Miles Davis Nefertiti CD

Personnel: Miles Davis (trumpet); Wayne Shorter (tenor saxophone); Herbie Hancock (piano); Ron Carter (bass); Tony Williams (drums).
Producers: Teo Macero, Howard Roberts.
Reissue producers: Michael Cuscuna, Bob Belden.
Recorded at Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York, New York on between June 7 and July 19, 1967. Originally released on Columbia (9594). Includes liner notes by Bob Belden.
Digitally remastered using 20-bit technology by Mark Wilder and Rob Schwarz (Sony Music Studios, New York, New York).
Personnel: Miles Davis (trumpet); Wayne Shorter (tenor saxophone); Herbie Hancock (piano, electric piano); Tony Williams (drums).
Audio Remixer: Mark Wilder.
Liner Note Authors: John Ephland; Bob Belden.
Recording information: Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York, NY (06/07/1967-07/19/1967); New York, NY (06/07/1967-07/19/1967).
Photographer: Jan Persson.
Nefertiti, the fourth album by Miles Davis' second classic quintet, continues the forward motion of Sorcerer, as the group settles into a low-key, exploratory groove, offering music with recognizable themes -- but themes that were deliberately dissonant, slightly unsettling even as they burrowed their way into the consciousness. In a sense, this is mood music, since, like on much of Sorcerer, the individual parts mesh in unpredictable ways, creating evocative, floating soundscapes. This music anticipates the free-fall, impressionistic work of In a Silent Way, yet it remains rooted in hard bop, particularly when the tempo is a bit sprightly, as on "Hand Jive." Yet even when the instrumentalists and soloists are placed in the foreground -- such as Miles' extended opening solo on "Madness" or Hancock's long solo toward the end of the piece -- this never feels like showcases for virtuosity, the way some showboating hard bop can, though each player shines. What's impressive, like on all of this quintet's sessions, is the interplay, how the musicians follow an unpredictable path as a unit, turning in music that is always searching, always provocative, and never boring. Perhaps Nefertiti's charms are a little more subtle than those of its predecessors, but that makes it intriguing. Besides, this album so clearly points the way to fusion, while remaining acoustic, that it may force listeners on either side of the fence into another direction. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
NEFERTITI represents the final "straight-ahead" offering by Miles Davis' legendary '60s quintet, the culmination of a creative arc which began with E.S.P.. On four subsequent albums--MILES IN THE SKY, FILLES DE KILIMANJARO, IN A SILENT WAY and BITCHES BREW--Davis forged a fresh creative arc in which he allowed elements of electronics, blues, funk and rock to intermingle with his own post-modernist sensibility to launch the jazz-rock fusion era.
NEFERTITI was the fruition of all Davis' experiments in free form, bebop, cool and modal jazz. Davis's signature as an improviser and musical editor is writ large on each composition, particularly in the provocative use of space. On Shorter's famous title tune, the trumpet and tenor saxophone shadow each other's line in a deliberately inexact manner, almost like a form of silkscreening, as Hancock's piano tolls away suggestively and Tony Williams drops percussive grenades all over the canvas--as if the drums were the lead voice (and don't think they aren't).
Shorter's floating melody on "Fall" and his boppish figures on "Pinocchio" have also become essential elements of the modern jazz lexicon, and listen to how bassist Carter and Williams suspend, subdivide and generally subert the traditional 4/4 swing pulse on the later. Williams' "Hand Jive" and Hancock's "Madness" offer cubist shards of melody as the take off point for more resounding swing interplay with Carter and Williams, while the pithy "Riot" redefines Afro-Cuban in a decidedly modern manner. NEFERTITI is a mysterious, meliflouous, enduring classic.

Re-Issue

Q (1/92, p.89) - 5 Stars - Excellent - "...Acoustic jazz couldn't go far after this masterpiece..."
Down Beat (p.66) - 4.5 stars out of 5 -- "Offset by Hancock's staggered lines, drummer Tony Williams' cymbal taps during `Fall' reel you into the song in a mesmerizing manner..."