MILES DAVIS QUINTET WITH JOHN COLTRANE– The Legendary 1960 European Tour
Solar Records 4569971
Miles Davis: trumpet; John Coltrane: tenor saxophone; Wynton Kelly: piano; Paul Chambers: bass; Jimmy Cobb: drums.
Recorded in Copenhagen (March, 24, 1960); Dusseldorf (March, 28, 1960); Frankfurt (March, 30, 1960); Munich (April, 3, 1960); Zurich (April, 8, 1960); Scheveningen (April, 9, 1960).
This collection of tracks from one of the two tours of Europe that Miles undertook in 1960 has been released previously (as have concerts in Stockholm and Copenhagen, for instance, on the Dragon and Royal Jazz labels). The tracks (as far as I can tell) can be found on Jazz Plot Records (JPR61623), released in 2011, and Acrobat (ACQD7076), released in 2014 under the title ‘All of You: the last tour 1960’ (reviewed on JazzViews here: MILES DAVIS QUINTET FEATURING JOHN COLTRANE – All Of You: The Last Tour 1960). So, despite the claims to the contrary that the cover boasts, this is definitely not a ‘for the first time’ deal. However, if you don’t own any of the previous issues of this collection, it is well worth getting a copy of this one.
The Quintet featured here is from the sessions that produced the seminal ‘Kind of Blue’ (Cannonball Adderley and Bill Evans are the two names from the sessions not in this line-up). So, one might expect to hear something along the lines of the mellow, modal jazz in that definitive recording. What you get is something quite different – not so much mellow as a clash between the hard, if staccato, of Miles playing an urgent bebop, and the languorous explorations of Coltrane’s extended solos. From the ‘Kind of Blue’ session you get ‘So What’ and ‘All Blues’, but the sets also include older pieces, like ‘Fran Dance’, ‘On Green Dolphin Street’, ‘Round Midnight’, ‘If I were a Bell’ and ‘Walkin’. Each tune is scaffolded with something of a 12-bar structure; presumably, to allow the rhythm section to keep going no matter what direction the soloists take. There is lots of cymbal work which, while this is something that Cobb liked to throw in, often suggests uncertainty as to where to put the rhythmic emphasis on the drums, so he concentrates on flourishes with cymbals to pick out the emotion in the playing. And the emotion here, in Miles’, terse trumpet solos is one of confrontation: he challenges the structure of the tunes, forcing them into the modal patterns he’d been working on. Rather than playing the changes and sticking with the swinging bebop of his rhythm section, he plays with a haiku-like brevity that absolutely captures his intent without a wasted or spare note, and then either repeats this or stops playing. His playing here has become individualistic and personal, with the musicians having following him. When he stops playing, there is a space to be filled rather than an invitation to complete or to develop a phrase. Despite this, Kelly plays some exquisite piano solos, seemingly impervious to the tension that Miles had built.
Infamously, Miles’ introspection upset the European journalists who complained that he did not speak to the audience, or turned his back on them, or walked off stage after he had finished his solo. This is to be understood not in terms of the arrogance that the journalists labelled him with but more in terms of his ambition to force a separation between the music being played and the ‘star’ that he had unwittingly and unwillingly become. On these tours (as in his playing in the US around this time), he was developing the stage presence that was meant to merge into the background so that the audience would only concentrate on the music. His stance, though, like a boxer poised to make the first jab, had the opposite effect. In the recordings here, there is the hint of this in his playing and in the way the slight pause after his solo is like an intake of breath before the band pick up the pieces and carry on.
In stark contrast, where Miles was aiming for brevity, Coltrane was pushing the limits on how long he could develop a solo. The logic, even of the most meandering of his solos, is maintained, although the rhythm section keeps control of the structural changes, leading Coltrane through the piece as if laying a carpet for him to walk on.
As a collection of pieces recorded from radio broadcasts, the sound quality is very good. As a collection of great jazz playing this is a little harder to recommend – the interplay between the rhythm section (with Kelly’s piano accompaniments and soloing, and Chamber’s bass playing being marvellous) and the soloists work quite well, but the playing of the soloists feel completely separate and disconnected (despite some joint playing of themes at the start and close of some of the pieces). This could simply be due to Miles walking off stage or Coltrane’s extended solos leaving so little space for him to come in. As an historical record of the diverging ambitions of two of the key figures in the development of jazz, this really is a fascinating document. You can hear how Coltrane would push towards pieces like ‘Impressions’ and the need for him to exercise more control over the solos, as he did on the ‘Love Supreme’ sessions. You can hear how Miles would work his brief but beautifully crafted solos over the following decade, and you get a sense as to why he might have needed to have the rhythm section shift from bebop to electric funk.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Solar Records 4569971
Miles Davis: trumpet; John Coltrane: tenor saxophone; Wynton Kelly: piano; Paul Chambers: bass; Jimmy Cobb: drums.
