Search - Miles Davis :: In Person: Saturday Night at the Blackhawk, Vol. 2

Great set

Sean M. Kelly | Portland, Oregon United States | 05/05/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This cd is the second of 2 put out to chronicle Miles' stay at the Blackhawk in San Francisco in 1961.After a period of transition which included the sometimes uneven results of the "Someday My Prince Will Come" lp, Miles' working band of Hank Mobley on tenor sax, Wynton Kelly on piano, Paul Chambers, bass, and drummer Jimmy Cobb, were coming together as a tight unit. Both dates of the Blackhawk shows are prime examples of the greatness of this working group.While the Friday night show contained mainly ballads, Saturday night finds the band taking on more up-tempo numbers, and with it the band relaxes into a wonderful groove. Even the slower numbers, like "So What," are sped up during this particular evening. The band was definitely up for the change of pace.Hank Mobley is the major recipient of the up-tempo nature of the show. His time spent with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers proved that he had the chops needed to play quickly and confidently. Mobley at his best within Miles' group comes with his solo on Sonny Rollins' "Oleo." While the solo lasts a mere minute or so, Mobley took the tension created by Miles' calculated, reserved, mute solo, and blows it out of the water with his frenzied attack, which is certainly akin to what both Rollins and Coltrane were playing at the time. Mobley's attack is what the rhythm section of Kelly, Chambers, and Cobb needed. It allowed them to pick up the pace, and led to Kelly's tasty solo after Mobley's. Kelly's solo is a bit more refined, but no less impressive. The piece showed off prime solo chops by 2 of jazz's legends.The rest of the lp is no less impressive. The pieces are up-tempo, with all parties involved bringing their "A" games to the table. Miles' playing is wonderful, and dominated by his harmon mute. As always, his solos are short, conpact, very to the point. Mobley's playing throughout is inspired. One can sense that Mobley was on that night, and that he KNEW it, as well. Kelly's solos are always a delight to hear. His playing moves a lot, taking on octaves, arpeggios, and more of a lead character even when he's playing accompanying block chords. Chambers and Cobb were as tight a low end rhythm section as jazz had, and the lp allows them to dominate the proceedings in an up-tempo way.In my view, this cd is much better than the Friday night set. The looseness of the band is what made the difference here, as did the up-tempo nature of the show. Both cds are recommended to hear the full scale of what this short-lived working band could accomplish, but for me, this set is prime stuff."

Very Live Miles

Sean M. Kelly | 06/06/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Miles in an intimate setting. Almost an early greatest hits album. Recording is so crisp, you feel as you are almost there in the Blackhawk almost 40 years ago."