Nefertiti (album)

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Nefertiti
Studio album by Miles Davis

Publication
(s)

4th March 1968

admission

7. June 1967 , 22. - 23. June 1967 ,
19th July 1967

Label (s) Columbia Records

Format (s)

LP , CD , MC , SACD

Genre (s)

Modal jazz , post-bop

Title (number)

7th

running time

39:15

occupation

production

Teo Macero , Howard Roberts

Studio (s)

CBS Studios, New York City

chronology
Sorcerer
(1967) 		Nefertiti Miles in the Sky
(1968)

Nefertiti is a jazz composition by Wayne Shorter and at the same time the title track of the jazz album of the same name by Miles Davis , recorded in four recording sessions on June 7, 22 and 23, as well as on July 19, 1967 and released by Columbia Records in the spring of 1968 .

The album

The Nefertiti album after ESP , Miles Smiles and Sorcerer the fourth and last fully recorded album acoustically of classic second Miles Davis quintet. What followed was the introduction of the electric piano and the involvement of fusion guitarist George Benson on the following album Miles in the Sky (January and May 1968) and the arrival of Chick Coreas and Dave Holland in the band at the Filles de sessions Kilimanjaro . The Nefertiti album thus represents the place of transition from which Miles Davis' development as a "jazz" musician at a crossroads between his rich past and what would happen in the next two years, when it finally came in the summer of 1969 Bitches Brew Sessions were held.

The Nefertiti album is a final synthesis of the development of the “second quintet”; Between 1965 and 1967 Miles Davis presented four stylistically similar studio productions, the themes of which were written almost exclusively by the musicians in his ensemble or by himself. Wayne Shorter's contributions to the band's repertoire stood out, with titles such as "ESP", "Orbits", "Footprints", "Prince of Darkness", "Masqualero", "Paraphernalia" or "The Sorcerer" contributing. Miles Davis said of his saxophonist, "It was only since Nefertiti that it became clear to everyone that Wayne Shorter was a great composer."

Ron Carter live in the old pawn shop in Cologne, Germany, October 7, 2008

Davis biographer Peter Wießmüller remarked: “This has resulted in a fundamental further development of the repertoire in the form of changed types of themes and the resulting improvisations in which the influence of saxophonist Wayne Shorter comes into play. The tonality of the compositions that emerged from this period differs from the Kind of Blue recordings , for example, in terms of the fourth melody; ie the earlier modality - the scales closely related to the major-minor system - is being replaced by 'altered, Lydian and Ionic' scales, which also serve as the basis for improvisation. "

The album became known through its title track "Nefertiti" by Wayne Shorter; the unusual "compositional masterpiece" (Wießmüller) repeats the melody several times without individual solo contributions, while the rhythm section improvises on it, creates dynamics and thus reverses its traditional role. Saxophonist Shorter introduces the slightly melancholy theme; during the first repetition, the trumpet is added in unison ; In the following, the topic is varied only through the intensity of the lecture and the design of the breaks. Eric Nisenson wrote about the way of playing that he “doesn't give any solos in the traditional sense, but the piano, bass and drums react to the subject with increasingly tricky rhythmic patterns .”

The following, strongly rhythmically accentuated ballad "Fall", which also comes from Shorter, is similar to the previous "Nefertiti" determined by repetitions; In addition to the firmly arranged ensemble play, there are always short excursions that, closely related to the topic, are absorbed again by the ensemble passages that are present. The ballad Water Babies , played on June 7th, is designed in a similar way to Fall . It found no place on the Nefertiti album, however, and only appeared on the album of the same name in 1977 during the time of Miles Davis' retirement between 1975 and 1981. John Ephland wrote in the liner notes that in addition to the melancholy of the piece, there was also a restlessness of the band members can be felt; the solos are only brief; "Fall" is a piece on its own on the album due to the more traditional harmonic and melodic structures, as if it had been recorded a few years earlier. However, the balance of the recording reveals to the listener breaks and twists that express the discomfort with traditional jazz, similar to what was already expressed in earlier pieces such as “Limbo” and “Masqualero” (on the previous album Sorcerer ).

"Hand Jive" is a more hard bop composition by Tony Williams , whose 4/4 time is given by the urgently dynamic bass Ron Carter , "lives on the blazingly fast and roaring cymbal sound" Tony Williams'.

In the fast “Madness”, a Herbie-Hancock title, Peter Wießmüller feels reminded by Miles' trumpet abbreviation, followed by the bass in higher registers, of the mood of the intonation, as used by Don Cherry in the Ornette-Coleman Quartet.

The only three minutes short “Riot” as well as the last track “Pinocchio” indicate the “restlessness” of the band members.

