Review: Miles Davis - The Cellar Door Sessions

‘The Cellar Door Sessions’ is another in Columbias lavish Miles Davis box-set releases and, being a series of live dates from one venue as opposed to a related set of sessions or collaborations, one wonders why such a treatment. The truth is that these gigs here represent a true ‘missing link’ in Miles vast career – and how he moved from mainstream jazzer to godfather of fusion. Previously, an inadvertnt illusion was created by his ‘official’ releases that gave the strong impression that he had moved almost overnight from jazz standards to wild funk jams.

Although the slow gradual move into using electric instruments became more prominent through ‘In A Silent Way’ and ‘Bitches Brew’, it was with ‘Jack Johnson’ that everything suddenly leapt forward into the electric arena. This short-lived 1970 band shown here though was what truly marked the real shift from acoustic to electric in Miles groups. Choosing not to play any earlier Miles material, and made up of 19-year old Motown bass player Michael Henderson, drummer Jack DeJohnette, sax player Gary Bartz, jazz piano prodigy Keith Jarrett and Brazillian multi-percussionist Airto, in truth the band would not have wanted to play the earlier material.

Choosing to forsake the larger venues Miles was now playing, he instead took his newly formed band of young players to Washington D.C.’s crammed 100-people capacity club The Cellar Door. Here they would play a new, and controversial, hybrid of jazz and funk over four nights, with guitarist John McLaughlin dropping in to join the band for the final night. Portions of these performances would later be used to make up the album ‘Live-Evil’, where the cut-and-paste focus would almost be to showcase the then rising star John McLaughlin.

For years though, the band here went largely unheard, with most fans wondering what the band sounded like before the cut-ups and the heavy refocus on McLaughlin. Keith Jarrett also frequently went on record as saying that this band was truly hot, and that the final night addition of the guitarist in fact upset the rhythm, feel and tight interplay of the band. This box-set then sets the record straight, and with six complete sets and six hours of music, gives us something almost entirely previously unheard.

Each disc features a complete set consisting of between three and six tracks, with numbers frequently stretching to the fifteen minute mark (and some even to twenty). Featuring repeated versions of ‘Directions’. ‘Sanctuary’, ‘Inamorata’, ‘Honky Tonk’, ‘It’s About That Time’ and ‘What I Say’, as well as a single take on ‘Yesternow’, none of the titles here sound anything like the ones you’re familiar with.

Almost every piece here is built on a strong and repetitive bass figure that is for the most part the musics solid signpost over which everyone else lays down their groove or solo. Newboy Michael Henderson holds and drives the whole band forward, with a warm and rounded pulse, and his timing is impeccable. In fact it’s his work with Jack DeJohnette, and Airtos palette of percussion and vocals, that really transforms the sound of this band.

Gary Bartz on saxophone, who’d already worked with Art Blakey, Charles Mingus and Max Roach, was the first alto player Miles had regularly worked with since Cannonball Adderly more than ten years earlier. In truth, perhaps tenor sax here would have fared better, as Miles own trumpet playing is higher in register, and the lower sound of the tenor would have provided a much stronger contrast, but Bartz and his high-octane bluesy-sounding solos, especially his soprano work, are superb. Full of gutsy powerful playing, it’s a true shame, based on his on-display skills here, that Bartz work with Miles was so brief and little recorded.

One of the key presences, and distinctions, of this set though is the playing of Keith Jarret on the Fender Rhodes piano. Previously, Jarrett had only been heard either playing the second set of keys with Chick Corea, or largely (on ‘Live-Evil’) behind the guitar of John McLaughlin. Here though he is a solo and distinctive voice showing us compelling melodic solos and splashes of colour. It’s clear as well that Miles knew the strengths of Jarrett, as with most of the sets here he gives the piano player long improvised solo features as a bridge between the different tunes. In many ways these are like tiny previews of the acoustic concerts he would play just a few short years later. This set contains four such solos, each distinctive, with a fresh sound, and all set highlights. Tellingly, Miles never stopped praising Keith Jarret throughout the next twenty years.

