The music of Miles Davis was very much in flux in 1970. Every time he
recorded, it seemed to be with some new combination of musicians, and 'Live/Evil' documents it all. 'Live-Evil' isn’t a completely live record. It’s split up
between cuts recorded live at the 'Cellar Door' in Washington, D.C. in December 1970, and studio cuts recorded with saxophonist Wayne
Shorter and pianist Joe Zawinul who had formed the band Weather Report
which had released their debut album. There are also studio cuts with the Brazilian multi-instrumentalist
Hermeto Pascoal which also features Herbie Hancock who had formed his
band Mwandishi.
In post-production, producer Teo Marcero (who deserves a lot of credit here) heavily cut and spliced together the 'Cellar Door' live recordings with the studio cuts. The result feels more like a studio album than a live album. The idea of the collage was also something which was used in many other art forms at the time. Author William Burroughs, for instance, would cut up texts he had written and piece them together again in another order to see how their meaning would change. You can also see it (below) in the album art for 'Live/Evil' where the inner sleeve shows a series of photographs of Miles Davis taken at the same spot and angle.
This album is probably the perfect example of just how crazy Miles' live performances during his electric period could get, and makes me wish I'd seen more shows than I did during that particular era.
I absolutely love this album, and to my ears, 'Live/Evil' together with 'Jack Johnson' from 1971 stands out as Davis’ strongest fusion work.
The freeload is the Limited-edition mini LP reissue, DSD remastered CDs from 2006 (Sony SICP 1225/6). This is the non-vinyl version you should have.
For the freeload who are some of your favorite record producers?
The freeload is the Limited-edition mini LP reissue, DSD remastered CDs from 2006 (Sony SICP 1225/6). This is the non-vinyl version you should have.
For the freeload who are some of your favorite record producers?
In no particular George Martin (the Beatles, duh), Allen Toussaint (great musician in his own right, but also a huge contributor to the rnb sound of New Orleans), George Avakian (produced some classic lps by Louis Armstrong and also the Gil Evans/Miles Davis lps), and Alfred Lion (man, who along with Rudy Van Gelder, was responsible for the Blue Note sound).
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame Alfred and Rudy didn't record the Beatles. Seriously.
DeleteAgreed! Would also have loved for Gil Evans to have arranged some of their orchestral works.
DeleteIn no particular order, Frank Zappa, Jimmy Miller, Brian Eno, Quincy Jones, Jim Stewart, Stevie Wonder, T. Bone Burnett, David Byrne, Steve Lillywhite, Gary Katz & Ted Templeman are some that come to mind. I know that there are many, many more great record producers. Thanks Babs
ReplyDeleteSlim discographies, but Ry Cooder and Chuck Prophet come to mind. Happy New Year to everyone!
ReplyDeleteI'll add Tom Dowd.
ReplyDelete-notBob
Two of my favorite pop music producers, who both were murderous psychos, were Phil Spector and Joe Meek. Both of them had such distinctive sounds that you knew they were the producers before the vocal first emerges from the intro. They both were completely attuned to the frequency limitations of AM radio.
ReplyDeleteJohn Hammond
ReplyDeleteCreed Taylor
Alfred Lion
Brian Wilson
Phil Schaap
Orrin Keepnews
Michael Cuscuna
Quincy Jones
Norman Granz
George Avakian
I'd like to add Manfred Eicher from ECM.
ReplyDeleteI forgot Manfred. Good pick, Josef!
DeleteI also forgot to put Jimmy Miller on my list
Along with those already mentioned - the Chess brothers, Glyn Johns (when not engineering), Jimmy Page (got the best out of Zep) and Gus Dudgeon.
ReplyDeleteSome of the above (Eno, Lillywhite, Eicher) plus Ertegun, Creed Taylor,
ReplyDeleteMartin Hannett and Ivo Watts Russell
Bat
George Martin, Joe Meek, Chris Lambert, Andrew Oldham, Mickie Most, Shel Talmy, Chris Blackwell, Vic Coppersmith, Tony Visconti
ReplyDeleteLink
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/NCfKH6AXV9y
Many of the producers cited above as well as Jerry Wexler, Teo Macero, Berry Gordy, Marshall Sehorn, Willie Mitchell.
ReplyDeleteTony Visconti is all I can think of.
ReplyDeletesteVe
Rudy Van Gelder, Gil Evans, Jerry Wexler and many others already mentioned here. Many thanks for Live-Evil, Babs!
ReplyDeleteGeorge Martin, Tom Wilson (Early stuff from Zappa, VU, Simon & Garfunkel and Dylan)... (watch for the forthcoming documentary on him) and Joe Boyd (Fairport Convention, Nick Drake, Tomorrow) .
ReplyDeleteRudy Van Gelder is the producer who has brought me the most enjoyment over a very large body of work.
ReplyDelete