Yo Miles!

Yo Miles!

ASIN: B000009PZP

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
On Yo Miles!, guitarist Henry Kaiser and trumpeter Leo Smith revisit the glory days of Miles Davis's mid-'70s electric jazz-fusion experiments. Accompanied by the likes of the Rova Saxophone Quartet, keyboardist John Medeski, and guitarist Elliot Sharp, Kaiser and Smith faithfully revive extended Davis compositions like "Black Satin" and "Theme from Jack Johnson". With a background of pulsing electric bass, percussion, a bustling reed section, and floating organ fills, Leo Smith does an admirable job emulating Miles Davis's distinctive trumpet sound. Kaiser's guitar consistently pushes the ensemble into a realm of heady improvisation, blending hard rock and deep funk influences into ambitious jazz structures. This lengthy double-disc is a fine introduction into the mystical methodology of Miles Davis and his most misunderstood musical era. --Mitch Myers

Entertainment Weekly
...densely textured, scrupulously orchestrated reworking of [Miles Davis'] electric-funk period of the early ‘70s.

Yo Miles!,Henry Kaiser & Wadada Leo Smith,Shanachie,Avant-Garde,Experimental,Fusion,Jazz,Jazz Music,Pop,Prog-Rock/Art Rock

Sky Garden: Yo Miles [SACD]
Average customer rating:

Not quite Miles but ...

Big Fun!

This is hot shit

sheer regurgitation

If you like the first Yo Miles! cd then you'll love this one

Sky Garden: Yo Miles [SACD]
Henry Kaiser , and Wadada Leo Smith
Manufacturer: Cuneiform
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Jazz | Styles | Music
Jazz Fusion | Jazz | Styles | Music
Jazz Funk | Funk | R&B | Styles | Music
Similar Items:

Yo Miles!: Upriver

Yo Miles!

Pork Chop Blue Around the Rind

Vossabrygg

The Magic Hour

ASIN: B00022FWG8
Release Date: 2004-05-04

Tracks:

It's About That Time/The Mask
Jabali (Part I)
Shinjuku
Great Expectations
Directions

Tracks:

Sivad>Gemini Double Image>Little Church
Miles Star
Who's Targeted?
Jabali (Part II)
Willie Dixon
Cozy Pete

Customer Reviews:

Not quite Miles but ..........2006-03-15

The Rolling Stone directed me to this CD. I've always loved electric Miles but found it a little hard to live with. One or two listens and it was time to move on to something a little more accessable for a few weeks.

Sky Garden grabed me and wouldn't let go. The covers are true and new compositions inspired. The Kaiser guitar solos soar.

No, it isn't new Miles. How could it be. It will do until something else comes along.

Big Fun!.......2004-12-11

There are two sides to the great Miles Davis music of 1967-1975 (In a Silent Way - Phaedra). The first side is the studio experimentalism, often one-shot bands, often remixed by Teo Macero, very experimental. The second side is the live bands, tight and telepathic and committed to the new structures Miles had created.

Yo Miles!, the first Kaiser/Smith collaboration, felt like the studio Miles... a shifting kaleidoscope of musicians, interesting but not locked into a groove like a more established band. Sky Garden is more like the live Miles, a more coherent-sounding band. Like the live Miles work, the result is ultimately a more rewarding album.

One big improvement here is the ever-interesting drumming of Steve Smith. He's a deep fusion drummer with a taste for older tradition, powerful enough for the heavy and sensitive enough for the sparse. Moreover, he's a heavyweight in his own right, someone who can actually go toe to toe with Al Foster or Jack DeJohnette. For a project like this, it's important to get the style without sounding imitative. Kudos, Steve!

Another nice player choice is Tom Coster on keyboards. His rich electric piano tone has the perfect funky ambience, and his solos are never boring or cliched. Sensitive comping behind all the soloists makes him a real asset to the band.

Henry Kaiser and Wadada Leo Smith are their usual marvelous selves, as is Michael Manring on bass. If anything, i think Smith was more himself and less imitative of Miles this time around, and Henry Kaiser showed more restraint and commitment to the groove.

Overall? Still not quite up to the level of Miles Davis. But who the heck is? This time around, it's more like a commentary on Miles than an imitation, and that's a good thing. Well worth your money and time!

This is hot shit.......2004-08-26

Look...it's simple...if you like this period of electric miles you'll dig this cd.

Bass is bottom end thorough. Bang on Miles!

Enjoy it and weep.

sheer regurgitation.......2004-05-14

In a word, this is a rather lame attempt to imitate or pay homage to early 70's electric Miles Davis.

I was pretty excited about hearing it; a double-disc set with long jams on themes composed by Miles, but after listening for quite some time I found myself bored stiff and pretty exasperated.
The musicians are all terrific, the recorded sound is top-shelf, but the major problem here is that the group, as a whole, brings nothing new to bear on the material at hand, and this album sounds very tame in comparison to the great Miles Davis albums of the era this modern group is paying homage to: "Bitches Brew," "In a Silent Way," "At Fillmore," and so on.