“Riot” exudes the Jazz Messengers mood; Herbie Hancock and Davis set solo highlights here. “Pinocchio”, the third shorter track, concludes the album; "The solos by Miles and Shorter are once again part of the master class, whereby the use of as few notes as possible leads to transparent expressiveness."

Impact history

The album peaked at # 8 on the Billboard Music Chart in the United States in 1968 . The innovations of Miles Davis' second quintet “gave new life to the tonal jazz of the post-bop era,” wrote his biographer Eric Nisenson of the reception of the Davis albums of this phase, “but were unfortunately adopted by very few groups at the time; Most of the bands played modern jazz from the mid-1950s or belonged to the free jazz camp. ”“ The albums that Miles Davis recorded with his quartet in the 1960s are among the most important works of his career, but the subtle innovations which they contain were ignored by most as the extremely radical music of Coltrane , Taylor , Shepp , Sanders and others attracted more attention. While free jazz was also a reaction to the ossification and ossification of post-bop, Miles' quintet developed this music beyond all clichés. "

The Nefertiti album then - like its three previous albums - had a lasting influence on the post bop of the 1980s / 90s with Miles' “Concept of Controlled Freedom” ( Joachim-Ernst Berendt ) .

Rating of the album

The critics Richard Cook & Brian Morton gave the album the second highest rating in the Penguin Guide to Jazz and call it cool and strict, but describe Wayne Shorter's piece "Nefertiti" as one of the greatest compositions of the time. Scott Yanow, who gave the album a 5-star rating in the All Music Guide , noted that Miles Davis' fourth album by the second classical quintet “ continues Sorcerer's forward development by having the group play themselves into a low-key exploring groove and music play with still recognizable themes; but she deliberately plays these themes in a dissonant way. ”In a certain sense, this is mood music , wrote Yanow,“ by spinning the individual components in unpredictable directions, creating flowing soundscapes. This music anticipates much of the impressionistic work of the In a Silent Way album (1969), but still remains in the wake of hard bop. What impresses with all the sessions of this quintet is the interplay apart from individual artistic solo performances; The musicians followed an unpredictable path as a unit and embarked on a style of playing that had something searching, always provocative, and above all: never boring. Perhaps the charm of the Nefertiti album is more subtle than its predecessors, but that's what makes it so fascinating. Incidentally, this album clearly shows the way to Fusion , whereby it remains purely acoustic; and that may force listeners from the other side of the curtain in a different direction. ” Rolling Stone magazine voted the album 51st in its 2013 list of The 100 Best Jazz Albums .

The titles

Wayne Shorter, photo by Tom Beetz
page A
1. Nefertiti ( Wayne Shorter ) - 7:52
2nd case (Shorter) - 6:39
3rd hand Jive ( Tony Williams ) - 8:54
Side B
4. Madness ( Herbie Hancock ) - 7:31
5. Riot (Hancock) - 3:04
6. Pinocchio (Shorter) - 5:08

The track "Nefertiti" was recorded on June 7th, "Madness" on June 22nd, and "Hand Jive" on June 23rd and produced by Teo Macero . "Fall", "Riot" and "Pinocchio" were written on July 19, 1967; This session was produced by Howard Roberts. Later CD editions also contained the alternate takes of "Hand Jive" (two takes), "Madness" and "Pinocchio". The titles "Water Babies" (June 7th), "Capricorn" (June 13th) and "Sweet Pea" (June 23rd), which were created during this period, appeared on the album Water Babies (Columbia- S 34396) in the mid-1970s.

literature

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Benson worked on the Shorter title 'Paraphernalia'.
  2. ↑ Rolling Stone: The 100 Best Jazz Albums . Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  3. ↑ The three pieces composed in June 1967 were coupled for the album with tracks by the Miles Davis band with Chick Corea and Dave Holland , recorded in November 1968.
  • Remarks
  • Richard Morton, Brian Cook: The Penguin Guide to Jazz On CD. 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002.
  1. ↑ Penguin, Article Nefertiti
  • John Ephland: liner notes , CD edition Nefertiti
  1. ↑ a b c liner notes
  • Miles Davis: Autobiography. Heyne, Munich 2000.
  1. ^ Davis, autobiography.
  • Nat Hentoff, Nat Shapiro: Jazz Tells - Hear Me Talkin 'To Ya. Nymphenburger, Munich 1959.
  • Eric Nisenson: Round about Midnight - A portrait by Miles Davis. Hannibal, Vienna 1985, ISBN 3-85445-021-4 .
  1. ↑ a b Nisenson.
  • Peter Wießmüller: MIles Davis. Oreos, Schaftlach around 1985.
  1. ↑ a b c d e f g p. 35.
  • Joachim-Ernst Berendt, Günther Huesmann: The jazz book. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1994.
  1. ↑ Berendt / Hiesmann, jazz book.