The CD Project: Miles Davis - Live Around The World (1996)

This CD gives you a definitive look at Miles Davis' live shows from the last three years of his life. Many of Miles' fans dismissed his later work, but I feel those critics are too focused on his playing and not looking at how he was approaching music, the sound of his band, the arrangements, the instrumentation. As always, Miles was pushing things forward. He didn't care what you thought about his music, anyway. Funky, poignant, swinging, haunting, groovy and remarkable.

Ratings/reviews:

Billboard: "Miles' soloing remains unmistakably piercing and poignant"
Stereo Review: "well made but hardly memorable."
DownBeat (★★★★): "the band out-performs my memories of frustrating, uneven concerts"
The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide (1999): ★★★★
The Virgin Encyclopedia of Jazz (1999): ★★★

Album chart peaks:

US Billboard 200: Did not chart
Billboard Jazz: #4
CashBox Jazz: #5

Tracks: The first two tracks, In A Silent Way and Intruder, are segued seamlessly with funky effect. A great way to start the CD. To me, the highlight of the disc is the 13 minute take on Human Nature with an incredible tenor solo by Kenny Garrett. Miles knew it was incredible, too. Miles rarely spoke at a concert, but after Human Nature, you can hear him ribbing Kenny, saying, "That wasn't nuthin', man. I do that every night." Also good are Amandla and Tutu. I don't care for Time After Time but that's mainly because I'm not a Cyndi Lauper fan and I don't think it's a well-written song. That 10 minute track normally gets skipped. The final track, Hannibal, is taken from Davis' last performance. Even though the date and location aren't listed in the liner notes, author George Cole claims that the date was August 25, 1991 and the location was The Hollywood Bowl.

Personal Memory Associated with this CD: I saw Miles around the time of these recordings in Dallas on June 10, 1990 at the Starplex Amphiteater in Dallas as part of JazzFest '90 (the festival also included Wynton Marsalis, George Benson, McCoy Tyner, and Lee Ritenour). I wish I had known enough to understand everything that Miles was doing at that show..