Search - Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Wallace Roney :: A Tribute to Miles Davis (V.S.O.P.)

This Grammy-winning jazz recording is as much a tribute to the trumpeter's greatest band as a testament to Miles Davis himself. But Miles was not given to sentimental gestures, and while he cherished the band's work during the revolutionary '60s, he rarely looked back after disbanding the unit.
But jazz fans could never let go, because Shorter, Hancock, Carter and Williams redefined the freedom principle of the late 1960s, and built daring new melodic structures upon a bedrock of sophisticated harmony and complex rhythmic interaction. As a result, in one form or another--usually billed as VSOP--the quintet would hit the road and recording studios with stunt doubles as notable as Freddie Hubbard and Wynton Marsalis occupying the director's chair.
However, on A TRIBUTE TO MILES the trumpeter is the young Philadelphian anointed by Miles himself after their triumphant 1991 performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival--Wallace Roney (Miles even presented him with his horn). And on the basis of the long harmonic elisions and Davis-like ornaments Roney displays on the live renditions of Davis standards "So What" and "All Blues," the elder's respect is more than justified. There are many highlights throughout this set, from Carter's "RJ," with its brisk tempo and roaring rhythmic exchanges, through Hancock's moody waltz "Little One" and the Spanish-tinged backbeats of "Eighty One." Roney particularly inspires Shorter who responds with a keening soprano solo on his classic tune "Pinnochio," abstracting the melody, fragmenting his line and moving up the scale until the drummer is ready to bust..1. So What
2. RJ
3. Little One
4. Pinocchio
5. Elegy
6. Eighty One
7. All Blues