Miles Davis - Seven Steps to Heaven
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CD Details
Artist: Miles DavisEdition: Music CD
Format: Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2005-03-15
Music Label: Columbia Records
Soundtracks:
- Basin Street Blues
- Seven Steps To Heaven
- I Fall In Love Too Easily
- So Near, So Far
- Baby Won't You Please Come Home
- Joshua
- So Near, So Far
- Summer Night
Music reviews of Seven Steps to Heaven
Music Review: 4 1/2 stars-- Davis in transition.
Rating: 4 Stars
In 1963, Miles Davis was reeling a bit-- the Wynton Kelly Trio (Kelly, Paul Chambers and Jimmy Cobb) had just quit, leaving the trumpeter without his stellar rhythm section, and with both John Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley breaking ties the band, there was no one left from the band that recorded the triumph of "Kind of Blue". "Seven Steps to Heaven" tracks the evolution of Davis' working band over three sessions in early 1963-- the last studio work he'd do until early 1965.
The first two sessions recorded here find Davis in the company of tenor saxophonist George Coleman, pianist Victor Feldman, bassist Ron Carter, and drummer Frank Butler. The pieces from this session are primarily standard ballads-- "Basin Street Blues", "I Fall In Love Too Easily", "Baby Won't You Please Come Home" and "Summer Night" (a bonus track originally issued as part of "Quiet Nights". All four feature Davis superbly lyrical-- he seems particularly inspired by the somewhat underrecognized Feldman, whose lovely and emotive frameworks set up simply fantastic environments for Davis to solo and the ever-brilliant Carter to counter. This is all particularly obvious on the stunning reading of "I Fall in Love Too Easily", destined to stay in Davis' live repetoire for over seven years (extraordinarily rare for Davis, he tended to play songs live no more than a couple years, sometimes even less) and still featured into his "fusion" period. Coleman's only appearance from this session is the performance of "So Near, So Far" (again a bonus track originally issued on the odds-and-ends album "Directions"). The performance is pretty lifeless, with neither Davis nor Coleman particularly inspired.
A month later, Davis entered the studio, again with Coleman and Carter, but with two steps closer to forging his next great band, with pianist Herbie Hancock and drummer Tony Williams. The change at the drum seat is obvious-- Williams, a young prodigee at this point, is explosive, powerful and yet never in the way. They perform three pieces-- another reading of "So Near, So Far" and two originals-- Victor Feldman's "Joshua" and the Feldman/Davis-penned title track (interestingly enough, all three were attempted at the previous session). Again, Davis seems inspired, but this time with an ecstatic energy-- his playing on the title track (a bouncey hard bop piece) is agile and mercurial, leading into a brief, stunning drum break and a frantic solo by Coleman reminiscent of Coltrane's work in the Davis band. "So Near, So Far" gets a vastly superior reading-- the theme statement split around the two horns is fluid and intriguing, and Davis pours his heart into his horn on his solo-- exploring his horn's registers and expressiveness (and listen to Carter behind him who is fantastic enough to nearly steal the show, and he is perhaps even moreso under Hancock's solo). "Joshua" gets an intriguing reading-- it's bizarrely lryical and yet maintains a sort of exciting frantic energy, and again the performances are superb throughout.
Something stops me from thinking of this one among Davis' best, but it's an awfully good album, with great performances throughout. This remaster adds great sound to the mix as well-- could have been recorded yesterday. Highly recommended.
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