Miles Davis - The Complete On the Corner Sessions (discs 3-4)
It’s a good thing I gave some space between disc 2 and 3, as the latter looks to be the least involving collection of tracks on the box set so far. The music turns to a more leisurely and psychotropic atmosphere with only the sparsest grooves and in a way it’s not a surprise that a significant part of this disc is new material. There are two tracks of “Big Fun/Hollywuud,” that give the middle of the disc a bit of extra weight and the abstract “Mr. Foster” that I managed not to hear finish. For a little while, the silence afterward seemed to fit, but I was still left only with an impression that none of this music was as interesting as the unedited On the Corner tracks from the previous discs.
The fourth disc is familiar, of course, the 32 minutes each of “Calypso Frelimo” and “He Loved Him Madly” that lead off each record of Get Up With It. The former retains the minimalist bass line of so many of these jams, just a quick phrase that leaves space rather than fills it. Even more true for the amazing and intuitive guitar duo of Pete Cosey and Reggie Lucas who provide so much of the psychedelic feel of the very slow jamming. Lucas works around the music with intense chord phrasing, while Cosey holds in steam only to boil forth at the right moments. Miles seems content to stir the brew adding occasionl trumpet and keyboards. “He Loved Him Madly” isn’t that far off, but the mood is gentler, with Dave Liebman’s flute echoing in a way that reminds me of early krautrock, especially primal Tangerine Dream or even Yatha Sidhra. All of it points to the swirling, meanacing cauldron of the live Dark Magus.