And what of Miles Davis himself? On his recent albums, Miles’ critics had been quick to bemoan his use of effects on his trumpet, citing his declining chops as the reason. In fact, these criticisms were completely unfounded, as here his playing is superbly energetic and full-blooded. In this small Washington club, his playing sounds both aggressive and intimate. In fact his playing is so good, it is not overstating the point to say that this is a career high for him, in terms of range and daring. Sure, if you’re looking for the quiet and beautiful hushed playing of his 50’s days, you will be disappointed. But in every other way, this is Miles at his very best on the trumpet.

The first four discs without McLaughlin are superb. The group feels like a jazz group, but with the rhythm section (and Michael Henderson in particular) moving everything towards some gritty funk. Airto and DeJohnette are as clear as Mediterranean waters here with each of their contributions being easily seperable, and Jarrett is simply blinding. The Saturday night performances that capture McLaughlins addition to the band on discs five and six, though strong, just aren’t as good however.

As Keith Jarrett has always made clear, the band had in a very small space of time become a tight and adept unit and had acquired that valuable link between musicians that always exists in improvisational units. With McLaughlins addition, although strong, the insertion of another player into the band upsets the balance. Some superb solos are welcome, but his playing is much harder in sound than the rest of the band, and that wonderful clarity between the others tends to become overcrowded. As with the first four sets, the last two sets here are good, but how they compare to the previous four will depend on your personal preference, and ultimately your fondness for McLlaughlin.

Interestingly, Teo Macero is at the controls once again – recording the bands performances in the club. But on these occasions there is no post-session work cutting and splicing creating a collage of music, as he had done to create ‘Live-Evil’. This is 100% live music - and with excellent sound quality and clarity.

So, here it is – six complete performances recorded over four nights of powerful Miles jazz-funk, most of which you’ve never heard before. ‘Cellar’ is also easily the most sumptuously packaged of the Miles boxsets. A cherry-red case holding the CDs and extensive photos, detailed liner notes and thoughtful essays slides smoothly into a slipcase of mysterious yet highly strokeable material that feels something like a holy union between leather and suede. Sure, some will be furrowing their brow as to why they, or indeed the world, need another six-disc presentation set of Miles. Here though you have the chance to hear from front-row seats the experience of a 1970 Miles Davis club performance and that is something that no fan of Miles, heavy jazz or funk would ever want to pass up.

****

Review: Remember Shakti - Saturday Night In Bombay

Having revived his Indian jazz fusion group Shakti some twenty years after their first incarnation split, John McLaughlin and the updated Remember Shakti garnered huge numbers of plaudits for their live shows and the albums pulled from these. High on this success the group then headed to Bombay at the tail-end of 2000 for a celebratory performance bolstered by special guests Pt. Shivkumar Sharma, Taufiq Qureshi and most notably vocalist Shankar Mahadevan.

Dubbed 'Saturday Night In Bombay', it's a playful take on his earlier much-loved 1980 collaboration with Al di Meola and Paco de Lucia 'Friday Night In San Francisco', but that isn't the only similarity here. Both records benefit from a warm and relaxed friendly vibe, with all of the men on stage clearly good friends and enjoying each others company and their music.

The short opener 'Luki' is a nicely spiritual piece that benefits greatly from Mahadevan's wondrous vocal performance, but the real meat here comes in the following 'Shringar'. A half-hour piece, its near total length is dominated by a hypnotic interaction between the guitar and santur. Simply incredible, it's one of the very best things that the group, and McLaughlin, have ever created.

'Giriraj Sudha' is an uplifting and bright number that unfortunately is over all too soon, while the following and closing 'Hussain' begins with a level of unrestrained high energy that only builds and builds, taking in high emotion and then ending on a spectacular high.

Standing shoulder-to-shoulder alongside the previous Shakti and Remember Shakti albums, the new guests and instrumentation are a very welcome bonus, and again progress the sound, but the overall feel of the set is perhaps just a touch more sad, even mournful, than the others. And based on that this probably shouldn't be your first purchase of this great group, that honour still falls to the bands debut, but it is a good one and well-worth the investment of your listening time.

****

Review: Remember Shakti - The Believer

After near-reforming the superb seventies group Shakti, minus a member but with some added new ones, John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain's new Remember Shakti debuted to outstanding live praise. and much critical admiration for the subsequent live double album.

