Saturday July 18th, 5:00 PM – House of Hard Bop.
In September 1958, the Miles Davis Sextet took the stage at the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan, New York. The concert was recorded—the musicians were unaware of this. Publication followed in 1973, under the title Jazz at the Plaza Vol. 1. (Columbia Records, producer Teo Macero). You will hear the complete album, consisting of four pieces. Then, two pieces from the best-selling jazz album of all time: Kind of Blue from 1959.
Line-up: alongside Davis and Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley (bass), Bill Evans (piano), Paul Chambers (bass), and Jimmy Cobb (drums). In one piece from Kind of Blue, it is not Bill Evans but Wynton Kelly who sits at the piano.
‘The Plaza’ is an iconic hotel in New York City (photo). Countless wealthy and famous guests: Enrico Caruso, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Frank Lloyd Wright. It is also a popular film location: North by Northwest, Scent of a Woman, Sleepless in Seattle. In September 1958, Columbia Records hosted a party in the Persian Room to celebrate artistic and commercial successes. On stage was the Miles Davis Sextet. The accompanying tape, not intended for publication—and Davis knew nothing about it—went into Columbia’s archives. The document remained there for fifteen years.
If I Were a Bell begins with Bill Evans’ intro on a detuned piano. And that at a record company party… Moments later, the sound of Miles’ muted trumpet fades away. This keeps irritations to a minimum, as musically it quickly picks up steam. Although the audience continues to converse with one another, the sound of the applause suggests appreciation.
Oleo is a composition by Sonny Rollins. The piece—form AABA—became a standard, recorded by countless musicians. Also performed multiple times by Miles Davis: in 1954 (with Sonny Rollins), on the albums Relaxin’ (1956), 1958 Miles, Friday and Saturday Nights at the Blackhawk (1961), and The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel (1965). A characteristic feature is the instrumentation during the first choruses. It begins with a trumpet solo (A), followed by trumpet/sax/bass (A), then piano/bass/drums (B), and back to trumpet/sax/bass (A). After the exposition, during the first trumpet solo, we enter different patterns. It is only with the second soloist that everything really comes alive. Drummer Jimmy Cobb pushes the horn players hard. The same applies to Straight No Chaser, a piece at the same tempo.
My Funny Valentine brings a cooling down, a return to calm breathing. Listening concentration is required due to the lower volume. The tempo is relaxed, and the two reed players do not solo. (ADHD is taking a break for a moment.) Superb solo work by Davis and Evans. Bassist Paul Chambers colors his plucked solo with vocal unison. Prolonged – well-deserved – applause. Straight No Chaser. And off they go again, in an uptempo. Notable: both this piece and Oleo are taken much faster than earlier, respectively, original versions.
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One of the greatest albums of all time’ – ‘Davis’ Masterpiece’ – ‘One of the most influential albums ever made’ – ‘The best jazz record of the 20th century’ – ‘Arguably Miles’ greatest hit’ – ‘A turning point in music history’ – ‘One of the few authentic milestones in jazz history’ – ‘Davis’ ultimate answer to the spirit of the times’ – ‘A landmark in the evolution of jazz’ – ‘The greatest jazz album ever recorded’
This incomplete list of quotes can only refer to one Miles Davis album: Kind of Blue (March 2 and April 22, 1959, Columbia 30th Street Studio, New York City.)
There are only a few months between The Plaza and Kind of Blue. The lineup is the same (with one exception). But there are important differences. The setlist of The Plaza consists of recorded repertoire pieces – the compositions of Kind of Blue are brand new in several respects, and have been rehearsed little to not at all. The Plaza features two high tempos; Kind of Blue sticks to a maximum of ‘medium’.
Freddie Freeloader (Davis)
The opening—in this programme, not on the record—is a blues. For this piece, Davis had pianist Wynton Kelly in mind. Blues? Then Kelly at the piano. Modal? Then Bill Evans. Both pianists, together in the studio, agreed.
Kelly immediately gives Freddie Freeloader’s theme a boost. He plays cheerfully and rhythmically complementing the long notes of the brass—a ‘sigh’. Two almost contrasting expressions. The ‘deviating’ harmony in the final two measures is a stroke of genius that continues to pay off during the solos. After the theme—the ending of which is accentuated by Cobb’s accent on the three-and-a-half beat of the twelfth measure—Kelly swings on in the first solo.
Davis’ solo creates a turning point and tells a completely different story. A captivating story, with an emotionally charged tone. Drummer Cobb remains in the background. His accents are largely modest in volume, but he makes himself heard at well-chosen moments.
After solos by tenor, alto, and bass, Davis reintroduces the theme.
Not on the 1st beat, as at the beginning, but on the preceding 3rd. Peculiar. But what a piece!
Well, and And then So What (Davis), the opening of Kind of Blue. The best-known, and most covered, piece on the album. It begins with a piano/bass introduction, ethereal, searching, at a free tempo. That came from the mind of Gil Evans! The form introduced thereafter is traditional: 32 measures AABA, filled with a Call-and-Response, a call-and-response. More contemporary is the ‘modality’, something Davis started on Milestones from 1958. No chord progression, but two tone series (modes). One on root note D (form part A), the second a half tone higher (part B). The instrumentation is also quite unique: the bass plays the melody, the ‘call’ – the others respond with the ‘response’. You can easily substitute the words ‘so what’ into the two sounds of that response. The bass keeps trying, but the response remains ‘so what’.
Drummer Jimmy Cobb’s cymbal crash accentuates the beginning of the improvisation section *). After the solos by the three wind players, it is pianist Bill Evans’ turn. The wind players provide the familiar commentary with the repeating, two-note So What motif—now in a sharper rhythm, which works very well. Here, too, there is a dialogue: piano/winds. But the piano does not repeat itself like the bass at the beginning. It keeps going.
These two pieces, So What and Freddie Freeloader, tracks 1 and 2 on the record, have exactly the same tempo. Usually, that is avoided. Another similarity: in both themes, a descending major second is a leading motif.
So What would acquire a much higher tempo a few years later. This often happened with Davis’s repertoire pieces. A higher tempo, with a corresponding difference in character. Listen to So What on the live album Four & More from 1964 – a different lineup, with that incredible teenage drummer Tony Williams. And…?
House of Hard Bop – Eric Ineke *)
At the time, Cobb thought he had turned that crash up too high. It turned out not to be that bad.
Klik for broadcast 1 of Miles Davis & John Coltrane Centennial
Klik for the 1st News Item
Klik for broadcast 2 of Miles Davis & John Coltrane Centennial
Klik for the 2nd News Item
