Henry Kaiser and Wadada Leo Smith
Yo Miles! Sky Garden
(Cuneiform)
The
Music Box, July 2004, Volume 11, #7
Immediately upon hearing Yo Miles! Sky Garden, it becomes abundantly
clear that both guitarist Henry Kaiser and trumpet player Wadada
Leo Smith, the collection’s creators, hold a particularly
comprehensive understanding of Miles Davis’ music as well
as his creative process. Given the duo’s own extraordinary
talents, it’s not surprising that the set works as well
as it does. In fact, they do such a masterful job at exploring
the extemporaneous regions of the material that instead of merely
covering the songs, they manage to encapsulate the brilliance
that brewed them in the first place. From this, they also are
able to orchestrate several new pieces that serve as a virtual
aggrandizement of Davis’ remarkably variegated legacy.
Indeed, the basic premise
behind Yo Miles! Sky Garden (as well as its predecessor Yo Miles!)
was to utilize Davis’ compositions as a touchstone, thereby
retaining the general ambience of the inaugural recordings,
but otherwise, Kaiser and Smith jettisoned virtually everything
else in order to rebuild the tracks from scratch. What’s
particularly astounding — and what allows the endeavor
to succeed — is that the chemistry of their assembled entourage
mirrors that of Davis’ own alchemical ensembles. As a result,
the collective is able to submerse itself within the primordial
ooze that seeps through every nook and cranny of the chord progressions
and bend each tune to its will as a means of formulating a pair
of musical suites that not only waltz between the breathtakingly
beautiful and the absolutely ominous, but also are equally bold,
unparalleled, and full of organic luster. Simply put: Yo Miles!
Sky Garden frequently feels as if the manifestation of Davis
himself had a hand in crafting its contents.
- John Metzger
Sky
Garden
Henry Kaiser/Wadada Leo Smith Yo Miles! | Cuneiform
highfidelityreview.com
With Miles Davis’
electric period finally gaining the credit it deserves, the
number of groups recording everything from "music-informed-by"
to flat-out tributes is almost too large to count. Everyone
from Dave Douglas to George Schuller has, in some shape or form,
created works influenced by Miles’ electric excursions.
But when guitarist Henry Kaiser and trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith
released Yo Miles! back in ’98, it was clear that
the bar had been raised. Without losing site of their own distinctive
voices, they managed to create a tribute that completely captured
the spirit of that controversial period, demonstrating how it
has so strongly influenced what was to come. Now Kaiser and
Smith have reconvened to release the next set in the series;
Sky Garden is at once a continuation of the concept and
an evolution.
Other than bassist Michael
Manring, guitarist Chris Muir and the ROVA Saxophone Quartet,
who appear on "Sivad," it’s an entirely new cast
of characters, including drummer Steve Smith, keyboardist Tom
Coster, saxophonists John Tchicai and Greg Osby, and guitarist
Mike Keneally. The emphasis, this time around, seems more on
interpretations of space. There is a richer ambience that is
more textural, less intense. Pieces like the thirty-minute "Great
Expectations" extrapolate on the open-ended terms of the
original, but take it further with captivating duets between
guest percussionist Zakir Hussain and Smith, Tchicai and Osby.
Sky Garden is
also less dense. The first album was guitar-heavy, with Kaiser,
Muir, Nels Cline, Freddie Roulette and Elliott Sharp creating
a virtual wall of sound. There were also two percussionists
and two keyboard players to replicate Miles’ thick jungle
vibe. This time around, with fewer players, the music breathes
more. The emphasis seems more on exploring the ambient side
of Miles’ electric work that set precedence for much of
the trance music heard today.
There is also a greater
emphasis on original material; Smith contributes four extended
pieces that are so right as to be virtually indistinguishable
from their source. The final track, "Cozy Pete," is
a group improvisation that is reverential yet completely modern.
Special mention needs
to be made about Manring, who manages to bridge the gap between
the hypnotic, almost naïve simplicity of Miles’ bassist
of the time, Michael Henderson, and his more prodigious technique
that never overshadows the essential groove of the material.
Sky Garden has
been released as a dual-layer SACD hybrid, which means that
those fortunate enough to have an SACD player can hear the album’s
ultra-warm DSD recording. But to these ears, even the standard
CD layer is remarkably rich and full. The most notable difference
between Miles’ recordings and Sky Garden is the
more pleasing sonic clarity and more spacious aural landscape.
But recording quality aside, Kaiser and Smith have, once again,
demonstrated that Miles’ electric explorations were truly
ahead of their time; they sound contemporary in ways that few
other, if any, fusion recordings of the time do.
