MILES DAVIS — Live In Europe 1967 - Best Of The Bootleg Series Vol. 1 (review)

MILES DAVIS — Live In Europe 1967 - Best Of The Bootleg Series Vol. 1 album cover

Live album · 2011 · Post Bop

4.5/5 · 2012-03-13
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“Miles Davis Live in Europe 1967 ” is a one CD reduction of the three CD set with the same name, the difference being that this one has the byline - “Best of Bootleg Volume 1”. Obviously you are going to get less music with this one, but since the 3 CD set contains multiple versions of the same songs contained on this “best of”, this single CD version might be a smart economical choice for some. What you do get with this CD is an excellent account of what Miles Davis’ famous second quintet sounded like live, as opposed to what they sounded like in the studio.

In the studio this quintet was known for their cerebral abstract post bop that was stretching every boundary in jazz, but often in a cool and relaxed approach, which was almost in direct defiance of the hot playing of the free jazz crowd. In this live situation, the quintet is still intellectual and abstract, but also very hot and aggressive as well. This is some of the most fierce and technical playing you will hear from Miles, the fast bop licks and powerful high tones show him at his peak. Likewise Wayne Shorter is much more extroverted as well, with crazy swoops and high speed dives that sometimes recall what Eric Dolphy was up to at this time. Herbie’s playing is percussive and dissonant, but the real driving and defining force in this band is the unbelievable drum skills of the young Tony Williams. Tony thrashes the drums, and although the quintet’s rhythms were still rooted in swing (their experiments with a steady rock like pulse would be coming soon) Tony stretches the timing of his swing all over the place and also introduces a new rock like power and propulsion to jazz. Some may prefer the more refined approach of the quintet’s studio work, but its still interesting to hear the difference in their live approach.

One thing that this CD makes more apparent to the long time Miles fan is that Miles’ ongoing live group developed its own approach and repertoire that was often a separate path from his studio work. In this live set you can clearly hear the approach that will eventually become “Miles Live at the Fillmore” on which Miles will use the material from “Bitches Brew”, but with an approach that has more in common with this live CD than any studio album that came out in-between. Its interesting to note that on this CD Miles is already using his sarcastic blues riff, “The Theme”, which he will use to close every night on his “Live at the Fillmore” concerts.

This CD also sheds light on Herbie’s live VSOP quintet reunion (sans Miles) in the late 70s. That VSOP set had seemed out of character with the original quintet with its over the edge aggressive playing, but upon hearing this 67 CD, you can tell Herbie and the rest were just following what they had always sounded like live. If there is a drawback to this CD it would be the recording quality. For a so called “bootleg”, this is quite good, but Williams’ drums can be a bit loud, especially his ride cymbal. More than likely the engineers were not prepared for a drummer of this volume. Overall though, this is a great CD that documents some of the finest playing known in jazz, and also provides great insights into how Miles’ live bands developed over the years.