Miles Davis Quintet Live in Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 2
Released : 2012
Label : Columbia/Legacy
Format : [email protected]
The tracklisting for here reveals that the Quintet was playing an inspired, wide-ranging repertoire. Material ran the gamut from 1969’s In a Silent Way (“It’s About That Time”) and Bitches Brew sessions (“Miles Runs the Voodoo Down,” “Sanctuary,” “Spanish Key,” “Bitches Brew”) all the way back in time to standards like “I Fall in Love Too Easily” (from 1963’s Seven Steps To Heaven) and Thelonious Monk’s “’Round Midnight.”
At no other time did Miles perform compositions from his be-bop era (“’Round Midnight”), modal era (the 1958 “Milestones”), ballads and blues of the early ’60s era (“I Fall In Love Too Easily,” “No Blues”), material from the ‘Second Great Quintet’ mid-to-late ’60s era (“Footprints,” “Nefertiti”) and late ’60s-early ’70s electric era (“It’s About That Time,” “Spanish Key”), all in the same set program, as he did at Antibes.
It is crucial to note that the versions of “Miles Runs The Voodoo Down” and “Spanish Key” at Antibes were performed live in July, well before the historic August 1969 Bitches Brew sessions, where they were first recorded in the studio. Likewise, the versions of “Bitches Brew” from Stockholm and Berlin are heard here several months before the album was released on Columbia Records in April 1970. As with Live In Europe 1967, the interpretations of the compositions are not only strikingly different than the original studio versions by other configurations of Miles’ groups, but differ wildly even from night to night on these four shows, again demonstrating the extraordinarily high level of creativity among these musicians.
The set also contains multiple examples of Wayne Shorter’s unparalleled composing skills, from “Footprints” (dating back to 1967’s Miles Smiles) to multiple performances of his gems, “Nefertiti” and “Masqualero.” On the extremely rare and mostly acoustic set from Stockholm, there is a bonus track version of “This,” a Chick Corea composition that was never officially recorded by Miles Davis.
This is an indispensable link between the work of our most important and influential jazz musician at the end of the ’60s, and the road ahead to what the ’70s would bring.
Disc One
1. Introduction by André Francis 1:00
2. Directions 7:30
3. Miles Runs The Voodoo Down 10:26
4. Milestones 9:17
5. Footprints 7:47
6. ’Round Midnight 7:28
7. It’s About That Time 11:27
8. Sanctuary 3:48
9. The Theme 2:10
(Recorded 7/25/69 at Festival Mondial du Jazz d’Antibes, La Pinède, Juan-les-Pins, France.)
Disc Two
1. Introduction by André Francis 1:00
2. Directions 7:30
3. Spanish Key 8:16
4. I Fall In Love Too Easily 6:45
5. Masqualero 9:57
6. Miles Runs The Voodoo Down 10:26
7. No Blues 10:38
8. Nefertiti 7:52
9. Sanctuary 3:58
10. The Theme 2:10
(Recorded 7/26/69 at Festival Mondial du Jazz d’Antibes, La Pinède, Juan-les-Pins, France.)
Disc Three
1. Introduction by George Wein 0:30
2. Bitches Brew 10:26
3. Paraphernalia 12:36
4. Nefertiti 7:52
5. Masqualero (incomplete) 9:57
6. This 6:18
(Recorded 11/5/69 at “The Newport Jazz Festival In Europe,” Folkets Hus, Stockholm.)
Miles Davis (trumpet)
Wayne Shorter (tenor sax)
Herbie Hancock (piano)
Ron Carter (bass)
Tony Williams (drums)