- John Kelman
Henry
Kaiser & Wadada Leo Smith
Sky
Garden (Cuneiform)
BBC
This
second, two-disk instalment of Kaiser and Smith's Yo Miles!
group (preceded by the eponymous Yo Miles! in 1998) has all
of the virtues of the electric Davis, plus a few of the arguable
defects; specifically the meandering sprawl of some very long
and episodic compositions, the likes of which are either fascinating
journeys or aimless excursions, depending upon your point of
view. (My vote is solidly on the side of the fascinating
journeys!)
As
for the derivative nature of the whole enterprise - well, there's
no dodging that bullet. And if it hangs you up, I'm probably
not going to change your mind. Truthfully, Davis was there
first, and was brilliant, and a genius, and all credit to him.
However, much of the Davis output after Bitches Brew was
recorded live, and often none too well. And everything
that found its way to vinyl, beginning with In a Silent
Way (or earlier), was also cut and spliced half to death by
Teo Macero, sometimes to smooth out erratic performances, sometimes
for commercial purposes and sometimes just because the process
fascinated Macero and Davis.
In
contrast, this second Yo Miles! collaboration was recorded live
in the studio, with no overdubs or splices, using Direct Stream
Digital (DSD) technology. Even on an ordinary CD player,
the music has extraordinary presence and clarity, plus the momentum
and logic of a true live performance. But the real strength
of this re-creation (which actually contains six new Smith compositions
in the Miles manner) is the quality of the playing.
Not
taking anything away from the various musicians who populated
Davis's electric bands, but in the years after Bitches Brew,
the revolving cast was not always perfectly simpatico, and the
musical direction itself was increasingly erratic, with Davis
conflicted about wanting to be either on the cutting edge of
the jazz avant garde or a bad mo'fo with street cred who could
sell hundreds of thousands of units. (In hindsight, Stockhausen
and Dr. Dre probably didn't have much to say to each other after
all.)
But
the post-Miles, post-fusion musicians assembled by Kaiser and
Smith are seasoned pros who know the core Davis fusion sound
inside and out and aren't burdened with the task of blazing
the trail (and occasionally losing the way). Nor are they,
from the sound of it, victims of conflicting agendas and duelling
egos.
Former
free jazz warrior John Tchicai is a more than adequate stand-in
for Wayne Shorter on soprano sax, and his smeary tenor is refreshingly
idiosyncratic. Greg Osby (on alto) needs no introduction. Keyboards
are really THE essential instrument in most of the Davis fusion
canon, and the relatively unsung Tom Coster is alternatively
ethereal, funky, harmonically playful and even profound on electric
keyboards. (His work on Smith's Who's Targeted is one
of several brilliant extended turns). Karl Perazzo on
percussion and Mike Manring on bass are the perfect rhythm section
-- heavy when they need to be, but more often slippery and subtle,
leaving lots of space on many of the pieces, laying out for
one or two beats (or measures), implying as much as they state.
As
for the two leaders, Kaiser is an almost infinitely adaptable
guitarist who can channel Hendrix, Pete Cosey or even John McLaughin
with consummate ease. Most often, he brings a heaping
portion of grit and funk to the table, although he can certainly
play pretty when he has a mind to. Wadada Smith is the
real surprise. While certainly respected in the jazz community,
he has a longstanding reputation as a cerebral theorist, and
more than one critic has characterized his style as dry and
introverted. However, Davis's own playing, especially
with his signature Harmon mute, was often described as fragile
and introverted, if not cerebral or experimental, so Davis and
Smith have that much in common. And Smith can also be
forceful and dynamic, with even more tonal exploration (smears,
harmonics, growls, etc.) than was typical of Davis, but with
experimental tendencies always subordinated to the musics flow.
Smith
isn't Davis (nor is he trying to be), but he's a great trumpet
player who seems very much at ease in the electric fusion bag.
In fact, everyone playing on this CD, including part-timers
such as Zakir Hussain and the ROVA Sax Quartet, seems to be
having a blast. The music is alternately spacious and
intricate, lyrical and fiery, but always as natural and unforced
as breathing.
If
you're the kind of enthusiast who already has everything that
the electric Davis ever recorded (including the posthumous box
sets of the complete Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson and In a Silent
Way sessions), then you might find Sky Garden a tad superfluous.
Otherwise, though, it's well worth picking up; a fine extended
homage to Davis and joyous, powerful and poignant music in its
own right.
-
Bill Tilland