Worse yet, some thirty years after the originals were recorded, this band can't even approach the level of telepathy and sheer guts of the Bitches Brew band; Leo Smith's playing has none of the ferocity of Miles' tone, which keeps this music from gaining any true momentum. The 30-minute version of "Great Expectations" rambles on endlessly and is more or less formless. There are no great keyboard battles a la Keith Jarrett/Chick Corea; everyone sticks pretty close to home, and this entire set never even gets 10% as far out as the original Miles albums did, and the band collectively has about as much soul as a McDonald's hamburger.

This stuff was done a hundred times better more than thirty years ago, and with that said, this Kaiser/Smith outing is downright dull and pointless. Though it's not a bad album to put on and hang out with, there are no visceral thrills at all. A serious disappointment.

If you like the first Yo Miles! cd then you'll love this one.......2004-05-08

The title of this review pretty much says it all. If you like what Henry Kaiser and Wadada Leo Smith were up to on Yo Miles! then you have to like Sky Garden.

But my real reason for writing this review is to let people know that even though amazon.com lists this as a SACD only disc and requires SACD equipment to play, that's not true. It's one of those hybrid discs that has a regular cd layer and a sacd layer. So if you don't have a sacd player, don't worry, you can still play it. I'm listening to it right now on my regular old five year old cd player.

Tracks:

Big Fun/Hollywuud
Agharta Prelude
Miles Dewey Davis III/Great Ancestor
Black Satin
Ife
Maiysha

Tracks:

Calypso Frelimo
Moja - Nne
Themes From Jack Johnson: Yesternow/Right Off/Interlude/Tune In 5/Willie Nelson/Right Off...
Wili (For Dave)

Amazon.com

On Yo Miles!, guitarist Henry Kaiser and trumpeter Leo Smith revisit the glory days of Miles Davis's mid-'70s electric jazz-fusion experiments. Accompanied by the likes of the Rova Saxophone Quartet, keyboardist John Medeski, and guitarist Elliot Sharp, Kaiser and Smith faithfully revive extended Davis compositions like "Black Satin" and "Theme from Jack Johnson". With a background of pulsing electric bass, percussion, a bustling reed section, and floating organ fills, Leo Smith does an admirable job emulating Miles Davis's distinctive trumpet sound. Kaiser's guitar consistently pushes the ensemble into a realm of heady improvisation, blending hard rock and deep funk influences into ambitious jazz structures. This lengthy double-disc is a fine introduction into the mystical methodology of Miles Davis and his most misunderstood musical era. --Mitch Myers

Customer Reviews:

a noble experiment.......2004-08-24

Henry Kaiser has always been interested in the broader structures of improvisation. So when he and Wadada Leo Smith set out to produce a tribute to the great electric period of Miles Davis, they were trying to work his structures, not necessarily his sounds. And in that, they succeeded. During the era from Bitch's Brew up through the mid-1970s, Miles' music consisted basically of bass vamps and simple melodies against one and two chord harmonic structures. The basslines, melodies, and chord vamps could all be mixed and matched in different combinations as beds for extended improvisation. To this day, it remains one of the most insightful and exciting structures for improvisation yet developed, and shame on the jazz critics who shrug off this period as drug-addled noise, rather than the peak of Miles' career!

Henry Kaiser, Wadada Leo Smith, and various others set out to create new music within the framework Miles built, and in that they succeed. Long, creative improvisations over funky rhythmic beds characterize this work, and the soloists speak in their own voices. That's the good part.

The bad part, and why i'm only giving four stars, is that listening to this album just reminds us how incredibly brilliant Miles' work was. Yeah, this album is great, but it doesn't hold a candle to, say, Phaedra and Agharta, or Big Fun. They're standing in the long shadow Miles Davis cast.

Still, it's a lot of fun if you like this kind of music, and well worth the investment. But if you're not sure, then pick up some proper 1967-1975 electric Miles instead and prepare to be either amazed or boggled.

Thirty years ago, the music of Miles Davis sounded like it was from decades into the future. Today, the thirty year old music of Miles Davis STILL sounds futuristic! But hats off to this crew for trying to look into the future by looking into the past, and taking on a truly brave project that has to be measured against the finest work of one of the giants of music.

Oh, and as an added plus, this album has marvelous, insightful liner notes that will help you understand the music more. It's worth it for that alone.

Great, great, great album..........2004-05-28

Great recording, great musicianship... Wow! Stellar... If only Miles would've had Michael Manring on bass. Fantastic album and worth every cent.

