The second volume in the (finally) complete recordings from
Miles Davis
' legendary two-night stand at
the Blackhawk
in 1961 with his new quintet -- which featured
Hank Mobley
,
Wynton Kelly
Paul Chambers
, and
Jimmy Cobb
-- is as stunning as the first. While this set has been available in many different configurations in the U.S. and Japan over the years, it has never been complete until now.
In Person: Saturday Night at the Blackhawk
features no less than nine unreleased performances -- including an unprecedented fourth set on two CDs. The groove is quite different on Saturday evening. Rather than the slashing
bop
of
Sonny Rollins
'
"Oleo"
from Friday, a loping, bluesed-out version of
"If I Were a Bell"
opens the program.
Kelly
's interplay with
Davis
here is enlightening and inspiring; his comps and fills dance around the trumpeter's solo without ever punching through its center. His sense of timing is remarkable in how he anticipates the end of
Miles
' lines. He shifts gears with
Mobley
, who is in a speedier
Coleman Hawkins
mood here and pushes the middle harder, more percussively, as
then plays all around the changes. This gives way to an unbelievably speedy
"So What,"
clocking in at over 12 minutes and driven by
Chambers
' pizzicato bass playing.
' solo in the first few choruses is more reminiscent of his tenure with
Charlie Parker
than anything of his own, except for the warmer tone. The tune is an odyssey of harmonic invention with
acting as a bridge between
and
, offering wide-open sevenths and diminished fifths for each player to wander in and out of.
's solo comes right out of the
blues
, pure and angular; his touch is heavier -- deep left-hand accents and trills decorate it.
The second set's
"On Green Dolphin Street"
nearly segues into an unreleased, burning version of
"Walkin'"
at almost double tempo.
' intensity here is truly shocking. He drives this band -- a listen to
Cobb
's timekeeping on
reveals just how hard this band was striding these
. After 12 minutes of blinding speed and melodic invention, the complex harmonic architecture is resolved through intricate line interplay between
at about five minutes and 30 seconds into the tune, and it slips into a space where struggle ceases and the blinding tempo becomes pure grooveology.
throws the crowd -- and the band, judging by a missed cue -- a changeup by slipping into a nearly
modal
, front-end
"'Round Midnight."
This one swings easily and sweetly, a bit faster than any
band had played it ever before, but far slower than anything else in the first set. And as if this weren't enough of a
Monk
switch, the band closes out the set with a blazing
"Well, You Needn't"
before the band's theme takes it out for intermission. Tracks three and four on disc two are characterized by a heretofore unissued
"Autumn Leaves"
(which starts a few seconds in because the tape recorder wasn't on in the club -- it's not an edit). An easy, swinging, sprightly version of this chestnut is so relaxed and free that
and his mute feel free to stretch his own short notes into longer lines.
"Two Bass Hit"
is played at a blistering tempo, with
double-timing an already overdriven ensemble. Set four is late-night
; the band moves through three tunes as encores, seemingly -- gorgeous lyrical
balladry
with
opening up large spaces in the middle for
to become the focal point of the rhythm section. The tunes
"I Thought About You"
"Someday My Prince Will Come"
swing with easy late-night grace and charm.
' insistent one-note pulse is contrasted by
's whimsical opening solo before the verse.
takes it in relaxed mode, allowing the tune to unfold rather than be played. As if unwilling to let the audience off easy, the end of set four closes out with another surprise, a shifty, double-tempo read of
"Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise"
that becomes a
hard bop
before it ends abruptly, leaving the house in shambles. How this last set was never released before is beyond belief; thank goodness this historic document has finally been assembled in its entirety. ~ Thom Jurek