davis, and a genius arranger, Gil Evans.
The music they produced was magisterial and timeless, yet Miles Davis, ever the seeker after new directions, refused to look back at his brilliant yesteryears. It took the persuasive powers of another great man of music, Quincy Jones, to convince him that the moment had come to revive, in person at the Montreux Festival, some of those products of the 1950's that remain for many observers, the proudest achievements of Miles and Gil. The evidence of that magic visit to a glorious past is here in this package.
Technically the Evans-Davis partnership extended slightly beyond the decade of their main achievements: "Boplicity," a product of one of the Birth Of The Cool sessions, was recorded April 22, 1949. "The Pan Piper" and "Solea" are from the Sketches Of Spain album, recorded by the full orchestra in 1960.
Miles Davis used to claim that he had revolutionized jazz five times. This was hardly an exaggeration, given the singularity of these achievements: in 1949 and '50 he and Gil, along with a cadre of forward-looking young men who used to hang out together at Gil's midtown place, produced the three Birth Of The Cool recordings that shed a new light on instrumental jazz played by beboppers, with subtler rhythmics and dynamics, and an artful balance between solos and orchestral passages.
The concept was imitated by many other groups such as Shorty Rogers's on the West Coast.
A second innovation justifying Miles's claim was his use, from around 1957, of the fluegelhorn instead of (or in addition to) the trumpet. Previously, almost no jazzman had taken advantage of the mellower sound; within a few years almost every studio trumpeter was doubling on fluegelhorn.
Davis also pioneered in the use of modal passages in his 1958 and '59 recordings such as "So What" and "Milestones." Little by little, modes replaced or supplemented traditional scales in jazz.
Overlapping these events were the three historic albums that provide the basis for almost all the contents of the Montreux reunion: Miles Ahead (1957), Porgy And Bess (1959) and Sketches Of Spain (1960). The opulent polyphonic textures Evans extracted from an ensemble that ranged up to 20 pieces, coupled with a new creative peak in Miles's melodic and improvisational forays, were like nothing we had heard before.
A fifth stage in the evolution of Miles Davis was, of course, his role in popularizing jazz/rock (In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew, 1968-69), using acoustic and electronic instruments, with the sitar, the tabla, and various Brazilian and African percussion instruments.
If that was the final Davis innovation, this was understandable in the light of a long period marked by serious illnesses (he was in total retirement from 1975-81). After his return, no innovative moves were made, though occasionally (as in his trumpet and synthesizer work on the 1983 Star People) he offered reminders of a brilliant past.
Before and after his return, Miles was insistent on one point: he refused to look back, declined all attempts to bring back the glory of the Evans alliance. This is where Quincy Jones, a longtime friend and admirer, entered the picture.
"I had been talking to Miles for a long time about doing these pieces again," Quincy said recently. "Finally, we found this forum, the perfect place to do it - The Montreux Jazz Festival, which the founder, Claude Nobs, and I have co-produced for the past three years. This was the first time that I had ever worked with Miles. At one point Claude came to New York and we sat with Miles and talked and talked, and finally he said 'okay.' But he said, 'This stuff's gonna be expensive.' I said, 'What do you mean? The cost of the band can't be that much.' 'It ain't that, man,' he said. 'It's just that this shit is hard to play ....’
To ensure that the orchestra would have the most sonorous possible sound, Quincy hired what was in effect a double orchestra, using both the George Gruntz Band and the Gil Evans Orchestra, which had continued under the leadership of Evans's son Miles after Gil died in 1988. "We doubled everything - four oboes, two bassoons, really two combined bands, with a lot of Americans like Benny Bailey and Gil Goldstein. I can never overestimate the role that Gil Goldstein played in lovingly transcribing these classic Gil Evans orchestrations. Wonderful orchestra. There was also Kenny Garrett, the gifted young saxophonist who had been working with Miles since 1987."
The presence of Wallace Roney served a dual purpose. A promising young musician (born in May 1960), Roney was on hand at rehearsal before Miles arrived and stood in for him, playing the parts with predictable fluency. "He was just around to sit in until Miles got there," says Quincy, "but when Miles arrived, first he said 'Great! You take this part,' 'cause his chops weren't up to it. For the first two rehearsals we didn't know how much he was going to play. But when it came down to showtime, some miraculous energy came to him and he just managed to play most of it." After the show, Miles expressed his appreciation of Wallace's talent and love by giving him the gift of his signature red trumpet. Since then, Wallace has amply justified the compliment.