'The Believer' continues the musical magic with this time just a single-disc seventy-seven minute document of how the band were progressing throughout the summer of 1999. By now the band had changed to still feature McLaughlin and Hussain on guitar and tabla respectively, but now joined by U. Srinivas on mandolin and V. Selvaganesh on kanjira and ghatam.

The sound then is noticeably different from that of the first Remember Shakti effort, as are also the shorter compositions. While before numbers ebbed and flowed their way to half an hour or even a whole hour in length, here everything sits compactly between the seven and twenty minute mark, with most not rising above fifteen.

'Lotus Feet' is the only number to be repeated from 'Remember Shakti', but in true Shakti and true jazz fashion it is remarkably different. Similarly the more dedicated fan may recognise one or two of the chosen themes, but the sheer stunning improvisational art of each man remakes everything here to sound completely new. The tight interaction between the quartet creates a strong sense of telepathy, and you can also feel the comfortable and relaxed friendship between the group in the music.

Guitar and mandolin intensive, McLaughlin and Srinivas are good musical foils and bring out the best in each other, much like the way the guitarist with L. Shankar and his violin did twenty years earlier. And it is this that presents the best case for 'The Believer'. Both Remember Shakti albums are incredible and impassioned performances worth the time of any fan of either McLaughlin or Shakti, and while the first obviously offers more in size, both sets offer distinct different sounds and approaches that are sure to inspire anyone who enjoys this high level of compositional and improvisational performance.

****

Review: Remember Shakti - Remember Shakti

Disbanding in the late 1970’s, Shakti lay dormant for two decades whilst all the musicians involved pursued other directions; John McLaughlin who chose to go in multiple acoustic and electric directions continuing to earn major audiences and plaudits, violinist Shankar who created a series of minor masterpieces deserving of much greater recognition and also helped compose a notable number of high-profile film scores, and Zakir Hussain and T. H. ‘Vikku’ Vinayakram who both built massive discographies of fusion and world-music, while also taking on noteworthy music education roles.

Approaching the year 2000 and McLaughlin and Hussain decided that the time felt right for the reformation, and further development, of the Shakti group. However, while McLaughlin and Hussain were able to contact and link up with Vinayakram, none of the three could find Shankar, and so instead decided to continue on without him, replacing him for their return tour with bansuri player Hariprasad Chaurasia.

Initially touring in celebration of the 50^th anniversary of the independence of India and Pakistan, this double-set is taken from that tour and a good thing too, with the musicians here always going to have excelled more in the live arena than that of the recording studio.

Less percussive and rhythmic than the original Shakti, here the music is more introspective and thoughtful, and also happily, much more emotionally reaching. The best example here being the hour-long epic ‘Mukti’, which despite its length never feels long or dragging, but frequently, like much here, does bring a wave of euphoria to the listener. Everything here is played for the musical moment, with no egos vying for the spotlight, and no solos dominating the other musicians – here the musical interplay is everything.

Remember Shakti remain a pretty much one-off group of unique and uniquely inspired players that continue to fuse western improvised music with the music of India in an equally unique and compelling way. As with the original Shakti, if you hope to hear blistering lead guitar lines from McLaughlin, then you’re in the wrong place. Here though is a strong, intelligent and emotional musical group that offers languid meditative deeply reaching music of a very high order.

****

Review: Shakti - Natural Elements

After two distinct and different, yet both impressive records, Shakti recorded just one more album together before calling it a day - arguably the strongest of the three, ‘Natural Elements’. And again, following the path set out by the first two efforts, the group retained their own personal sound but chose to make some more artistic changes and developments to the proceedings.

Most noticeable of all to begin with is the fact that instead of the usual short number of lengthy and winding compositions, here composers McLaughlin and Shankar have written a series of much shorter pieces, ranging in length from just under two to over seven minutes, with most hovering around the five minute mark – a clear change in direction from the fifteen minute and half-hour long hypnotic opuses from their debut.

Better still is McLaughlin’s continuing development and integration with the rest of the group, and overall sounding more relaxed and comfortable, allowing for a greater balance and stronger overall more cohesive sound, and for each of the group to play off of each other with confidence and ease, and more than a solid fistful of beautiful moments.

