The second great quintet goes out with a stunningly self-con
Christopher Culver | 04/14/2008
(5 out of 5 stars)
"NEFERTITI, released in 1968, stands as one of Miles Davis' last fully acoustic albums. With the following year's IN A SILENT WAY, Davis was to increasingly rely on electric instruments and the studio wizardry of producer Ted Macero. This last product of the famed second quintet might be the best of all. Davis on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on tenor sax, Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on double bass, and Tony Williams on drums give us six immensely self-assured tunes.
Davis' respect for the younger members of his ensemble and their ability to make fresh new contributions shows in the fact that NEFERTITI has not a single Miles Davis composition, the authorship of tracks being split between Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock. And what good material these two young jazz virtuosos came up with.
Shorter contributes the opening "Nefertiti" has horn and sax playing the same melody again and again over its eight-minute length, while the other instruments furiously improvise: a clever inversion of the traditional rhythm section. Shorter's ballad "Fall" refers back to the cool modality of nearly a decade before, showing how even within Miles Davis' strain of jazz things had already changed more than might be readily apparent. Shorter's "Pinocchio", the album closer, has probably the most catchy theme of any Miles Davis ensemble work.
Herbie Hancock's contributes the piano-driven "Madness" and "Riot". The former track is a long exploration of instruments together and in pairs. The latter is by far the shortest track on the album, an elegantly crafted jewel featuring excellent saxophone, trumpet, and piano and bass solos in just over three minutes.
The latest Columbia reissue fills the album out with alternate takes, but as usual these seem meant to sell the big Columbia box sets and only distract from the tightness of the original album."
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1