Porgy and Bess (album)

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Porgy and Bess
Studio album by Miles Davis

Publication
(s)

1958

Label (s) Columbia Records

Format (s)

CD, LP

Genre (s)

jazz

running time

50:53

occupation

production

Cal Lampley, Teo Macero

Studio (s)

New York City

chronology
Milestones
1958 		Porgy and Bess 1958 Miles
1958

Porgy and Bess is a jazz album by Miles Davis that with the Gil Evans- July -Orchester in four recording sessions on 22, July 29, August 4 and 18 August 1958 at the CBS 30th Street Studio in New York City added and that same year was released on Columbia Records . It contains songs from George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess , adapted by Gil Evans. It is the first Miles Davis album to be recorded in stereophony .

Prehistory of the album

After George Avakian of Columbia Records and Miles Ahead had succeeded in presenting his new star Miles Davis in a big band environment in 1957, his second production with arranger and pianist Gil Evans was created a year later . The opera Porgy and Bess , the music of which George Gershwin had written to a libretto by DuBose Heyward , was initially only moderately successful on Broadway at the time of its creation (1935) . Still, some numbers like Summertime and It Ain't Necessarily So became popular jazz standards . In 1952 the opera attracted renewed attention when an ensemble (including the soprano Leontyne Price ) went on a world tour with it until 1955. At the same time as the Columbia recordings, the Hollywood film Porgy and Bess was directed by Otto Preminger and was released in 1959 and featured African American stars such as Sidney Poitier , Sammy Davis Jr. , Pearl Bailey and Dorothy Dandridge . This came along with the increasingly strong civil rights movement in the United States. In the Afro-American community , like the film, the opera raised criticism of the prevailing racial stereotypes, especially in the entertainment industry.

Miles Davis was initially not very pleased with the proposal of Columbia producers Cal Lampley and Teo Macero ; he knew that further jazz interpretations of the Gershwin opera were in the works at the time. However, he later claimed that it was his idea to include Porgy and Bess after his then-wife Frances starred in it.

Gil Evans rearranged the opera's songs: his version began with the Buzzard Song - in contrast to Gershwin's opening number Lullaby / Summertime ; The second song was the ballad Bess, You Is my Woman Now , which gave the theme of a love story . With this, Evans broke away from the narrative structure of the opera and Gershwin's song sequence - rather, he ensured the merging of various melodies, fragments and random motifs Gershwin's as evolving motifs for his own arrangements, says Stephanie Stein Crease. So he did not record the song I Got Plenty of Nuttin , but took over the bridge as the introduction to It Ain't Necessarily So ; a woodwind motif from the Requiem became the basic motif for Evans' version of Summertime . He also recorded his own compositions, the uptempo number Gone , which was later renamed Orgone .

The album

Miles Davis in the mid-1950s

For the production Evans chose orchestral musicians like Danny Bank , Bernie Glow , Ernie Royal , Louis Mucci , Johnny Coles , Frank Rehak and Jimmy Cleveland , some of whom had already played on the previous album Miles Ahead . From the regular Davis sextet came Cannonball Adderley , Paul Chambers and the two drummers Jimmy Cobb and Philly Joe Jones . Miles Davis is the sole soloist; "Excellent as usual and integrated almost in a symbiotic way into the ensemble of the all-star big band, Miles sets his stylistically mixed solo highlights, making an astonishing purity of sound audible in the finest nuances in the lower registers of flugelhorn and trumpet," wrote his Biographer Peter Wießmüller. The author points out that his improvisations in Prayer , It Ain't Necessarily So , Gone and There Is a Boat clearly have modal structures. Davis explained this fact himself:

“When Gil wrote the arrangements for I Love Porgy , he only set a scale for me and no chords ; that gives a lot of freedom and space to hear things. "

The recorded version of Summertime was also unusual ; “The two managed to make this often recorded melody appear new and fresh. Miles played lovely variations on his muted trumpet, to which the orchestra responded with subtly changing timbres. "

The recording sessions turned out to be "the toughest challenge Miles had faced as a musician up to this point," said Eric Nisenson in his Davis biography. Davis later said of this:

"I had to think like Bess first and then like Porgy to get the feeling right," said Davis. “ Bess Is My Woman Now is the hardest thing I've ever played because I had to think about the lyrics; I repeated the chorus over and over in my head. "

As the most serious problem (besides the then new, bumpy stereo technology), Stephanie Stein cites the fact that Davis and Evans did not have a regular nineteen-member band available for their project, so they could practice their material over a longer period of time, such as Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus had done this in comparable productions. “Gil's music was first heard in the studio and was rehearsed bit by bit until a take could be recorded. The musicians were given little more than a brief rehearsal opportunity to practice Evans' extremely complex music. Even though its musicians were the world's best sightseers , the work was very sobering, said Joe Bennett . "Only Miles Davis knew Evans' arrangements from their preliminary meetings, in which they discussed their musical ideas.