"At the performance itself," said Quincy, "I saw Miles, after just one number, smiling the biggest smile I ever saw in my life, waving his towel to the audience. I'd never seen him that outgoing in all the years I'd known him."
Quincy's claim that Miles was "returning to his roots after 32 years" was no exaggeration. In fact, in the case of "Boplicity," no less than 42 years had elapsed since the original recording. A word of clarification may be needed concerning the credits: originally, because of some publishing situation, the tune was credited to a mysterious Cleo Henry - the name of Miles's mother. Actually, it was co-written by Gil Evans and Miles.
In this updated treatment, Miles reminds us of his deep commitment to the values symbolized by this and other Evans works. Back in 1950, when someone asked him to name what he felt was the best example of his own recorded work, he said: "I'd choose 'Boplicity,' because of Gil's arrangement."
The French critic Andre Hodeir amplified the point: when he observed that "Boplicity" was "alone enough to make Gil Evans qualify as one of jazz's greatest arranger-composers."
"Springsville" was written by John Carisi, the trumpeter and arranger whose recent death was a major loss to jazz. Carisi's best-known work was "Israel," recorded by Miles at the same session as "Boplicity."
"The Maids Of Cadiz" illustrates the eclecticism employed by Evans and Davis in assembling the Miles Ahead album; it was written by the French composer Leo Delibes (1836-1891) and seemed to fit into this context just as logically as the works of Dave Brubeck, Ahmad Jamal and Kurt Weill. Miles switches from muted to open horn here to establish an ambiance reminiscent of "'Round Midnight."
"The Duke" was composed as a tribute to Duke Ellington by Dave Brubeck, who recorded it with his own quartet in 1955, but it is best remembered today as a consequence of Gil's arrangement for Miles. The first trumpet solo here is by Wallace Roney.
"My Ship" was introduced in 1941 by Gertrude Lawrence in a stage show; the beguiling Kurt Weill melody made a logical palette for Gil Evans's sui generis tone colors.
"Miles Ahead" was of course the title number of the album that launched the Davis-Evans series. In his autobiography, Miles, Davis recalled that "It was a great experience working again with Gil … he was so meticulous and creative, and I trusted his musical arrangements completely. We had always been a great musical team and I really realized it this time when we did 'Miles Ahead'; Gil and I were something special together musically."
At Montreux the solos on "Miles Ahead" are by Wallace Roney and Kenny Garrett, but Miles joins with Roney during the last chorus.
"Blues For Pablo," one of Evans's most engaging compositions, was included in a CBS TV program, "The Sound Of Miles Davis," taped in 1959 and aired in 1960, when its strict emphasis on the music was noted with delight by critics who had seldom seen or heard performances of this quality on national television. Ian Carr, the British trumpeter and author, noted in this work a "marvellous integration of lower and higher instruments, the whole context, with its incessant movement and shifting textures, inspires Miles to play with an intensity that matches his small-group work."
Although Evans seems to take great delight in recomposing the works of others, there are several pieces of his own that have stood the test of time. In the book Milestones I, by Jack Chambers, the author points out that "The scintillating 'Orgone' has nothing at all to do with the music of George Gershwin but is Gil Evans's very own." It is, however, part of the Porgy And Bess album. Chambers rightly observed that the overall resemblance of the Evans-Davis "Porgy And Bess" is slight indeed, and that "Moviegoers looking to this record for a recapitulation of the music they heard in the movie would discover, at most, a few scattered melodies and absolutely nothing else."
Nevertheless, a few of the Evans charts hew fairly close to the original; among them is "Summertime," taken at a slightly faster tempo than might have been expected, and notable for Kenny Garrett's powerful attack.
The last Porgy And Bess track is "Here Come De Honey Man," an exquisitely scored piece that makes extensive use of the orchestral timbres and textures at Evans's disposal, with Garrett again featured. "The Pan Piper," from the Sketches Of Spain album, was said to have represented the street cry of a vendor in a folk recording from which Evans adapted it. Miles is in superb form here, aided in no small measure by the woodwinds and by Xenia Schindler's harp. Speaking of Gil's work here, Miles said: "He made that orchestra sound like a big guitar."
