Monday, December 08, 2014

Miles on Monday: Mid-80s Miles
at Montreux, and more

For this week's "Miles on Monday," check out the Washington Post's review of All of You: The Last Tour 1960, a new four-CD box documenting the final European tour of Davis' first great quintet with saxophonist John Coltrane. (To hear for yourself what writer Giovanni Russonello is talking about, you can listen to audio from the Stockholm concert that's documented in the set, albeit from an earlier release of the material.)

And as long as we're in Europe, at least metaphorically, here's an online video featuring Davis' complete set from the 1986 Montreux Jazz Festival. Performing material dawn largely from then-current releases like Tutu and You're Under Arrest, the band features Robben Ford (pictured, with Davis) on guitar and Bob Berg on tenor sax, along with keyboardists Adam Holzman and Robert Irving III, bassist Felton Crews, percussionist Steve Thornton, and Davis' nephew Vincent Wilburn on drums.

While this particular iteration of Davis' group wasn't necessarily the most challenging ensemble he ever assembled, they do get a nice groove going in a number of spots, and the gig also gets a boost from brief guest appearances for a couple of songs apiece by David Sanborn and George Duke.

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