The Lost Quintet

It's quite possible that the peak of Miles Davis's musical power will forever remain out of print. This 1969 live recording of the Mile Davis quintet at the Antibes Jazz Fest was last printed on CD in 1995, and at this time, is only available as an import from third-party sellers online. The music found on this recording reveals Davis in a transitional period that, in a way, embodied everything he had done and would go on to do. Recorded with what has become known as the “Lost Quintet” – for reasons that become evident if you reread the first sentence of this entry – this album shows Davis's full control of the free jazz concept, his virtuosity on the trumpet in a way rarely seen elsewhere, his nascent vision of jazz-rock fusion, and his emotional ties to the body of work that had made him famous. The band itself was a rare mixture of the past and the future. Of the Second Great Quintet, only Wayne Shorter remained in the band by this time. English bassist Dave Holland had replaced Ron Carter, Chick Corea – playing electric keyboard – took Herbie Hancock's place, and the powerful drummer Jack DeJohnette filled the gaping hole left by the departure of Tony Williams.

Of the songs played on this concert – “Directions”, “Miles Runs the Voodoo Down”, “Milestones”, “Footprints”, “Round Midnight”, “It's About That Time”, and “Sanctuary” – two dated from the 1950's, two came from the period of the Second Great Quintet, and two would soon appear on the landmark albums In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew (strangely, “Directions” would remain unreleased until 1980). Yet all are approached from the same free-jazz-plus-rock-intensity angle. In all of the pieces, Jack DeJohnette has the burden of time-keeping taken away from him, allowing him to accompany in a frenetic style. The keyboard solos of Chick Corea frequently ignore the song-forms entirely, instead focusing on the creating soundscapes with the new instrument. Shorter, playing soprano sax on many songs, plays with an energy and complexity rarely found on any of other recordings, channeling the voice of the recently deceased John Coltrane in his solos. True to the band's concert practice of the late 60's, the songs are played without break, creating one hour-long suite that could well be considered one of the greater long compositions of the 20^th century.

As for Davis's playing on the concert, a transcription of his solos would suffice as an encyclopedia of everything he would ever do on the trumpet. The bulk of the material he plays remains in the chromatic style he developed during the time of the Second Great Quintet – which itself recalled his early bebop playing with Charlie Parker – but echoes of other times appear throughout the concert. His solo on “Milestones” recalls his original recording of it, as well as the light, melodic style he played in with the First Great Quintet, but his playing on the long stretches of A minor that make up the bridge could have come right off of “Flamenco Sketches”. The solo on “Footprints” begins in the slow, bluesy world of the song, but ends with what may be the longest lines he ever recorded. The new melodic material he had developed in the recording sessions of In a Silent Way – a style that wouldn't be heard on recording until later collections of the studio sessions would be released in the 80's – is on full display here, with its frequent use of long chromatic scales and a rhythmic shift towards the sixteenth note.

There is one commercially available recording of this band – Live at the Fillmore East: It's About That Time – and really, the only bad thing that can be said about it is that it's not the recording of the Antibes Jazz Fest. The same level of intensity is maintained throughout the concert, which is about 45 minutes longer than the 1969 recording. If you can't find the Festival De Juans Pins recording anywhere, this is as close of a substitute as you'll be able to find.