Miles Davis Seven Steps To Heaven CD

Personnel: Miles Davis (trumpet); George Coleman (tenor saxophone); Victor Feldman, Herbie Hancock (piano); Ron Carter (bass); Tony Williams, Frank Butler (drums).
Recorded in Hollywood, California in April 1963 and in New York, New York in May 1963.
Personnel: Miles Davis (trumpet); Miles Davis; George Coleman (tenor saxophone); Ron Carter (bass instrument); Tony Ruption Williams , Tony Williams (drums); Victor Feldman, Herbie Hancock (piano); Frank Butler (drums).
Audio Remixer: Mark Wilder.
Liner Note Authors: Leonard Feather; Bob Belden.
Recording information: Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York, NY (04/16/1963-05/14/1963); Columbia Studios, Los Angeles, CA (04/16/1963-05/14/1963).
Photographers: Vernon Smith; Francis Wolff; Roger Marshutz.
In 1963, Miles Davis was at a transitional point in his career, without a regular group and wondering what his future musical direction would be. At the time he recorded the music heard on this CD, he was in the process of forming a new band, as can be seen from the personnel: tenor saxophonist George Coleman, Victor Feldman (who turned down the job) and Herbie Hancock on pianos, bassist Ron Carter, and Frank Butler and Tony Williams on drums. Recorded at two separate sessions, this set is highlighted by the classic "Seven Steps to Heaven," "Joshua," and slow passionate versions of "Basin Street Blues" and "Baby Won't You Please Come Home." The 20-bit remastered version issued by Sony's Legacy imprint in 2005 includes two rather startling bonus tracks from the original sessions that were not included on the LP or previous CD releases; they are the beautiful "So Near, So Far," and "Summer Night." ~ Scott Yanow and Thom Jurek
SEVEN STEPS TO HEAVEN finds Miles Davis standing yet again on the fault line between stylistic epochs. In early 1963 pianist Wynton Kelly, bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb left to form their own trio, and Miles was forced to form a new band, which included Memphis tenor player George Coleman and bassist Ron Carter. When Miles next entered the studio in Hollywood, he added local drummer Frank Butler and British studio ace Victor Feldman, who ultimately decided not to go on the road with Davis.
It's easy to see why Miles liked Feldman, who contributed the dancing title tune and "Joshua" to the session. On three mellifluous standards-- particularly a cerebral "Basin Street Blues" and a broken hearted "I Fall In Love Too Easily"--the pianist plays with an elegant refined touch, and the kind of rarefied voicings that suggest Ahmad Jamal. Miles responds with some of his most introspective, romantic ballad playing.
When Davis returned to New York he finally succeeded in spiriting away a brilliantly gifted seventeen-year old drummer from Jackie McLean--Tony Williams. On the title tune you can already hear the difference, as his crisp, driving cymbal beat and jittery, aggressive syncopations propel Miles into the upper reaches of his horn. On "So Near, So Far" the drummer combines with Carter and new pianist Herbie Hancock to expand on a light Afro-Cuban beat with a series of telepathic changes in tempo, texture and dynamics. Meanwhile, Feldman's "Joshua" (with its overtones of "So What" and "All Blues") portends the kind of expressive variations on the basic 4/4 pulse that would become the band's trademark, as Miles and Coleman ascend into bebop heaven.Down Beat (9/92, p.42) - 3.5 Stars - Good Plus - "...the band's extended treatments of old favorites "Basin St. Blues" and "Baby Won't You Please Come Home" are memorable..."