Subscribe for 1 or 2 emails a week with new content
Get Up With It - Miles Davis (1974)
ideated from: 1974 was a great year for jazz
Several facts are worth keeping in mind about Miles’ music from this period:
- After the success of Bitches Brew and the explosion of fusion into the mainstream, Miles found he could do whatever he wanted, and he did.
- Miles was seriously injured in a car accident in 1972, which may explain why he booked so much time at Columbia Studios in 72 and 73.
- Miles’ method had always been to put players he liked in a room and get them to play with very little structure or instruction. He liked to see what would happen.
- Miles was expanding his vision far beyond the jazz tradition, so he wasn’t necessarily looking for his players to play “jazz”
- Miles did not give a shit what you think
With only one exception, each track here comes from a different recording session between 1970 and 1974. You hear different combinations of the bands he was regularly playing with at the time, personnel that show up on several live albums as well as On The Corner and Bitches Brew.
As is typical for this time period, the music is out there. The half-hour lead track He Loved Him Madly is worth the price of admission all by itself, basically an ambient soundscape like little else he ever put on tape. But there’s a full 2 hours of material on this that’s all pretty amazing, even if it came off the cutting room floor.