The album opens with a sizzling version of The Buzzard Song dominated by the brass , tuba and french horn . In Gone , the Davis band members Chambers and Philly Joe Jones are in the foreground. On Gone, Gone, Gone , Gil Evans said:

"This is my improvisation of the spiritual . In the middle of it Miles, Paul and Joe improvise on the improvisation. "

After Summertime follows dirge Bess, Oh Where's My Bess? ; both songs are played faster than the original. In Prayer (Oh Doctor Jesus) Evans lets the " healing prayer " (in the form of Miles Davis) appear; the orchestra answers with shouts of amen. However, a “cynical tone” can be discerned here. With Fisherman, Strawberry and Devil Crab , Evans combined the Gershwin song Fishermen with his own compositions. After My Man's Gone Now and It Ain't Necessarily So , the short Here Come De Honey Man forms the transition to I Wants to Stay Here (I Loves You, Porgy) . The end is the cheerful (Evans used the flute) There's a Boat That's Leaving Soon for New York .

The takes that appeared on the original record were selected by Gil Evans; According to Teo Macero, some of the best material initially remained unpublished.

reception

Gil Evans with Ryō Kawasaki .

The second production, which emerged from the collaboration between Miles Davis and Gil Evans, was well received by the music critics of The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times after its publication .

Kennedy Brown pointed out in the 1959 review in the Jazz Journal that: “It had occurred to Gil Evans that he and Miles were not only contributing to an orchestral jazz interpretation of the score, but that Gershwin himself was creating new ideas, when he brought to life jazz ideas that were always latent (and also expressed) in his scores ”. Gil Evans said, "The three of us seem to have worked on this album." "Anyway, it's remarkably well done," wrote the author. “Whether on trumpet (mostly muted) or flugelhorn, Miles plays imaginatively with a beautiful tone and a pure, lyrical quality. The tuning of the other instruments (there are many other talented jazz musicians in the orchestra!) Is breathtaking in its beauty. "

There are so many wonderful things about this album, Brown said, that it is impossible to describe them all. The amazing effect of brass , tuba and french horn in "The Buzzard Song" ... the use of flutes on "That's a Boat" ... Miles' wonderful solo work on "Summertime" ... the jazzy taste of "It Ain't Needarily So" and "Gone", an improvisation by Miles, Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones on an improvisation by Evans on the spiritual "Gone, Gone, Gone."

Jazz Review critic Martin Williams said:

“Gil Evans took Gershwin's melodies and made them his own. His arrangements give arias like My Man's Gone Now as much meaning as they do in the original version. Evans' ability to project strong emotions in an amazingly sensitive way is wonderfully complemented by Miles and his great solo play. "

Bill Kirchner wrote:

"In this century's American music, three partnerships have been most influential: Duke Ellington / Billy Strayhorn , Frank Sinatra / Nelson Riddle , and Miles Davis / Gil Evans."

One of Miles Davis' best-selling albums, Porgy and Bess was considered a landmark work in orchestral jazz. Davis biographer Jack Chambers described the album as "a new score, with its own integrity, order and action."

Ian Carr said: "If Miles Ahead is the most perfect of the three orchestral albums by Miles Davis, then Porgy and Bess has more size and depth."

Robert Gilbert praised Porgy and Bess as in All About Jazz

"One of many great albums that Miles Davis recorded over his lifetime. It reaches a higher plateau than most, though, in its way that it can reach the listener on both a musical and emotional level. That the album is still able to do this after almost forty-five years is a testament to the rare magic that occurred in a New York studio over four days in the summer of 1958. "

According to JazzTimes magazine , Porgy and Bess was "possibly the best work of Davis and Evans' collaboration ... Evans is rightly considered a master of modern orchestration , and Porgy and Bess shows him at its peak." Eric Thacker also compared it Work with the other two great suites that Evans created in collaboration with Miles Davis: Davis's soloistic qualities are celebrated here more clearly than Miles Ahead ; In contrast to Sketches of Spain , the album would be wholeheartedly anchored in jazz.