Offering a strong and diverse but coherent mix, ‘The Daffodil And The Eagle’ gives us some intense and arresting music, whereas the immediate follow-on ‘Happiness Is Being Together’ is pure unrestrained joy, and the climactic ‘Peace Of Mind’ absolutely beautiful high to end on.

Shakti of course only recorded three albums (not counting the partial band reunion ‘Remember Shakti’ some two decades later), with all three being supremely excellent examples of all the men involved and of ‘world-music’ fusion - before the name became muddied and too encompassing. ‘Natural Elements’ though stands, even if only on tiptoes, just above the two earlier recordings, and is a clear peak of admittedly many high-points in the careers of both McLaughlin and Shankar.

****

Review: Shakti - A Handful Of Beauty

After a blinding debut album recorded live at an American college, that more than just successfully melded John McLaughlin’s lightening fast guitar runs and virtuoso handling with the well-known southern Indian exoticisms, melodies and rhythms, the group Shakti lost member Ramnad Raghavan and chose to record in the much more standard environment of a London studio. 

And while losing one member and recording in a much less spontaneous and energised surrounding, the band here despite these sound much more united and cohesive, displaying both some highly dramatic moments as well as more subtle and moving passages too. Better yet, Shankar’s superb violin is thrust much more into the spotlight and takes up just as much of the solo space as the guitar. Everyone too overall sounds much more confident and with greater presence, the effect being much more like that of a group outing than a backing, if admittedly a spectacular backing, to the more famous leader (despite the album still being credited to ‘Shakti with John McLaughlin’).

All of the tunes provided are by McLaughlin and Shankar, with the exception of one lengthy traditional piece, and each seems much more fused in their joining of East meets West, as well all showcasing a greater lyrical approach than the earlier eponymous debut.

Despite all this though, it’s perhaps a less welcoming effort for McLaughlin’s earlier fans from the rock and jazz-rock worlds, with everything slightly more inward looking and meditative, with the sizzling and furious energy levels down at least two notches. It’s something else all of its own of course, although potentially lazily pinned into either of those non-genres labelled as ‘new age’ or ‘world’, but it is without doubt a distinct and beautiful, strongly spiritual work that always rewards repeated listens.

****

Review: Shakti - Shakti

Having made an impressive name for himself in just a short space of time playing with such stars as Miles Davis and Tony Williams, John McLaughlin went from strength-to-strength with the various incarnations of his own Mahavishnu Orchestra. Turning up his guitar amp to previously unventured decibal levels and successfully bridging the gulf between the jazz world and the rock one, he suddenly called it a day and announced the group as finished.

The definitive electric guitar man, for his next move McLaughlin surprised and shocked everyone by downing his usual instrument and picking up an acoustic model. A further shock for long-time followers was his decision to play with four men from southern India not affiliated in anyway with the jazz or rock worlds, or in fact any music genre familiar to his usual fan base.

Calling his new outfit Shakti, although purely acoustic, it notably maintained the fury and speed McLaughlin had instilled with the Mahavishnu groups. The lengthy ‘Joy’ that starts things off is a great example, with the guitarist shredding his customised acoustic guitar at almost light-speed. Not that Shakti was to be a McLaughlin vanity vehicle, far from it, Lakshminarayana Shankar on violin, both Ramnad Raghavan and T.H. Vinayakram on mridangram, and Zakir Hussain more than match the guitarists pace and the sprinting tempo with comfortable ease.

By comparison ‘Lotus Feet’ that follows feels like a quiet breather for everyone to relax, stretch out and collect themselves, before the lengthy and extended raga ‘What Need Have I For This…?’ shows the quintet at their genuine best. Shankar’s violin is in a class all its own here, but it’s the interplay between all of the members that truly impresses, while the Englishman gets to bend his notes in a manner not unlike playing the sitar and still fly at a soaring and blazing speed.

Seen by many, if not most, as a blind-siding shock move, Shakti had in fact been hinted at to his fans for a good number of years before it, with McLaughlin’s acoustic playing on earlier perhaps less famous records, his eastern musical influences and his increasingly spiritual leanings. Also playing his acoustic guitar with just as much speed, skill and panache as he did with his electric, the music here is less a departure than one might initially think, with plenty for the casual McLaughlin rock fan to enjoy, and it achieves a truly astounding high level of energy and euphoria that few – acoustic or electric - have ever reached.

****