Miles Davis Cellar Door Sessions 1970 CD

Contains previously unreleased material. Some of the recordings on the CELLAR DOOR SESSIONS were originally released in edited form on the 1971 double-LP LIVE EVIL.
Personnel: Miles Davis (trumpet); Miles Davis; John McLaughlin (guitar, electric guitar); Keith Jarrett (Fender Rhodes piano, electric organ); Michael J. Henderson (electric bass); Michael Henderson (bass guitar); Gary Bartz (soprano saxophone, alto saxophone); Jack DeJohnette (drums); Airto Moreira (percussion).
Liner Note Authors: John McLaughlin ; Keith Jarrett; Airto Moreira; Gary Bartz; Jack DeJohnette; Michael J. Henderson; Adam Holzman.
Recording information: The Cellar Door, Washington DC (12/16/1970-12/19/1970).
Introduction by: Bob Belden.
Photographers: Art Maillet; David Gahr; Urve Kuusik; Sandy Speiser; David Redfern; Jim Marshall .
There is an entire universe contained in this box. Sumptuously packaged and scrupulously annotated, CELLAR DOOR SESSIONS 1970 is a six-disc set that documents Miles Davis's extended residency at the Washington, D.C., club. Davis is backed by a group of genius musicians: keyboardist Keith Jarrett, drummer Jack DeJohnette, bassist Michael Henderson, saxophonist Gary Bartz, percussionist Airto Moreira and guitarist John McLaughlin (who appears only on the last two discs). Together they pioneered an ecstatic fusion of jazz, rock, funk, and abstract sound-painting that established the blueprint for the future of progressive music.
Each disc contains a different live set, and while songs are often repeated across the set lists, no two tracks sound the same. The players improvise at a fever-pitch, pushing themselves to endless invention, and the ensemble's interplay--expressionistic, protean, and fierce--is near telepathic. The influence of rock artists like Sly Stone and Jimi Hendrix can be heard in the layering of deep funk rhythms and psychedelic inflections (especially with Miles's wah-filtered trumpet), but the overall sound seems to subsume and transcend the entire history of 20th century music. In a career full of musical innovation, this is some of Miles's most visionary work, and this essential set (which also boasts splendid remastering) documents it for a near-religious listening experience.
When Miles Davis released Live-Evil in 1970, fans were immediately either taken aback or keenly attracted to its raw abstraction. It was intense and meandering at the same time; it was angular, edgy, and full of sharp teeth and open spaces that were never resolved. Listening to the last two CDs of The Cellar Door Sessions 1970, Sony's massive six-disc box set that documents six of the ten dates Davis and his band recorded during their four-day engagement at the fabled club, is a revelation now. The reason: it explains much of Live-Evil's live material with John McLaughlin.
These discs finally reveal the crackling energy and deep-groove conscience that Miles Davis was seeking in his electric phase. First and most startling is that John McLaughlin only appears on the final two discs. The first four discs feature a new lineup, one with Keith Jarrett who, in a first for Davis in the electric era, was the lone keyboardist after Chick Corea's departure. Airto Moreira and Jack DeJohnette are holdovers from the Live at the Fillmore East and Tribute to Jack Johnson sessions, among other concerts and sets that have appeared on many different records, from Big Fun to Get Up with It to Directions. The new players here include Gary Bartz on alto and soprano saxophone (he replaced Steve Grossman), and 19-year-old bassist Michael Henderson -- fresh out of Stevie Wonder's band -- replacing Dave Holland.
Davis was keen on having Columbia record his live sets, and pressured them to do so for these four nights, just a week before Christmas in 1970. This set is a solid look at what's in-the-can, since the vast majority of these tracks -- three hours' worth of them -- have never seen the light of day in any form. As Adam HoRolling Stone (p.63) - 4.5 stars out of 5 -- "His bursts of not-jazz galvanize a rhythm team that respects the backbeat yet delights in trampling convention."
Entertainment Weekly (p.81) - "The lengthy circular grooves, freaky wah-wah horn riffs, and ear-singeing guitar runs make this a kind of Rosetta stone for the entire jam band universe..."
Uncut (p.108) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[I]t finds Miles' wah-wah-drenched trumpet relentlessly prodding his bandmates....Each is a unique representation of a band kicking aside the barriers."
The Wire (p.54) - "Davis's music gushes out of this group as though they've just struck oil....Tempestuous sounds for turbulent times, and plenty for sated Miles fans to chew on afresh."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.122) - 4 stars out of 5 - "Jarrett is feverish throughout and John McLaughlin brings a further element of terror to the final two sets..."