Recorded in Copenhagen (March, 24, 1960); Dusseldorf (March, 28, 1960); Frankfurt (March, 30, 1960); Munich (April, 3, 1960); Zurich (April, 8, 1960); Scheveningen (April, 9, 1960).
This collection of tracks from one of the two tours of Europe that Miles undertook in 1960 has been released previously (as have concerts in Stockholm and Copenhagen, for instance, on the Dragon and Royal Jazz labels). The tracks (as far as I can tell) can be found on Jazz Plot Records (JPR61623), released in 2011, and Acrobat (ACQD7076), released in 2014 under the title ‘All of You: the last tour 1960’ (reviewed on JazzViews here: MILES DAVIS QUINTET FEATURING JOHN COLTRANE – All Of You: The Last Tour 1960). So, despite the claims to the contrary that the cover boasts, this is definitely not a ‘for the first time’ deal. However, if you don’t own any of the previous issues of this collection, it is well worth getting a copy of this one.
The Quintet featured here is from the sessions that produced the seminal ‘Kind of Blue’ (Cannonball Adderley and Bill Evans are the two names from the sessions not in this line-up). So, one might expect to hear something along the lines of the mellow, modal jazz in that definitive recording. What you get is something quite different – not so much mellow as a clash between the hard, if staccato, of Miles playing an urgent bebop, and the languorous explorations of Coltrane’s extended solos. From the ‘Kind of Blue’ session you get ‘So What’ and ‘All Blues’, but the sets also include older pieces, like ‘Fran Dance’, ‘On Green Dolphin Street’, ‘Round Midnight’, ‘If I were a Bell’ and ‘Walkin’. Each tune is scaffolded with something of a 12-bar structure; presumably, to allow the rhythm section to keep going no matter what direction the soloists take. There is lots of cymbal work which, while this is something that Cobb liked to throw in, often suggests uncertainty as to where to put the rhythmic emphasis on the drums, so he concentrates on flourishes with cymbals to pick out the emotion in the playing. And the emotion here, in Miles’, terse trumpet solos is one of confrontation: he challenges the structure of the tunes, forcing them into the modal patterns he’d been working on. Rather than playing the changes and sticking with the swinging bebop of his rhythm section, he plays with a haiku-like brevity that absolutely captures his intent without a wasted or spare note, and then either repeats this or stops playing. His playing here has become individualistic and personal, with the musicians having following him. When he stops playing, there is a space to be filled rather than an invitation to complete or to develop a phrase. Despite this, Kelly plays some exquisite piano solos, seemingly impervious to the tension that Miles had built.
Infamously, Miles’ introspection upset the European journalists who complained that he did not speak to the audience, or turned his back on them, or walked off stage after he had finished his solo. This is to be understood not in terms of the arrogance that the journalists labelled him with but more in terms of his ambition to force a separation between the music being played and the ‘star’ that he had unwittingly and unwillingly become. On these tours (as in his playing in the US around this time), he was developing the stage presence that was meant to merge into the background so that the audience would only concentrate on the music. His stance, though, like a boxer poised to make the first jab, had the opposite effect. In the recordings here, there is the hint of this in his playing and in the way the slight pause after his solo is like an intake of breath before the band pick up the pieces and carry on.
In stark contrast, where Miles was aiming for brevity, Coltrane was pushing the limits on how long he could develop a solo. The logic, even of the most meandering of his solos, is maintained, although the rhythm section keeps control of the structural changes, leading Coltrane through the piece as if laying a carpet for him to walk on.
As a collection of pieces recorded from radio broadcasts, the sound quality is very good. As a collection of great jazz playing this is a little harder to recommend – the interplay between the rhythm section (with Kelly’s piano accompaniments and soloing, and Chamber’s bass playing being marvellous) and the soloists work quite well, but the playing of the soloists feel completely separate and disconnected (despite some joint playing of themes at the start and close of some of the pieces). This could simply be due to Miles walking off stage or Coltrane’s extended solos leaving so little space for him to come in. As an historical record of the diverging ambitions of two of the key figures in the development of jazz, this really is a fascinating document. You can hear how Coltrane would push towards pieces like ‘Impressions’ and the need for him to exercise more control over the solos, as he did on the ‘Love Supreme’ sessions. You can hear how Miles would work his brief but beautifully crafted solos over the following decade, and you get a sense as to why he might have needed to have the rhythm section shift from bebop to electric funk.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