Finally, there is "Solea," one of the three Evans originals in Sketches Of Spain (along with "The Pan Piper" and "Saeta”). Herbie Hancock, listening to this and the other products of these unforgettable collaborations, said: "I didn't get to hear the concert in person, but I went to Claude Nobs's house and saw the tape. Right away I started crying, because that's the music that changed my life."
One can well imagine how many lives were changed by the impact of Miles Ahead, Porgy And Bess and Sketches Of Spain. The reaction of the audience at Montreux left no doubt that the emotional impact of this music was undimmed.
There is a curious postscript to this story.
Despite Miles's apparently stubborn refusal to relive his early years, he had done so lust a year before the Montreux event, for a movie called "Dingo." Set partly in the Australian outback some three decades ago, it featured Miles in a major playing and acting role. For the opening scene he played in the pre-electric style appropriate to the time.
A few weeks after returning from Montreux, Miles Davis was admitted to a hospital In Los Angeles, where he died September 28, 1991. Death was attributed to pneumonia, though the accumulation of illnesses was such that the exact direct cause may never be known.
Some months after Miles's death, his original 1960's quintet was reorganized for a tour, with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Tony Williams and Wallace Roney (for whom the Montreux appearance had been a valuable credit) in Miles's role. If this was not a total recreation, at least it came as close as was reasonably possible. After all, there was only one Miles, and this is the Miles we are fortunate enough to hear in this magnificent and poignant swan song.
- Leonard Feather
April 1993
© 1993 Warner Bros. Records Inc. Made in U.S.A.
Miles & Quincy
Live at Montreux
Warner Bros. Records
9 45221-2
__________________________________________________
FEATURING MILES DAVIS PLAYING THE CLASSIC ARRANGEMENTS OF GIL EVANS
1. INTRODUCTION BY CLAUDE NOBS AND QUINCY JONES (1:23)
2. BOPLICITY (3:40)
(Cleo Henry) Sophisticate Music Inc. (BMI)
3. INTRODUCTION TO MILES AHEAD MEDLEY (:09)
4. SPRINGSVILLE (3:34)
(John Carisi) Celestial Harmonies (BMI)
5. MAIDS OF CADIZ (3:37)
(Gil Evans) Bopper Spock Suns Music (BMI)
6. THE DUKE (4:01)
(Dave Brubeck) Derry Music Company (BMI)
7. MY SHIP (4:11)
(Ira Gershwin/Kurt Weill) Ira Gershwin Music adm. by WB Music Corp./T.R.O. Hampshire House Publishing Corp. (ASCAP)
8. MILES AHEAD (3:39)
(Gil Evans) Bopper Spock Suns Music (BMI)
9. BLUES FOR PABLO (6:04)
(Gil Evans) Bopper Spock Suns Music (BMI)
10. INTRODUCTION TO PORGY AND BESS MEDLEY (:28)
11. ORGONE (4:09)
(Gil Evans) Bopper Spock Suns Music (BMI)
12. GONE, GONE, GONE (1:48)
(George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin/Du Bose Heyward) George Gershwin Music/Ira Gershwin Music/Du Bose & Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund Publishing/WB Music Corp. (ASCAP)
13. SUMMERTIME (2:54)
(George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin/Du Bose Heyward) George Gershwin Music/Ira Gershwin Music/Du Bose & Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund Publishing/WB Music Corp. (ASCAP)
14. HERE COME DE HONEY MAN (3:41)
(George Gershwin/Ira Gershwin/Du Bose Heyward) George Gershwin Music/Ira Gershwin Music/Du Bose & Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund Publishing/WB Music Corp. (ASCAP)
15. THE PAN PIPER* (1:40)
(Gil Evans) Bopper Spock Suns Music (BMI)
16 SOLEA* (11:44)
(Gil Evans) Bopper Spock Suns Music (BMI)
*SELECTIONS FROM SKETCHES OF SPAIN
Produced by QUINCY JONES FOR Quincy Jones Productions.
