Sorcerer

Artist: Miles Davis
Label: Sony
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Original recording reissued
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 074646568026
EAN: 0074646568026
ASIN: B00000DCGZ

Release Date: 1998-10-13

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Tracks:

Prince Of Darkness
Pee Wee
Masqualero
The Sorcerer
Limbo
Vonetta
Nothing Like You
Masqualero (Alternate Take)
Limbo (Alternate Version)

Similar Items:

Nefertiti
E.S.P.
Miles Smiles
Miles in the Sky
Filles De Kilimanjaro (Deluxe Edition) (Bonus Track)

Customer Reviews:

Weakest of the Second Quintet discs, but still a fine album.......2007-02-12

Okay, let's face it: Nothing Like You was a misstep. I'm not a huge fan of Pee Wee either. But hey, Prince of Darkness, Masqualero and The Sorcerer are total classics, and Tony Williams could out-drum anyone. Ron Carter shines on bass, too, as does Shorter. Miles takes a backseat as he did on Nefertiti, and his dominant presence on Miles Smiles and E.S.P. is here missed. I'd recommend getting the other Quintet albums (E.S.P.; Miles Smiles; Nefertiti; Miles in the Sky) beforehand, starting with Miles Smiles. But don't get me wrong, you'd be selling yourself short without The Sorcerer.

Continuing to push the musical envelope (4.5 stars).......2006-12-31

Sorcerer shows the second Miles Davis Quintet continuing to push the envelope musically. While the tracks are not as memorable overall as those as on their previous release, Miles Smiles, the music on Sorcerer is more adventurous and the interplay is very impressive. The fiery "Prince of Darkness" is a great opener as Davis has a great expressive solo while Shorter's solo is more dramatic and features many rapid flurries of notes. "Pee Wee" is another strong track that is soothing and contains some creative bass playing from Ron Carter. "Masqualero" is an awesome tune with mood swings throughout and Tony Williams' drumming mirroring those changes. The title track is a killer as Davis and Shorter effortlessly trade off solos before Hancock lays down a wicked solo of his own. "Limbo" is another great hard bop tune that mellows down big time near the end. "Vonetta" is pretty laid back but stays interesting due to Hancock's sparse playing and Williams' drum fills. Sorcerer then takes a strange twist with "Nothing Like You" featuring the distinctive vocals of legendary pianist Bob Dorough. The remastered version also includes alternate takes of "Masqualero" and "Limbo." All told, while not quite on the level of Miles Smiles or Filles de Kilimanjaro, Sorcerer shows the Miles Davis Quintet really coming in their own musically as Davis' road to what would become fusion continues.

Ron at his best.......2006-04-20

Even if you end up hating every other song on this album, Masquerelo is still worth the 13 dollars you'll pay for it. Buy it just for Ron Carter's bass playing. Ron shines on this song, especially during Wayne, and Herbie's solos.
It took a while for the rest of the songs to grow on me, but once they did I ended up liking this album. Though it's not Miles Smiles or E.S.P., it's still an album worth having.

Extrapolates and refines "Miles Smiles".......2006-03-31

This album, recorded in 1967, is the third by Miles's "second great quintet" with Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams, arguably the greatest small group in the history of jazz. "Miles Smiles" from before it and "Nefertiti" after it are both considered possibly the best albums this group recorded, so the present album is often forgotten. While it may be true that this album doesn't quite reach the levels of mastery that the aforementioned other two do, this group was so masterful that it doesn't matter; an average album from this band is still better than most albums from another band. I personally like this album just as much if not more than "Miles Smiles" and "Nefertiti." The former introduced the concept of freebop, the flexibility of the solo form, while keeping the thematic thread of the tune alive. The result, though incredible and spontaneous, is that the improvisation on a tune is not as ostensibly distinct, and relies mainly on tempo to differentiate between tunes. Several of the tunes on "Miles Smiles" have that same tempo so on the surface, there isn't a whole lot of variation. While this album did almost nothing new, it expounded on freebop in such a way that the identity of a tune is not as easily lost after the head is over. There is more variation in the compositional styles and different moods are able to emerge from different tunes, something that did not happen with "Orbits," "Gingerbread Boy," and "Delores" from "Miles Smiles." Probably the best example of this mood setting is on "Masqualero," a very free, ominous, Spanish-sounding Wayne Shorter tune whose haunting theme is one of my favorites from Shorter. The feel is never a constant (Tony Williams shifts rhythmic accents and tempos more masterfully than anyone without losing the rest of the group) but somehow there is a great sense of unity in mood and feeling.

While nothing can beat "Miles Smiles" for raw spontaneity (the whole album was recorded in one take for each tune) there is a certain refinement and direction to this album which is more emotionally resonant in its darkness. Refinement is a mixed bag--jazz is about the spontaneous more than the produced, but there is something to be said for choosing a direction ahead of time for unity of purpose. The latter is what "The Sorcerer" does best, and so it stands with this group's best efforts. It is accessible to those already with their foot in the jazz door, and probably more accessible than "Miles Smiles."

An advisory on "Nothing Like You" is that it is terribly sung by Bob Dorough and I have to question the judgement of whoever put this onto the original album. Miles must have given permission to tack on this throughback, but it really doesn't fit and isn't that good. But at only two minutes long, it is negligible and so you should neglect it.

Amazing as expected.......2006-03-21

This captures Miles and his amazing crew #2 at a very special cusp between his stepping away from traditionalism and begining to explore more space and textures by redefining his sound..This album is neither former nor latter, which is kind of what makes it refreshing ..It does not have the assuredness of bold new musical statements that his later works do, but the work is not bogged down by overly thematic ambitions either..This is just everyone playing without much instrumental conflict, yet ruthlessly, talentedly so...

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