Birdland 1951
| Birdland 1951 | ||||
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| Live album by Miles Davis | ||||
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Publication |
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| Label (s) | Blue Note Records | |||
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Format (s) |
CD |
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Title (number) |
1 |
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running time |
1:07:35 |
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| occupation |
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Studio (s) |
New York City |
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Birdland 1951 is a posthumous live album by Miles Davis . It consists of material from three recordings in which the trumpeter played with two contrasting groups. The recordings, which were made in New York City on February 17, June 2 and September 29, 1951, were released on January 27, 2004 as a compact disc on Blue Note Records .
background
These recordings are radio recordings that were broadcast in 1951 from the New York jazz club Birdland "in Miles Davis' late bebop era". A sextet is documented on the album in which Miles Davis with Sonny Rollins , JJ Johnson , Kenny Drew senior and Tommy Potter on June 2, 1951 ("Move", "Half Nelson", "Down") and February 17, 1951 ( "Out of the Blue", "Half Nelson", "Tempus Flight" (= Tempus Fugit ), "Move") played. On September 29, 1951, Davis played with veteran tenors Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and George "Big Nick" Nicholas ; the appearance had the jam session character of the Jazz at the Philharmonic concerts of the time, noted Bill Shoemaker , especially on "Move". The rhythm section consisted of Blakey from Billy Taylor and Charles Mingus ; their game largely followed with a streamlined swing, especially in the two Tadd-Dameron titles, a blues in the middle tempo ("The Squirrel") and a soaring "Lady Bird".
Track list
- Miles Davis - Birdland 1951 (Blue Note 7243 5 41779 2 7)
- Move ( Denzil Best ) - 6:13
- Half Nelson (Davis) - 7:33
- Down (Davis) - 7:13
- Out of the Blue (Davis) - 5:54
- Half Nelson (Davis) - 7:42
- Tempus Flight ( Bud Powell ) - 6:44
- Move (Best) - 5:44
- Move (Best) - 6:23
- The Squirrel [Tadd Dameron] - 8:39
- Lady Bird (Dameron) - 5:32
reception
Thom Jurek awarded the album three (out of five) stars in Allmusic and said: “The fidelity is already described as 'primitive' on the cover. It's a nice way of saying it sounds bad. The best you can say about the sound is that you can hear all instruments. However, the performances, especially as they are done in the three different versions of the title 'Move', are outstanding. You are inspired, fast-paced and poignant. Rollins outdid each other in the June performance of the recording, and the last band changed the title completely. ”The live version of“ Tempus Fugit ”with its gnarled head arrangement and pimped-up rhythm was also arranged for these days revealing and wise to the musical direction of the immediate future - recognizable by the tempo and structure of the solos in the September session.
Bill Shoemaker wrote in JazzTimes that Miles Davis can be seen in particularly good form on the recordings from 1951. The trumpeter has recovered from personal and professional setbacks so that he musically returned to basics: " Bebop ." Davis' playing, which is consistently driven by Art Blakey, the only other player involved in all ten tracks, has as much fire and finesse as any other recording from the period that intersects with Charlie Parker as he begins his Prestige and Clef contractual relationship . This collection is more than just contemporary studio data. They convey the excitement that Miles created, the author praises. The September session with Eddie Davis and Big Nick Nicholas is quite satisfactory, even if it does not approach the level that Davis achieved with Rollins and Johnson. “The trumpeter's tenacity in these different environments is impressive,” Shoemaker sums up; "Every solo, Davis proclaims a fully developed artist at the top of his game." There is consistently fast bop and no ballads.
John Fordham reviewed the album in the Guardian and gave it three stars. Despite the tonal limitations, the “optimism of this jazz era” can be experienced, “and anyone who relies on Miles Davis' more cryptic and weird solo style in the mid-1970s will be amazed at how much comprehensive technique he has in his 20s. ”In view of these recordings, it was hard to understand that Davis had only been working on the music of Birth of the Cool a year earlier , one of the founding classics of a new kind of delicate ensemble jazz, or was about to create bebop Radically reshape approach.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b John Fordham: Miles Davis: Birdland 1951. The Guardian, February 13, 2004, accessed March 1, 2020 .
- ^ A b Bill Shoemaker: Miles Davis: Birdland 1951. JazzTimes, May 1, 2004, accessed March 1, 2020 (English).
- ↑ Miles Davis - Birdland 1951 at Discogs
- ^ Review of the album at Allmusic (English). Retrieved February 29, 2020.