One thing I liked...........2000-10-28

about this 2 CD set is the liner notes actually tells where on certain points of the Live Electric releases these songs appear, either whole or in parts. This enables the listener to draw even more appreciation for Miles and his players abilities to meld and improvise through out their songs. All the other reviews are excellent in their critiques so I can`t add more on to that, just wanted to bring out a point that I like about this outstanding release.

worth it for those who like this period of Miles.......1998-09-18

Let's face it, if you like this period of Miles, you will get this recording. There simply is not enough of this stuff that has been recorded, and none of the players from the original bands have done anything to continue this direction.
Suffice to say, if you didn't like this period in the first place, then skip it.
I think some of the settings for Leo Smith aren't his strong points, for instance when there is the need to insert a bop lick, Leo just doesn't cover the ground that Miles could. He has always been better suited in textures that are somewhat contemporary classical, such the opening to his composition "Miles Dewey III Great Ancestor". Through the years, much of Smith's trumpet playing are portrayals of rituals constituted by invocations made the bugle. This carries over strongly when he employs the wah-wah pedal. He does so with great success on Calypso Frelimo, which is the high point of the recording for me.
While not a home run, there is plenty of stuff worth checking out on this recording.

My favorite recording this year!.......1998-09-13

This is amazing 2-CD set is 2 hours and 40 minutes long! You sure get more than your money's worth here. Smith & Kaiser have gone BEYOND Miles Davis and used his musical directions to fly far far out into new musical terratory. Everyone solos amazingly and plays there hearts out. I can't say enough about how great this project is!

Average customer rating:

Third time's a charm . . .
Bigger Fun

Yo Miles!: Upriver
Henry Kaiser , and Wadada Leo Smith
Manufacturer: Cuneiform
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Avant Garde & Free Jazz | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

Jazz Fusion | Jazz | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Jazz Funk | Funk | R&B | Styles | Music
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Sky Garden: Yo Miles [SACD]
Yo Miles!
The Cellar Door Sessions 1970
Saudades
Pork Chop Blue Around the Rind

ASIN: B0006V6TIA
Release Date: 2005-01-25

Tracks:

Go Ahead John
On The Corner Jam
What I Say
Bitches Brew

Tracks:

Tatu/Agharta Funk
Tune In 5/One Phone Call
Corrado
Macero
Yesterfunk
Thunder & Lightning
Jabali (Part III)
Black Satin (Slight Return)

Amazon.com

This is the third disc guitarist Henry Kaiser and trumpet player Wadada Leo Smith have recorded devoted to celebrating, reinterpreting, and expanding upon Miles Davis' Bitches Brew era electric and funk-infused bands from the late 60s to early 70s. While it has found favor among samplers for its incessant rhythms, and has even been subject to radical remixes, this thirty-year-old music is surprisingly unexplored. Reveling in the layered tapestries that characterized such albums as Agharta and On the Corner, this ten piece band is both unrelenting and subtle. One group composition and Smith's "Thunder & Lightning" round out this lengthy, but ever-unfolding set. Performed live in the studio, the recording is astoundingly clear and warm. --David Greenberger

Customer Reviews:

Third time's a charm . . . .......2005-02-20

. . . and these boys've finally got it exactly right. Got what right? Well, they've finally captured the essence of electric Miles while at the same time nudging (or is it blasting?) the music into the 21st century.

Not bad.

In fact, pretty darn good.

The key, here, is that everyone's pretty much on the same page--quite remarkable given the hugely eclectic make-up of the band (everyone from out jazzer and classical composer Wadada Leo Smith, to fusion drummer Steve Smith, to New Age bassist Michael Manring, to that venerable freebopper John Tchichai, to protean young lion Greg Osby, to out weirdo guitarist Henry Kaiser). Throw in keyboardist Tom Coster, someone I'd've never thought could work within a context like this, and Zakir Hussain, Miles' old tabla master, and you've got one of the most diverse bands to ever record together.

That they meld at all is just this side of miraculous; that they do it with such off-hand spectacular aplomb staggers the imagination.

But they do.

And you shouldn't miss it.

Bigger Fun.......2005-02-17

This third installment in the Yo Miles! series is a clear improvement over the previous, "Sky Garden." This is a superb band that features Wadada Leo Smith, Henry Kaiser, Mike Keneally, Michael Manring, Steve Smith, Zakir Hussain, and many more - all taking on extended jams built around motifs played by the classic Miles Davis funk/fusion groups of the early 70's. Where the "Sky Garden" jams got a little long-winded, especially during slower, freer sections, "Upriver" is considerably ups the energy and funk content. Many tunes stand out, but the relentless "On the Corner" into a hyper-aggressive "What I Say" is most exciting. Smith's "Thunder and Lightning" is probably the best original tune that the group has recorded and has a neat, slinky bass groove from Manring. As a dual-layer CD/SACD, this is an excellent value for the money.

Average customer rating:

Face Yo-Self
Apacolips
Manufacturer: Dogs To Gods Entertainment
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rap & Hip-Hop | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000CA2WUO
Release Date: 2005-11-01

Average customer rating:

Watching Tv/You Can't Get Off With Yo
Barefoot Jerry
Manufacturer: See For Miles Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B00000E7ZX
Release Date: 1997-03-11

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