MILES PLUGS IN….Miles Davis: Miles Davis Collection

This 6 cd set gathers together the gradual progression of Miles Davis eschewing acoustic jazz in favor of fusion. Consisting of Broadcast recordings, it takes you from his second “Classic” quintet up to his On The Corner sessions, thus having something for everyone.

From 1967, Davis is with Wayne Shorter/ts, Herbie H ancock/p, Ron Carter/b and Tony Williams for a last hurrah on “Footprints”, “Riot” and the rare “Masqualero”. Two years and five light years later, Davis plugs in with Wayne Shorter-Steve Grossman/ts-ss, Chick Corea-Herbie Hancock/ep, John McLaughlin/g, Dave Holland-Michael Henderson/b, Jack DeJohnette- Billy Cobham/dr, Airto Moreira/perc and Bennie Maupin for songs from his Bitches Brew, In A Silent Way, Jack Johnson and Live-Evil albums, crashing and burning on “Willie Nelson”, Directions”, “Bitches Brew” and a fascinating “I Fall In Love Too Easily”. Last but not lease, in 1974 Davis regroups with Dave Liebman/ts-ss, Pete Cosey-Dominque Gaumont-Reggie Lucas/g, Michael Henderson/b, Mtume-Badal Roy/perc, Al Fostger/dr and Herbie H ancock-Cedric Lawson/keys for extroverted and chaotic pieces like “Honky Tonk”, “Rated X” and the creative “We Loved Him Madly”. It’s hard to find a jazz fan that loves all of these phases, but they each have something to offer, especially 50+ years in retrospect once the fuss had all died down.