Executive Producers: CLAUDE NOBS AND LOUISE VELAZQUEZ
Associate Producer: JERRY HEY
Production Coordinator in Los Angeles: JOLIE LEVINE
Transcription and Additional Orchestration: GIL GOLDSTEIN
Transcription and Additional Orchestration on "Miles Ahead": MARIA SCHNEIDER Photography: ANNIE LEIBOWITZ
Quincy Jones Photo: PHILIPPE DUTOIT
Art Direction: JEFF GOLD AND JERI HEIDEN
Design: JOHN HEIDEN
__________________________________________________
Performed by THE GIL EVANS ORCHESTRA AND THE GEORGE GRUNTZ CONCERT JAZZ BAND
MILES DAVIS: Trumpet
CONDUCTOR: Quincy Jones
SOLOISTS:
KENNY GARRETT (Alto Saxophone)
WALLACE RONEY (Trumpet/Fluegelhorn)
THE GIL EVANS ORCHESTRA
Lew Soloff (Trumpet)
Miles Evans (Trumpet)
Tom Malone (Trombone)
Alex Foster (Alto Saxophone/Soprano Saxophone/Flute)
George Adams (Tenor Saxophone/Flute)
Gil Goldstein (Keyboard)
Delmar Brown (Keyboard)
Kennwood Dennard (Drums on "Orgone"/Percussion on other selections)
THE GEORGE GRUNTZ CONCERT JAZZ BAND
Marvin Stamm (Trumpet/Fluegelhorn)
John D'earth (Trumpet/Fluegelhorn)
Jack Walrath (Trumpet/Fluegelhorn)
John Clark (French Horn)
Tom Varner (French Horn)
Dave Bargeron (Euphonium/Trombone)
Earl McIntyre (Euphonium/Trombone)
Dave Taylor (Bass Trombone)
Howard Johnson (Tuba/Baritone Saxophone)
Sal Giorgianni (Alto Saxophone)
Bob Malach (Tenor Saxophone/Flute/Clarinet)
Larry Schneider (Tenor Saxophone/Oboe/Flute/Clarinet)
Jerry Bergonzi (Tenor Saxophone)
George Gruntz (Piano/Leader)
Mike Richmond (Bass)
John Riley (Drums/Percussion)
Wallace Roney (Trumpet/Fluegelhorn)
ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS WITH THE GEORGE GRUNTZ CONCERT JAZZ BAND
Manfred Schoof (Trumpet/Fluegelhorn)
Ack van Royen (Tmmpet/Fluegelhorn)
Alex Brofsky (French Horn)
Roland Dahinden (Trombone)
Claudio Pontiggia (French Horn)
Anne O'Brien (Flute)
Julian Cawdry (Flute/Piccolo/Alto Flute)
Hanspeter Frehner (Flute/Piccolo/Alto Flute)
Michel Weber (Clarinet)
Christian Gavillet (Bass Clarinet/Baritone Saxophone)
Tilman Zahn (Oboe)
Dave Seghezzo (Oboe)
Xavier Duss (Oboe)
Judith Wenziker (Oboe)
Christian Rabe (Bassoon)
Reiner Erb (Bassoon)
Xenia Schindler (Harp)
Conrad Herwig (Trombone)
Roger Rosenberg (Bass Clarinet/Baritone Saxophone)
ADDITIONAL PARTICIPATING MUSICIANS
Benny Bailey (Trumpet/FIuegelhorn)
Carles Benavent (Bass/Electric Bass on "The Pan Piper" and "Solea")
Grady Tate (Drums)
Wallace Roney appears courtesy of Muse Records
Recorded live at the 25th Anniversary of the Montreux Jazz Festival on July 8, 1991.
Live sound recording by David Richards and Justin Shirley-Smith on-site at Mountain Studios.
Audio coordinating by Ron Lorman.
Additional assistance provided by Andreas Galle and Walter Fiklocki.
Mixed by Mick Guzauski at Capitol Studios in Hollywood, CA.
Mastered by Bernie Grundman at Bernie Grundman Mastering, Hollywood, CA.
Technical Director: Leslie Ann Jones.
Editor: Larry Walsh.
Music Preparation Supervisor: Joe Muccioli at the King Brand Company.
