Thursday, October 31, 2013

Happy Halloween! from The Prince of Darkness

I was talking today to my buddy JT in Texas... a more sage soul there ne'er was. We touched on subjects ranging from consciousness recalibration (from 4th to 5th density) to Arthur Garfunkel informing my stunned parents in a record room of a department store in 1973 that their son clearly loves music, so that must mean they are great parents (he was right, they were!). 

Anyway I told him (JT, not Artie!) today's post was gonna be dedicated to him, so here it is. It's coming up on the 1st of November here, so I have pulled out this facemelter of a DVD containing a Miles Davis electric set, recorded for WDR-TV in (then West) Germany exactly 40 years ago on 11/1/1973. This is a recent digital rebroadcast from German TV, so the picture & sound quality are extra clean and pristine, just like it oughta be. Just be aware that although the tag at the beginning says 1972, this is indeed from 1973:

 Miles Davis Septet
Berliner Jazztage
Philharmonie
Berlin, Germany
11.1.1973

01 Turnaroundphrase [Moja/Nne]
02 Tune In 5
03 Ife
04 Unknown title
05 Tune In 5

Total time: 46:22

Miles Davis - trumpet & keyboards
Dave Liebman - tenor & soprano saxophones and flute
Pete Cosey - guitar & percussion
Reggie Lucas - guitar
Michael Henderson - bass
Al Foster - drums
James 'Mtume' Foreman - percussion

PAL DVD of a digital satellite rebroadcast
1.79 GB PAL/October 2013 archive link
You can burn this to a playable region-free DVD, or you can watch it on your computer device of choice via the stellar VLC Media Player, available as freeware on an Internet near you. Just don't get spooked by the primal, corrosive funk on display as Miles steers his ensemble through some vintage "electric period" shenanigans... watch out especially for guitar legend Pete Cosey tearing holes through the studio ceiling with what he's churning out.  Enjoy and Happy Halloween :D           --Joshy Boo