Dark Magus - Miles Davis

Jan

16

Dark Magus - Miles Davis

≡ Category: 1970s, Avant-Guarde, Don't Bother, Jazz Funk, Post Bop, Reviews |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

DON’T BOTHER

Rating:

You know, I really want to like the 70s albums of Miles Davis, but I keep striking out. You see, I totally recognize that Miles’ experiments were really important and influential and resulted in some wonderful music when musicians in the 90s and 00s started to pick up on his innovations. But somehow, I can’t manage to find a Miles Davis release based on his idea of combining funk, Stockhausen, and post bop that I actually like.

Not On The Corner, which is supposed to be deathless classic, and definitely not Dark Magus. I dunno, maybe it’s the recording, but the grooves just aren’t very interesting. They just kind of lie there. If the grooves were shifting constantly or if Miles was adding and subtracting elements like a conductor, maybe I’d dig it more. As it is, the music just seems disorganized and chaotic for the most part.

That’s probably because, unlike Sly Stone or James Brown, the funk isn’t made up of interlocking rhythmic parts. Instead, each rhythm player has a separate function and they improvise within that function. Meanwhile, the soloists (Azar Lawrence on tenor, Pete Cosey on guitar, Dave Liebman on soprano and flute) weave in and around the key center of the tune with scarcely any communication with the rhythm section.

I presume that now and then Miles would signal band members or the entire rhythm section to either cut out or change what they were doing, or he’d call a new tune and the band would segue into that. There are several examples of that on the first CD (of a double set) when Dave Liebman is howling through a demented solo and the band cuts out, leaving him by himself for several bars before coming back in.

So, what else is going on in the music?

You’ve got Dominique Gaumont contributing mostly sound effects on guitar, drummer Al Foster keeping up the energy and forming the backdrop of the groove (which he does a great job of), Michael Henderson laying down these deep funk lines, Mtume adding percussion colors, and Miles occasionally giving some harmonic guidance to his soloists on organ, but it doesn’t really add up to much for me.

Really, I can hear what the band is doing, and what Miles is trying to achieve, but I just don’t dig it. To me, a blistering groove in one key with various sound effects, accompanied by improvisations which are unrelated to what the rhythm section is doing is just not all that interesting.

There, I said it.