This is the final post of the Fillmore Tree. I did this a little faster because I don’t want it to be a gimmick to generate traffic. Instead, I want this post to get great Miles Davis shows out to listeners that didn’t know where to begin with his unreleased material. Like the 1975 Tree, the Fillmore Tree was made by dedicated Miles fans that had a good grasp on the man’s work and knew that the average fan would be intimidated by the wealth of material. These trees, then, served to remove the mystery of Miles’ catalog and allowed for themed sets that also served a purpose: illuminating Miles’ development outside of the studio.
In the studio, Miles’ music changed rapidly from around 1968 on. Having finished off several albums with one of the greatest “conventional” jazz groups (Hancock, Williams, Shorter, Carter), Miles began to dabble in electronics. Thankfully Columbia’s reissue program has started to fill in the gaps, meaning where the “Second Great Quintet” material (and box) leaves off, the In A Silent Way Sessions picks up. These segue almost seamlessly in the Bitches Brew era, which is now also covered by a box.
This is where this set comes in. This does not purport to be Miles’ only music from the end of Bitches Brew, but it does offer a glimpse of the “Lost Quintet” at the beginning of the year, and a snapshot of a drastically different lineup at the end. While Corea uses electronics, for the most part the combination of Corea, Holland, Shorter and DeJohnette was a “conventional” group using the large group, studio composed album Bitches Brew as a launching point for improvisation. Miles’ group made these studio compositions into vivid improvisational vehicles, and you can hear them on these early discs (and the commercially released It’s About That Time).
Miles’ group’s sound would change because of personnel changes. Airto and Grossman were added, and Shorter departed. These discs (and the commercially released Black Beauty) show Miles in transition. He still was using Bitches Brew as a starting point, but the sound was dryer and thinner, and it featured less of a late-’60s improvisational edge. The last sets on this tree sound drastically different because of sweeping changes in the players. Miles swapped out Grossman for the criminally underrated Gary Bartz, and Corea was gone in favor of Jarrett. Likewise, and most crucially, Dave Holland was no longer present to add a jazz underpinning; instead Micheal Henderson’s r&b bass created the rock pulse that is documented on the Cellar Door Sessions.
In fact, I would say 1970 is a crucial year to see where the Cellar Door Sessions that Columbia so lovingly documented came from. Without that box (and these shows), the transformation into Jack Johnson, for instance, can seem jarring. The Jack Johnson box, and then the On The Corner box, are crucial documents that allow the listener to see a smooth, rather than abrupt or radical, progression in Miles’ development. Yet this illustration is incomplete without seeing a full picture of Miles’ shows in 1970 (with the situs of the Fillmore representing a thread through each). In other words, while the studio work finally influenced Miles’ live sets, the inverse held true: what happened live would always show up in one way or another in the studio.
Thus, this set, and the 1975 Tree, fill in important blanks that add continuity to the welcome reissue (and critical reexamination) of Miles’ move towards electronics and finally funk. These dates show Miles’ working group, without random additions (which oddly become popular) to the lineup, in contrast with Dark Magus, Live Evil (though McLaughlin was a frequent collaborator, his attendance was a departure instead of the norm), or the video Another Kind Of Blue (with Corea and Jarrett playing in the same band for the Isle of Wight festival). These sets are recordings of Miles at his technical, and to these ears, creative peak. They mark the transition from one beloved era to one that has confused listeners.
In short, this post contains essential music for anybody with any interest in connecting the dots from In A Silent Way to Miles’ temporary retirement.
Disc 1 (3/6/70, Fillmore East [First Set])
Disc 2 (3/6/70, Fillmore East [Second Set])
Disc 3 (4/9/70, Fillmore West)
Disc 4 (4/11/70, Fillmore West)
Disc 5 (4/12/70, Fillmore West)
Disc 6 (10/15/70, Fillmore West)
Disc 7 (10/17/70, Fillmore West)
Disc 8 (10/18/70, Fillmore West)
All links and artwork updated 1/14/11.
(Source: killedincars)