___________________________________________________
With love and gratitude from deep, deep down:
To Miles Dewey Davis, the Master Painter. For over 42 years, your friendship, style and givingness has touched the bottom of my soul. It was a lifetime dream to have had the honor of conducting the masterpieces of Gil Evans with someone who has been my idol since the age of 13. Your music is unconditionally my favorite music on the planet. I love you. You really did revolutionize jazz five times. After you, who?
To Claude Nobs, for your generosity, and for sharing this rare experience of Montreux with me. For 27 years your nurturing spirit has inspired the perfect 360 degree audience "that won't stop until it gets enough."
To Nastassja, for knowing exactly which night to come to Montreux and for spraying your magical light all over this special night.
To little Kenya, for your rare Uranus-Neptune conjunction and your sweet and beautiful soul.
To Miles' family, and to my family - my children, and friends - who came to Montreux to be with Miles, God bless you all for your support and for always being there and for making life a joy for so many, starting with this short, happy, bow-legged conductor/composer.
I would like to thank Anita Evans and the estate of Gil Evans for their help in providing the original charts for Gil's historical arrangements. A big thank you also goes to Gil Goldstein for his tireless assistance in restoring many of the elements which were missing from the original Gil Evans charts.
George Gruntz and the members of his Concert Jazz Band, the Gil Evans Orchestra and the special guests that travelled great distances to come together and make the music happen will always have a special place in my heart. Jerry Hey helped hold it all together through to the end and I will be forever grateful for his help.
The business of putting all of this together was long and complicated and there are so many people that made this recording possible. I would like to thank the following people for their special contributions; Mo Ostin, Peter Shukat, Gordon Meltzer, Gordon Parks, Shohachi Sakai and the Sony HDTV Division, Claude Nobs, Louise Velazquez, Jim Beach, Michel Ferla, Jim Swindel, David Altschul, Fred Brown, Donald Passman, Gregg Harrison, Noel Silverman, Gavin Taylor, Bernie Grundman, Jerry Hey, Mick Guzauski, Lesley Ann Jones, Larry Walsh, Ray Harris, Ricky Schultz, Matt Pierson, Jolie Levine, Jeff Gold, Jeri Heiden and all of the crews and staff members that worked with us in Montreux and L.A.
- Quincy Jones
__________________________________________________
There have been a few events in jazz history that have endured in our memory above and beyond anything else that occurred in the same generation. Such were the unique collaborations of a genius improviser, Miles Davis, and a genius arranger, Gil Evans.
The music they produced was magisterial and timeless, yet Miles Davis, ever the seeker after new directions, refused to look back at his brilliant yesteryears. It took the persuasive powers of another great man of music, Quincy Jones, to convince him that the moment had come to revive, in person at the Montreux Festival, some of those products of the 1950's that remain for many observers, the proudest achievements of Miles and Gil. The evidence of that magic visit to a glorious past is here in this package.
Technically the Evans-Davis partnership extended slightly beyond the decade of their main achievements: "Boplicity," a product of one of the Birth Of The Cool sessions, was recorded April 22, 1949. "The Pan Piper" and "Solea" are from the Sketches Of Spain album, recorded by the full orchestra in 1960.
Miles Davis used to claim that he had revolutionized jazz five times. This was hardly an exaggeration, given the singularity of these achievements: in 1949 and '50 he and Gil, along with a cadre of forward-looking young men who used to hang out together at Gil's midtown place, produced the three Birth Of The Cool recordings that shed a new light on instrumental jazz played by beboppers, with subtler rhythmics and dynamics, and an artful balance between solos and orchestral passages.
The concept was imitated by many other groups such as Shorty Rogers's on the West Coast.
A second innovation justifying Miles's claim was his use, from around 1957, of the fluegelhorn instead of (or in addition to) the trumpet. Previously, almost no jazzman had taken advantage of the mellower sound; within a few years almost every studio trumpeter was doubling on fluegelhorn.
Davis also pioneered in the use of modal passages in his 1958 and '59 recordings such as "So What" and "Milestones." Little by little, modes replaced or supplemented traditional scales in jazz.
