For Yous Miles Davis - 1967 [1998] Sorcerer

Sorcerer is an album recorded inwards May 1967 past times the Miles Davis quintet. It is the 3rd of 5 albums that this quintet recorded. It too includes i rail from a 1962 session alongside vocalizer Bob Dorough, which was the start fourth dimension Wayne Shorter recorded alongside Davis. Davis does non play on the 2d track, "Pee Wee". The album's comprehend is a photograph of actress Cicely Tyson, who at the fourth dimension was Davis's lady friend (and many years afterwards his wife), inwards profile.

The exclusively melody from the album known to cause got appeared inwards Davis's alive performances is "Masqualero", written past times Wayne Shorter. Davis's groups performed it equally piece of cake equally Apr 1970; the lastly known version appears on the alive album Black Beauty. The melody has too been revived past times Wayne Shorter past times his quartet since the 90's.
The CD reissue includes alternate takes of "Masqualero" together with "Limbo". The alternate cause got of "Limbo" was truly recorded inwards Los Angeles on May 9, several days earlier the terminal cause got was recorded inwards New York City. This cause got too replaces Ron Carter alongside bassist Buster Williams. Both versions of "Masqualero" were recorded on the same appointment together with alongside the same personnel.

Sorcerer, the 3rd album past times the 2d Miles Davis Quintet, is inwards a feel a transitional album, a quiet, subdued thing that rarely blows hot, choosing to explore cerebral tonal colorings. Even when the tempo picks up, equally it does on the championship track, there's petty of the dense, manic liberate energy on Miles Smiles -- this is close subtle shadings, fifty-fifty when the compositions are equally memorable equally Tony Williams' "Pee Wee" or Herbie Hancock's "Sorcerer." As such, it's a petty elusive, since it represents the deepening of the band's music equally they select to explore unlike territory. The emphasis is equally much on complex, interweaving chords together with a coolly relaxed audio equally it is on sheer improvisation, though each fellow member tears off thoroughly compelling solos. Still, the private flights aren't placed at the forefront the agency they were on the ii predecessors -- it all merges together, pointing toward the dense soundscapes of Miles' afterwards '60s work. It's such a layered, intriguing run that the terminal cut, recorded inwards 1962 alongside Bob Dorough on vocals, is an utterly jarring, inappropriate agency to cease the record, fifty-fifty if it's intended equally a tribute to Miles' then-girlfriend (later, his wife), Cicely Tyson (whose icon graces the cover).

Track listing

    "Prince of Darkness" (Shorter) - 6:30
    "Pee Wee" (Tony Williams) - 4:51
    "Masqualero" (Shorter) - 8:55
    "The Sorcerer" (Hancock) - 5:14
    "Limbo" (Shorter) - 7:19
    "Vonetta" (Shorter) - 5:39
    "Nothing Like You" (Bob Dorough, Fran Landesman) - 2:03

Personnel

    Miles Davis - trumpet
    Wayne Shorter - tenor saxophone
    Herbie Hancock - piano
    Ron Carter - double bass
    Tony Williams - drums

The lineup differs greatly on the rail "Nothing Like You", since it was recorded several years prior:

    Miles Davis - trumpet
    Wayne Shorter - tenor saxophone
    Bob Dorough - vocals
    Gil Evans - arrangements
    Frank Rehak - trombone
    Paul Chambers - bass
    Jimmy Cobb - drums
    Willie Bobo (William Correa) - bongos