Miles Davis - 'Nefertiti'

 

'Nefertiti' was recorded over four sessions on June 7, June 22-23 and July 19, 1967, at Columbia 30th Street Studios, New York City.  It was produced by Teo Macero (more on Teo below), and engineered by Fred Plaut and Stan Tonkel.  The photographs are by Bob Cato.

The album was released on January 15, 1968, on the Columbia Records label.  I bought the album on the Saturday after it was released at Canterbury Records in Pasadena, CA, which was a short walk from California Institute of Technology.  Back then, it was run by a gentleman named Lenny, who was a hysterically funny man and had an encyclopedic knowledge of Jazz.  When I walked into Canterbury Records, Lenny reached under the counter, pulled up a copy of 'Nefertiti', and said "I've been expecting you", and laughed.  For the next month or so, Lenny and I discussed the finer points of the album.

Along with Miles are, Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone, Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass, Tony Williams on drums (the so-called Second Great Quintet).  'Nefertiti' was Miles' last all acoustic album.  

For me, 'Nefertiti' is a "desert island disc".  A lot of it has to do with saxophonist Wayne Shorter’s mysterious and beautiful title tune, where the soloists and the rhythm section reverses their roles.  Miles and Wayne play the theme over and over again in unison, while the rhythm section stretches the time and varies the intensity and harmonies of the piece. The melody is so compelling, and the interplay of the rhythm section so animated, that you never get bored by the repetition.

All the playing is flawless on this, which with this quintet is a given.  The way Miles and Wayne harmonize on trumpet and sax. It creates a really great unique tone, and it allows for the rhythm section to do more when they combine their parts to form a homogenous sound. Tony Williams is phenomenal on his track "Hand Jive", no surprise there, and Ron Carter is as always sublime.

Of all the compositions, I think that Wayne Shorter was the most consistent with all three of his tracks being contenders for the best, but Herbie Hancock steals the show with "Riot", my favorite off the album.

In the 1980s, I got to know Teo Macero and his wife Jeanne.  Most of our conversations were about books, food, wine, and movies.  Jeanne told me privately that Teo liked that I didn't bombard him with questions about music, as many people did.  Occasionally, Teo would broach the subject of Jazz, and when he did, he recounted stories that were just so cool.  It was also my "green light" to ask a question or two.  One time he asked me what I was listening to, and I told him "Nefertiti".  Teo smiled and told me, "Creative tension doesn't even begin to describe the intense atmosphere of those sessions".

Today's freeload is the 2023 remaster with 24bit/192kHz sonics, and sounds sweet.

For the freeload, I’m going to ask a rather clichéd musical question. Be that as it may, what are some of your desert island discs?