Miles Davis
In Person at the Blackhawk, San Francisco
Sony Legacy

In April, 1961, Miles Davis
and his band took the stage for a two-night gig at the packed Blackhawk Club in
San Francisco. At the time it might have seemed like a routine performance for
the band, but in retrospect the seven sets recorded are absolute jewels.
Davis’s interpretive skills on the trumpet were arguably at the highest level
of his career. His band — Hank Mobley, tenor saxophone; Wynton Kelly, piano;
Paul Chambers, bass; Jimmy Cobb, drums — was among the best he would ever
assemble. And his repertoire, which included tunes like “Oleo,” “Bye Bye
Blackbird,” “Fran Dance,” “On Green Dolphin Street,” and “‘Round Midnight,” can
only be viewed as quintessential Miles.

ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย  Past releases of this material were cherished but
incomplete. Now it’s all here in the order it unfolded, on four discs, with a
dozen previously unreleased tracks. Among these are beautiful renditions of “I
Thought About You” and “Someday My Prince Will Come.” Davis and Mobley turn in
wonderful extended solos on cuts like “So What,” and Kelly threatens to steal
the show every time he opens up at the piano. Throughout the sets, Chambers and
Cobb demonstrate the art of holding it together while sustaining the intense
spirit and energy in the air on those two nights.

— Ron Netsky

DJ Spooky That Subliminal
Kid with Mad Professor and Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry
Dubtometry
Thirsty Ear

Dubtometry‘s
beginning looks straight back at classic Black Ark Jamaica; and there’s Lee
Perry, completely incoherent, sending smoke signals. DJ Goo’s remix takes on
street sounds, paranoid spoken word, and a Joe McPhee pocket-trumpet line
that’s run through some sort of device that triples its tonal value. It sounds
like a really funky, scary Henry Mancini number. Speaking of Joe McPhee, the
Twilight Circus’s “Variation Cybernetique rmx” also features his
beautiful tone, and it’s another outstandingly jazzy and moody track. As the
disc goes on, the tracks move into slamming beats and noise that seem endlessly
prismatic, or just plain endless.

— Dave Cross

This article appears in Jun 4-10, 2003.