From the Editors

The cover image alone for this 1968 release speaks loudly and clearly of something different: it looks like some weird rock record. And while it's not exactly that, <i>Miles in the Sky</i> hints loudly at something new, an upstart sound that would upset jazz purists far more than if he'd just made a rock record. For better or worse, the fusion revolution's baby steps can be heard right here. Time-stretcher Tony Williams's drumming encroaches upon "square" rock rhythms on the opener, a deliriously minimalist 17-minute soul-funk-tango head trip titled "Stuff." There are premonitions of the full-blown electric era of <i>Bitches Brew</i> and <i>Jack Johnson</i>: Herbie Hancock plays electric piano on a few cuts, while George Benson's electric guitar augments Wayne Shorter's "Paraphernalia." This is easily among the finest of the second quintet's six discs: Tony Williams's drumming is fantastically in, out, and on top of the groove; Wayne Shorter blows post-bop nuggets; Ron Carter cuts thick, melodic grooves; Herbie Hancock lays down tone colors; and Davis subtly pushes the envelope of the music. <i>--Mike McGonigal</i>
Amazon.com

Customer Response

Classic
When Miles Davis turned 42 in 1968, he had a choice. He was at the age where most jazz musicans stop making their main innovations, at least in those days. Easily, he could have had a lucrative career playing hard bop the rest of his life.

But he was hearing new names; Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone. Rock was part of the counter-culture, and dismissable before, was unavoidable in 1968.

Miles knew he wanted to change his music but was not sure how. He wanted to add more bottom, and use electric instruments, and work in shades of the funk and rock he was hearing. That EVERYONE was hearing.

Miles In The Sky is NOT Miles first "fusion" album. "Stuff," uses an eletric panio and bass. It is funkier, rougher then the lyricism Miles was known for. "Paraphanalia" features George Benson on guitar. It's chucky riff adds that bottom Miles was after. "Black Comady" and "Country Son" are more complex in their chord lines, and lean towards straight jazz, though they show Miles getting away from the prettiness of just a year before.

But make no mistake: this is still jazz, just jazz sseeping in new ideas, slowly. This makes Miles In The Sky one of Davis' best, most intrueging albums. Chord sentences don't resolve themselves as definately. The beat is tighter, more tense. There is not disonennce here in a free jazz sense, but their is more counterpoint.

The music has a wonderful tension, an uncertianty, a grasping for something different, even if it is unsure what that something is. It is supremely confident, but the confidence comes from embarking on the unkown, not knowing quite where it is going but looking forward to getting there.

This creates a powerful emotional base, and makes this one of my favorate Miles albums. He may not have been Miles in the sky quite yet, but he was sure gearing up for one hell of a liftoff.

The beginnings of psychedelic Miles
"Miles In The Sky" follows "Nefertiti", and it's clear from the beginning that the sound has changed. "Stuff" is laid-back, and Herbie Hancock is playing an electric piano. The melody lines are fairly involved, and it's a long enough (17 minutes) song to get plenty of good playing in. "Paraphenalia" has George Benson playing guitar. His contributions are relatively small, though. It's a pretty decent song, though it has slightly less bite than "Stuff". "Black Comedy" is the edgiest song of the CD. "Country Son" is more abstract, and is my least favorite song. The music certainly isn't unpleasant, it just seems to be missing enough commitment to make it a 4-star CD. It's a transitional album, you can hear Miles evolve away from the advanced hard bop of the "E. S. P." through "Nefertiti" era and into the fusion era of "In A Silent Way" and "Bitches Brew".

Overlooked
I purchased this CD in the mid 90s. It seemed to me that, as a minor work of art, this CD was destined to go out of print. In addition to Miles In the Sky, I used to worry that Bob Dylan's Street Legal and Van Morrison's Veedon Fleece would go out of print, too. So far these two are still available. Miles in the Sky is edging closer to experiemtal jazz - it's out there, all right, but the instrumentation is still essentially the same as Miles' famous combo groups from the early 60s. He would take out for outer space in the next decade. At the time of this recording he was content just to arc over the jazz world in the sky, like a fireworks display. In that way the music seems idyllic and postmodern.

Miles in the Sky
This was the record that pointed towards fusion, and while I'm generally a Miles fan, I can't really get into the fusion stuff. But this is the best thing he ever did in the jazz-rock field, with George Benson contributing guitar on some songs. Why he didn't continue in this direction with fusion is beyond me: the Quintet with John McLaughlin would've worked a lot better than those twenty or so people Miles dragged in to play on Bitches Brew and such. A couple of the tunes are a bit longwinded, maybe - you may get bored with Stuff about halfway through, which is too bad because it really takes off in the end - but this is a great set of material just the same, with a couple of songs that rank among Miles' best (Paraphernalia; Black Comedy), and the then-young Tony Williams proving himself to be a capable, interesting, talented drummer.

Apotheosis of T. Williams
Anthony Williams'propulsive drumming is the centerpiece of this recording, particularly his work on both versions of "Country Son", which has resisted induction into the pantheon of Miles compositions, for it being perhaps desultory and a melange of genres. Who cares? Herbie Hancock is particularly funky, auguring his work evidenced in the Warner Bros. collection. And Miles is effective in understated poignancy (again, particularly on "Country Son"). I've combed the T. Williams archives for evidence of a performance as integrated and polyphonic and powerful as his performance here and in my inexpert opinion his work on MiTS is matchless. He may have played faster, with more technical proficiency or fury subsequently, but he never played better.

Others also Liked

Miles Smiles (Reis)
Nefertiti (Reis)
On the Corner
Sorcerer (Reis)
Esp (Reis)