DVD: 'Miles Electric - A Different Kind of Blue'

[DaveBeny]

Finally, it's out! The complete performance of the Miles Davis Group at the Isle of Wight Festival in 1970.

The set was only 38 minutes long, so the disc is fleshed out with a decent documentary on Miles' electric music, mostly comprising 'talking heads' from former sidemen. Carlos Santana, of all people, gets more screen time than anyone else - who made him an expert on Miles Davis? Stanley Crouch also manages to get his usual criticisms in.

Those speaking in the documentary inc: Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Jack DeJohnette, Gary Bartz, Dave Liebman, James Mtume, Pete Cosey, Dave Holland and Airto.

The documentary includes a few tantalising glimpses of footage of the Jarrett/Bartz/Henderson and Cosey/Liebman/Foster bands. Hope that those concerts might get released one day.

As for the Isle of Wight performance, the music is 'interesting'! It's pretty chaotic in parts - Dave Holland (on a Fender Precision) is sometimes the only one keeping it from turning into one big trainwreck. Sound and picture quality is very high.

This DVD came out in the USA a couple of weeks ago. Has anyone else seen this yet?

[JimK]

My copy arrived a week or so ago...since I'm giiving to myself for Xmas, I'm gonna hold out 'til then. Gotta heave something to look forward to, right?

I'm glad to hear the picture/sound quality is good.
Did Santana perform at The Isle Of Wight Fest? I forget. In any event, Santana has a connection:
1-He loves Coltrane
2-He played both Fillmore theatres pretty regularly & probably caught Miles & band at both venues
...am I stretching it a bit far?


I did stumble across an online review from a regular poster at Jazz Corner...this guy loves only Hardbop so he throughly trashed this DVD, saying he would rather hear a hammer pounding nails into a wall over this. That means I should really like this DVD!

[DaveBeny]

Jim,

Santana didn't play the Isle of Wight fest. Whenever I see him interviewed, he always seems to be on an acid flashback, rambling on about 'spiritual orgasms' and the like!

I was suprised that Jarrett actually had some kind things to say about the music - of course he hates electric instruments, but he does praise the creative effort that went into the music, and Miles' approach to his instrument in particular. He calls the Isle of Wight performance 'a micro-history of jazz' - I don't think I'd go that far!

[JimK]

Dave-
You're up & about early!

I'm surprised about those cooments by Jarrett, too.
I would really like to know what the 'hippies' attending a show at the Fillmore thought of Miles opening for the likes of Steve Miller or Laura Nyro.
Laura Nyro?!?!

[brianrost]

I've seen the snippet that was on the "Message of Love" movie and would love to see the whole set. Seems Murray Lerner (the director of that film) has slowly been issuing full sets, one from the Who came out a few years ago and a Hendrix disc last year.

Where did you locate the Miles disc?

[brianrost]

Originally Posted by JimK

In any event, Santana has a connection:
1-He loves Coltrane
2-He played both Fillmore theatres pretty regularly & probably caught Miles & band at both venuesails into a wall over this. That means I should really like this DVD!

Carlos Santana was a friend of Miles.

They performed together at least once (at the Live Aid festival) if not more and Carlos recorded a few times with Miles' sidemen including Dave Holland.

[willgroove2]

i picked this dvd up a few weeks ago in toronto,i think it's great to see how the people invoved felt about the music and miles in general.as a chicago guy i know some of the guy's who played with miles later band's(darryl jones,bobby irving,bobby broom,and his last bass player richard patterson)all of them have a "something" that they took from working with him.in the special features they have a 5-7 min interveiw with marcus miller about his realationship with miles AND him playing a little tribute to him. worth getting

[brianrost]

Originally Posted by David Benyahia

Jarrett actually had some kind things to say about the music - of course he hates electric instruments

Maybe he hates them now, he seemed to be having a lot of fun at the time making a bunch of rather obnoxious noises

[RHFusillo]

Originally Posted by David Benyahia

I was suprised that Jarrett actually had some kind things to say about the music - of course he hates electric instruments

If you want to laugh your rear end off, see if you can find a very obscure Keith Jarrett album called "Restoration Ruin." He recorded it some time during the 60's. He plays all the instruments on the record, including electric ones. It was his attempt at being a folk singer. This aptly-named "Ruin" has actually been reissed on CD in Japan.

Thanks for the heads-up about this Miles DVD. Must get.

[Bruce Lindfield]

I still haven't seen this yet, but February's Jazzwise magazine gives it a rave review and their highest rating - although I have a feeling they enjoyed Stanley Crouch being put in his place more than anything!!

They are calling it DVD of the year - 2005!

[Mike Flynn]

Hi Bruce, yeah I got my copy of Jazzwise today as well! Jon Newey, the editor, always gets overly excited about ANY '70s prog-jazz and the like - I guess this could be the jazz DVD of the year 'if you like this sort of thing...' - I'm pissed off because I was promised a copy of this and it still hasn't turned up. I just reviewed a stonking Charles Mingus live DVD from 1975 at Montreux BTW - it's blinding - review will be in the March issue but the DVD's already out.