Overlapping these events were the three historic albums that provide the basis for almost all the contents of the Montreux reunion: Miles Ahead (1957), Porgy And Bess (1959) and Sketches Of Spain (1960). The opulent polyphonic textures Evans extracted from an ensemble that ranged up to 20 pieces, coupled with a new creative peak in Miles's melodic and improvisational forays, were like nothing we had heard before.
A fifth stage in the evolution of Miles Davis was, of course, his role in popularizing jazz/rock (In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew, 1968-69), using acoustic and electronic instruments, with the sitar, the tabla, and various Brazilian and African percussion instruments.
If that was the final Davis innovation, this was understandable in the light of a long period marked by serious illnesses (he was in total retirement from 1975-81). After his return, no innovative moves were made, though occasionally (as in his trumpet and synthesizer work on the 1983 Star People) he offered reminders of a brilliant past.
Before and after his return, Miles was insistent on one point: he refused to look back, declined all attempts to bring back the glory of the Evans alliance. This is where Quincy Jones, a longtime friend and admirer, entered the picture.
"I had been talking to Miles for a long time about doing these pieces again," Quincy said recently. "Finally, we found this forum, the perfect place to do it - The Montreux Jazz Festival, which the founder, Claude Nobs, and I have co-produced for the past three years. This was the first time that I had ever worked with Miles. At one point Claude came to New York and we sat with Miles and talked and talked, and finally he said 'okay.' But he said, 'This stuff's gonna be expensive.' I said, 'What do you mean? The cost of the band can't be that much.' 'It ain't that, man,' he said. 'It's just that this shit is hard to play ....’
To ensure that the orchestra would have the most sonorous possible sound, Quincy hired what was in effect a double orchestra, using both the George Gruntz Band and the Gil Evans Orchestra, which had continued under the leadership of Evans's son Miles after Gil died in 1988. "We doubled everything - four oboes, two bassoons, really two combined bands, with a lot of Americans like Benny Bailey and Gil Goldstein. I can never overestimate the role that Gil Goldstein played in lovingly transcribing these classic Gil Evans orchestrations. Wonderful orchestra. There was also Kenny Garrett, the gifted young saxophonist who had been working with Miles since 1987."
The presence of Wallace Roney served a dual purpose. A promising young musician (born in May 1960), Roney was on hand at rehearsal before Miles arrived and stood in for him, playing the parts with predictable fluency. "He was just around to sit in until Miles got there," says Quincy, "but when Miles arrived, first he said 'Great! You take this part,' 'cause his chops weren't up to it. For the first two rehearsals we didn't know how much he was going to play. But when it came down to showtime, some miraculous energy came to him and he just managed to play most of it." After the show, Miles expressed his appreciation of Wallace's talent and love by giving him the gift of his signature red trumpet. Since then, Wallace has amply justified the compliment.
"At the performance itself," said Quincy, "I saw Miles, after just one number, smiling the biggest smile I ever saw in my life, waving his towel to the audience. I'd never seen him that outgoing in all the years I'd known him."
Quincy's claim that Miles was "returning to his roots after 32 years" was no exaggeration. In fact, in the case of "Boplicity," no less than 42 years had elapsed since the original recording. A word of clarification may be needed concerning the credits: originally, because of some publishing situation, the tune was credited to a mysterious Cleo Henry - the name of Miles's mother. Actually, it was co-written by Gil Evans and Miles.
In this updated treatment, Miles reminds us of his deep commitment to the values symbolized by this and other Evans works. Back in 1950, when someone asked him to name what he felt was the best example of his own recorded work, he said: "I'd choose 'Boplicity,' because of Gil's arrangement."
The French critic Andre Hodeir amplified the point: when he observed that "Boplicity" was "alone enough to make Gil Evans qualify as one of jazz's greatest arranger-composers."
"Springsville" was written by John Carisi, the trumpeter and arranger whose recent death was a major loss to jazz. Carisi's best-known work was "Israel," recorded by Miles at the same session as "Boplicity."
"The Maids Of Cadiz" illustrates the eclecticism employed by Evans and Davis in assembling the Miles Ahead album; it was written by the French composer Leo Delibes (1836-1891) and seemed to fit into this context just as logically as the works of Dave Brubeck, Ahmad Jamal and Kurt Weill. Miles switches from muted to open horn here to establish an ambiance reminiscent of "'Round Midnight."
