Friday, 9 January 2015

Miles Davis - In Person Saturday Night At The Blackhawk, San Francisco Vol.2 (1961) {2014 Japan Jazz Collection 1000 Columbia-RCA Series}



Miles Davis - In Person Saturday Night At The Blackhawk, San Francisco Vol.2 (1961) {2014 Japan Jazz Collection 1000 Columbia-RCA Series}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 414 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 145 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (png) -> 177 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2014 Columbia / Sony Music Japan | SICP 3964
Jazz / Cool / Bop / Hard Bop / Trumpet
Reissue. Comes with new liner notes. Available only for a limited period of time until March 20, 2015. This cd is the second of 2 put out to chronicle Miles' stay at the Blackhawk in San Francisco in 1961. After a period of transition which included the sometimes uneven results of the "Someday My Prince Will Come" lp, Miles' working band of Hank Mobley on tenor sax, Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers, bass, and drummer Jimmy Cobb, were coming together as a tight unit. Both dates of the Blackhawk shows are prime examples of the greatness of this working group.

While the Friday night show contained mainly ballads, Saturday night finds the band taking on more up-tempo numbers, and with it the band relaxes into a wonderful groove. Even the slower numbers, like "So What," are sped up during this particular evening. The band was definitely up for the change of pace.
Hank Mobley is the major recipient of the up-tempo nature of the show. His time spent with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers proved that he had the chops needed to play quickly and confidently. Mobley at his best within Miles' group comes with his solo on Sonny Rollins' "Oleo." While the solo lasts a mere minute or so, Mobley took the tension created by Miles' calculated, reserved, mute solo, and blows it out of the water with his frenzied attack, which is certainly akin to what both Rollins and Coltrane were playing at the time. Mobley's attack is what the rhythm section of Kelly, Chambers, and Cobb needed. It allowed them to pick up the pace, and led to Kelly's tasty solo after Mobley's. Kelly's solo is a bit more refined, but no less impressive. The piece showed off prime solo chops by 2 of jazz's legends.
The rest of the lp is no less impressive. The pieces are up-tempo, with all parties involved bringing their "A" games to the table. Miles' playing is wonderful, and dominated by his harmon mute. As always, his solos are short, conpact, very to the point. Mobley's playing throughout is inspired. One can sense that Mobley was on that night, and that he KNEW it, as well. Kelly's solos are always a delight to hear. His playing moves a lot, taking on octaves, arpeggios, and more of a lead character even when he's playing accompanying block chords. Chambers and Cobb were as tight a low end rhythm section as jazz had, and the lp allows them to dominate the proceedings in an up-tempo way.

In my view, this cd is much better than the Friday night set. The looseness of the band is what made the difference here, as did the up-tempo nature of the show. Both cds are recommended to hear the full scale of what this short-lived working band could accomplish, but for me, this set is prime stuff.

Personnel:
Miles Davis - trumpet
Hank Mobley - tenor saxophone
Wynton Kelly - piano
Paul Chambers - bass
Jimmy Cobb - drums

tracklist:
01 - Well You Needn't
02 - Fran-Dance
03 - So What
04 - Oleo
05 - If I Were A Bell
06 - Neo

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