While this is the seventh in a series of essential “lost” recordings of Miles Davis, it is the first one to release material after his “comeback” of 1981, returning with a series of impressive albums, starting with The Man With A Horn. This 3 disc collection has him in a wide variety of bands and settings, and the rewards are palpable.
Disc One features unreleased studio material from Davis’ Star People album from 1983, produced by Bitches Brew man Teo Macero as well as 1984s Decoy, and includes all stars like JJ Johnson/tb, Bill Evans/ts-ss, Al Foster/dr, Mike Stern/g, Mike Scofield/g, Marcus Miller/eb, Darryl Jones/eb Mino Cinelu/perc and Miles on trumpet and even keyboards. Miles hits the keys on “Freaky Deaky,Part 1” and “Part 2” and you also get some rich takes of “Celestial Blues” and “Minor Ninths” that show how diverse the various versions could be. There’s some searing guitar work on “Santana” and thick textures for “Remake of OBX Ballad”.
The second disc features material from the 1985 album You’re Under Arrest, with one of Miles’ last great bands in Bob Berg/ss, John Scofield/g, Robert Irving III/key, Darryl Jones/eb, Al Foster/dr, Vince Wilburn Jr/dr, Steve Thornton/perc and John McLaughlin sitting in on “Katia”. Ballad lovers of Miles will dig deep into Miles’ last “hit”, an introspective read of Cindy Lauper’s “Time After Time” that he played in concert up to the end in economically lyrical form, while the previously unreleased “What’s Love Got To Do With It” showing Miles had his ear to the radio, with his horn acerbic and pungent.
The last album is from a concert in Montreal in July, 1983 with his working team of Scofield, Evans, Jones, Foster and Cinelu. Davis sounds inspired, even with his back to the audience. The team sears through “Speak” and “Star People” with Scofield digging in deep, and Evans creating a richly hued mood on the dark “Jean-Pierre”. Miles plays like he’s paying for each note, concise and plugged in on “Star On Cicely” and “Code Three”. This is a band and season the artist that is under-appreciated, and hopefully this will help fans recognize the importance of the winter years of Miles.