"The Duke" was composed as a tribute to Duke Ellington by Dave Brubeck, who recorded it with his own quartet in 1955, but it is best remembered today as a consequence of Gil's arrangement for Miles. The first trumpet solo here is by Wallace Roney.
"My Ship" was introduced in 1941 by Gertrude Lawrence in a stage show; the beguiling Kurt Weill melody made a logical palette for Gil Evans's sui generis tone colors.
"Miles Ahead" was of course the title number of the album that launched the Davis-Evans series. In his autobiography, Miles, Davis recalled that "It was a great experience working again with Gil … he was so meticulous and creative, and I trusted his musical arrangements completely. We had always been a great musical team and I really realized it this time when we did 'Miles Ahead'; Gil and I were something special together musically."
At Montreux the solos on "Miles Ahead" are by Wallace Roney and Kenny Garrett, but Miles joins with Roney during the last chorus.
"Blues For Pablo," one of Evans's most engaging compositions, was included in a CBS TV program, "The Sound Of Miles Davis," taped in 1959 and aired in 1960, when its strict emphasis on the music was noted with delight by critics who had seldom seen or heard performances of this quality on national television. Ian Carr, the British trumpeter and author, noted in this work a "marvellous integration of lower and higher instruments, the whole context, with its incessant movement and shifting textures, inspires Miles to play with an intensity that matches his small-group work."
Although Evans seems to take great delight in recomposing the works of others, there are several pieces of his own that have stood the test of time. In the book Milestones I, by Jack Chambers, the author points out that "The scintillating 'Orgone' has nothing at all to do with the music of George Gershwin but is Gil Evans's very own." It is, however, part of the Porgy And Bess album. Chambers rightly observed that the overall resemblance of the Evans-Davis "Porgy And Bess" is slight indeed, and that "Moviegoers looking to this record for a recapitulation of the music they heard in the movie would discover, at most, a few scattered melodies and absolutely nothing else."
Nevertheless, a few of the Evans charts hew fairly close to the original; among them is "Summertime," taken at a slightly faster tempo than might have been expected, and notable for Kenny Garrett's powerful attack.
The last Porgy And Bess track is "Here Come De Honey Man," an exquisitely scored piece that makes extensive use of the orchestral timbres and textures at Evans's disposal, with Garrett again featured. "The Pan Piper," from the Sketches Of Spain album, was said to have represented the street cry of a vendor in a folk recording from which Evans adapted it. Miles is in superb form here, aided in no small measure by the woodwinds and by Xenia Schindler's harp. Speaking of Gil's work here, Miles said: "He made that orchestra sound like a big guitar."
Finally, there is "Solea," one of the three Evans originals in Sketches Of Spain (along with "The Pan Piper" and "Saeta”). Herbie Hancock, listening to this and the other products of these unforgettable collaborations, said: "I didn't get to hear the concert in person, but I went to Claude Nobs's house and saw the tape. Right away I started crying, because that's the music that changed my life."
One can well imagine how many lives were changed by the impact of Miles Ahead, Porgy And Bess and Sketches Of Spain. The reaction of the audience at Montreux left no doubt that the emotional impact of this music was undimmed.
There is a curious postscript to this story.
Despite Miles's apparently stubborn refusal to relive his early years, he had done so lust a year before the Montreux event, for a movie called "Dingo." Set partly in the Australian outback some three decades ago, it featured Miles in a major playing and acting role. For the opening scene he played in the pre-electric style appropriate to the time.
A few weeks after returning from Montreux, Miles Davis was admitted to a hospital In Los Angeles, where he died September 28, 1991. Death was attributed to pneumonia, though the accumulation of illnesses was such that the exact direct cause may never be known.
Some months after Miles's death, his original 1960's quintet was reorganized for a tour, with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Tony Williams and Wallace Roney (for whom the Montreux appearance had been a valuable credit) in Miles's role. If this was not a total recreation, at least it came as close as was reasonably possible. After all, there was only one Miles, and this is the Miles we are fortunate enough to hear in this magnificent and poignant swan song.
- Leonard Feather
April 1993
© 1993 Warner Bros. Records Inc. Made in U.S.A.
