Miles Davis didn’t invent jazz-rock (vibraphonist Gary Burton got there a couple of years before him) but he legitimised it with his landmark albums In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew, both recorded in 1969. Tired of bebop structures and influenced by both the musical taste and fashion sense of his new young wife, Betty, Davis completely reinvented himself.
The first two cds of this treasure trove present key tracks by the trumpeter and several of his young cohorts (including Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul, Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea) during a fertile four-year period when they were all crashing through musical boundaries with a synthesis of jazz, rock, and funk that the critics dubbed ‘fusion’.
Interesting to see how the young Keith Jarrett started creating whole worlds from scratch. A fresh piano voice in Art Blakey‘s group, a genius of sorts in Charles Lloyd‘s crossover quartet, everything started to full blossom in early trio- and solo workouts. Hidden gems of this four-cd-box (accompanied by a 32 pages booklet) are unknown takes from early sessions with Gary Burton, and, the thrill of it all, the complete solo performance from Kronach, situated in the German hinterland, a week before the legendary Köln Concert. Not quite the classic ECM sound, but not far away from it either. Awesome! (Release date: March 2021)
Michael Waring