Slightly off-topic question for you and other UK jazz-heads - do you think a Jazzwise message board similar to this place would be a good idea? I think we're starting one soon - just wondered what you - and David B, and other UK TBers - think of this idea,

I know there are plenty of US jazz sites - but I think it's high time we had one over here - what do you say?

M

[Bruce Lindfield]

I used to visit Jazz Corner's "Speakeasy" quite a bit - that has Europeans as well as US-based posters - but I found it hard to keep up with the community for some reason?

I think that a UK based discussion would be pretty good and it would be intresting to talk about the UK Jazz scene without having to think about who US Jazz fans might have heard of!!

A Jazzwise one would be good as long as it had a good interface like TB and wasn't too hard to use .....and as long as they didn't mind me saying that the Glamorgan Jazz Summerschool was better than the Jazzwise one!!

Then I might spend more time there, than here!!

[DigMe]

Originally Posted by urb_munki

I just reviewed a stonking Charles Mingus live DVD from 1975 at Montreux BTW - it's blinding - review will be in the March issue but the DVD's already out.

Is that good or bad?! I don't know what "stonking" means and blinding could be good or bad I guess. I feel like a 50 year old trying to understand the latest slang.

I'd love to see it either way.

brad cook

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by DigMe

Is that good or bad?! I don't know what "stonking" means and blinding could be good or bad I guess. I feel like a 50 year old trying to understand the latest slang.

I'd love to see it either way.

brad cook

I've got that one - it's pretty good and those are generally favourable comments!!

[DaveBeny]

Originally Posted by urb_munki

Slightly off-topic question for you and other UK jazz-heads - do you think a Jazzwise message board similar to this place would be a good idea? I think we're starting one soon - just wondered what you - and David B, and other UK TBers - think of this idea,

I know there are plenty of US jazz sites - but I think it's high time we had one over here - what do you say?

M

Mike,

I regularly read (and occasionally post on) the forum over at www.allaboutjazz.com - there's plenty of knowledgable British posters on that forum and British jazz (contemporary and older) gets discussed quite a lot.

I sometimes take at look at Jazzcorner's Speakeasy, but like Bruce said, it can be difficult to follow - lots of discussion about obscure avant US stuff that we'll never probably hear in Europe.

I'd certainly be interested in a Jazzwise forum, but it'll be difficult to find a niche in the jazz forum market - perhaps it could have an emphasis on the UK/European scene?

[DaveBeny]

On the subject of Miles Davis video footage, if you have the patience and are semi-computer literate, there is piles of jazz video footage to be downloaded through www.easytree.org (using the BitTorrent software program).

I have recently acquired 2 hours of the Miles Davis band in 1973 in DVD format. Took a long time to download though - it's over 3gb in size!

Am currently downloading some footage of Headhunters and Return to Forever from 1974.

[Mike Flynn]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

I used to visit Jazz Corner's "Speakeasy" quite a bit - that has Europeans as well as US-based posters - but I found it hard to keep up with the community for some reason?

I think that a UK based discussion would be pretty good and it would be intresting to talk about the UK Jazz scene without having to think about who US Jazz fans might have heard of!!

A Jazzwise one would be good as long as it had a good interface like TB and wasn't too hard to use .....and as long as they didn't mind me saying that the Glamorgan Jazz Summerschool was better than the Jazzwise one!!

Then I might spend more time there, than here!!

Thanks for the comments Bruce and David, and of course Bruce you can say what you like about the Glamorgan course** - have you done the Jazzwise one BTW? Just curious, it's the only one I've done so I don't have much to compare it too. As for the interface of the board it would be the same as TB - but customised to look like the Jazzwise website - and it would definitely be UK/European based - not just UK. One thing I think Jazzwise would be able to do above other boards out there - though similar to TB - would be to bring in a lot of jazz pros to do web chats, interviews and even have their own forums for specific Q&As - plus Jazzwise already has a strong readership / profile - so in terms of having an audience it's already got a headstart - offline. Thanks again for your comments - they are very helpful - feel free to make more!

Best

M

Edit - **but Bruce you know the same forum rules would apply - so no delibertately baiting Glamorgan vs Jazzwise schools etc - though you are completely entitled to your opinion etc.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by David Benyahia

Mike,

I regularly read (and occasionally post on) the forum over at www.allaboutjazz.com - there's plenty of knowledgable British posters on that forum and British jazz gets discussed quite a lot.

I'd certainly be interested in a Jazzwise forum, but it'll be difficult to find a niche in the jazz forum market - perhaps it could have an emphasis on the UK/European scene?

One of the big "selling points" of Jazz Corner is that they have a section where you can ask the players - so there is an "Ask the Bassists" section and an "Ask Robin Eubanks" section - Dave Holland is a guest there as well.

Maybe Jazzwise could get some well-known UK Jazz pros to host forums?

"Ask Iain Bellamy" would be a laugh - I could imagine!!

[Mike Flynn]

sorry Bruce - you were obviously typing while I was and pre-empted one of my points about Jazzwise - I think the UK musicians would be very much involved - it could be really good.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by urb_munki

sorry Bruce - you were obviously typing while I was and pre-empted one of my points about Jazzwise - I think the UK musicians would be very much involved - it could be really good.

Yes I was ! So that sounds like a really good forum - I'd be vey interested!