Lindsay Planer gave the highest grade in his review of the album in Allmusic and highlighted the achievements of the band members Cannonball Adderley, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb. Although the focus is on Davis, the quartet's contributions to Prayer (Oh Doctor Jesus) , I Loves You, Porgy and There's a Boat That's Leaving Soon for New York are invaluable. The poignantly lyrical passages of Danny Banks' playing on the alto flute in Fishermen, Strawberry and Devil Crab or the moving bass and tuba duet in the Buzzard Song are also worth highlighting .

The Penguin Guide to Jazz gave the album the highest rating, Richard Cook and Brian Morton highlighted the title Prayer , "an amazing tour de force , harmoniously cushioned, and with Miles' most unusual solo up to this point." Also the Rolling Stone and the Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music gave the album the highest rating.

Track list

  1. The Buzzard Song - 4:07 (Aug 4th 1958)
  2. Bess, You Is My Woman Now - 5:10 (July 29, 1958)
  3. Gone (Gil Evans) - 3:37 (July 22, 1958)
  4. Gone, Gone, Gone - 2:03 (July 22, 1958)
  5. Summertime - 3:17 (August 4, 1958)
  6. Oh Bess, Oh Where's My Bess? - 4:18 (August 4, 1958)
  7. Prayer (Oh Doctor Jesus) - 4:39 (Aug 4th 1958)
  8. Fisherman, Strawberry and Devil Crab - 4:06 (July 22, 1958)
  9. My Man's Gone Now - 6:14 (July 29, 1958)
  10. It Ain't Necessarily Sun - 4:23 (July 29, 1958)
  11. Here Come De Honey Man - 1:18 (July 29, 1958)
  12. I Wants to Stay Here (I Loves You, Porgy) - 3:39 (August 18, 1958)
  13. There's a Boat That's Leaving Soon for New York - 3:23 (4 Aug 1958)

Bonus tracks

The bonus tracks are included on the 1997 compact disc .

  1. I Loves You, Porgy (take 1, second version) - 4:14 (August 18, 1958)
  2. Gone (take 4) (Gil Evans) - 3:40 (July 22, 1958)

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Ian Carr: Miles Davis: a Biography. 1984, p. 112.
  2. ↑ a b c d Stephanie Stein Crease, pp. 198–204.
  3. ↑ See Miles Davis with Quincy Troupe : The Autobiography . Heyne, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-453-17177-2 . P. 310 f.
  4. ↑ a b Wießmüller, p. 122
  5. ↑ a b c Nisenson, p. 120 f.
  6. ↑ Quoted from Nisenson, p. 120 f.
  7. ↑ a b c d Charles Edward Smith, Original Liner Notes 1958.
  8. ↑ See Max Harrison et al. a .: The Essential Jazz Records. P. 424.
  9. ↑ See George Cole: The Last Miles: The Music of Miles Davis, 1980-1991. University of Michigan Press, 2005, p. 18.
  10. ↑ John S. Wilson: Review: Porgy and Bess. In: The New York Times . X13. September 27, 1959.
  11. ↑ Wally George: Review: Porgy and Bess . In: Los Angeles Times. June 7, 1959.
  12. ^ A b Kennedy Brown: JJ 09/59: Miles Davis - Porgy And Bess. Jazz Journal, September 27, 2019, accessed October 3, 2019 .
  13. ↑ Bill Kirchner's liner notes from the 6-CD box set Miles Davis & Gil Evans: The Complete Studio Recordings
  14. ↑ Jack Chambers: Porgy and Bess - Album liner notes
  15. ↑ Ian Carr , Brian Priestley , Digby Fairweather (Eds.): Rough Guide Jazz. 1995, ISBN 1-85828-137-7
  16. ^ Robert Gilbert: Review: Porgy and Bess. In: All About Jazz.
  17. ↑ " Columnist Review: Porgy and Bess ( Memento of the original from September 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. " JazzTimes : August 106, 1997. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.tower.com
  18. ↑ In: Max Harrison et al. a. The Essential Jazz Records. P. 423.
  19. ^ Review of the album Porgy and Bess by Lindsay Planer at Allmusic (English). Retrieved August 31, 2011.
  20. ^ Richard Cook and Brian Morton, Penguin Guide to Jazz .
  21. ^ Christian Hoard Review: Porgy and Bess . Rolling Stone
  22. ↑ Larkin, Colin. Review: Porgy and Bess in the Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music : March 1st, 2002 ( Memento of the original from June 22nd, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.acclaimedmusic.net