Details
Track Listing
DISC 1: DECEMBER 22, FIRST SET:
1. If I Were a Bell
2. Stella by Starlight
3. Walkin' - (previously unreleased)
4. I Fall in Love Too Easily
5. Theme, The
DISC 2: DECEMBER 22, SECOND SET:
1. My Funny Valentine
2. Four - (previously unreleased)
3. When I Fall in Love
DISC 3: DECEMBER 22, SECOND SET:
1. Agitation
2. Round About Midnight
3. Milestones - (previously unreleased)
4. Theme, The
DISC 4: DECEMBER 22, THIRD SET:
1. All of You
2. Oleo
3. I Fall in Love Too Easily
4. No Blues - (previously unreleased)
5. I Thought About You
6. Theme, The
DISC 5: DECEMBER 23, FIRST SET:
1. If I Were a Bell
2. Stella by Starlight
3. Walkin'
4. I Fall in Love Too Easily - (previously unreleased)
5. Theme, The
DISC 6: DECEMBER 23, SECOND SET:
1. All of You
2. Agitation
3. My Funny Valentine
4. On Green Dolphin Street - (previously unreleased)
5. So What
6. Theme, The
DISC 7: DECEMBER 23, THIRD SET:
1. When I Fall in Love
2. Milestones - (previously unreleased)
3. Autumn Leaves
4. I Fall in Love Too Easily
5. No Blues
6. Theme, The
DISC 8: DECEMBER 23, FOURTH SET:
1. Stella by Starlight
2. All Blues
3. Yesterdays - (previously unreleased)
4. Theme, The
Album Notes
Personnel: Miles Davis (trumpet); Wayne Shorter (tenor saxophone); Herbie Hancock (piano); Ron Carter (bass); Tony Williams (drums).
Producer: Teo Macero.
Compilation producer: Michael Cuscuna.
Recorded live at the Plugged Nickel, Chicago, Illinois on December 22 & 23, 1965. Includes liner notes by Bob Blumenthal.
THE COMPLETE LIVE AT THE PLUGGED NICKEL represents the great divide in the music of Miles Davis. When his rhythm section drifted off in 1963 to form the Wynton Kelly Trio, Miles tried several different combinations before settling on a rhythm section composed of bassist Ron Carter, pianist Herbie Hancock and drummer Tony Williams. With the stalwart Memphis tenor man George Coleman, they expanded on the trumpeter's traditional repertoire.
But creative tensions within the band kept things in a state of flux. The influence of drummer Tony Williams gave the music a pronounced edge and a new rhythmic focus. The drummer was not partial to Coleman's more conservative bebop stylings, and when Coleman finally left the group, Williams talked Miles into hiring his old Boston employer Sam Rivers (MILES IN TOKYO). As it turns out, Coltrane himself had recommended Wayne Shorter as his replacement four years earlier. Shorter finally left Art Blakey's Jazz Messnegers in 1964, and the dynamic of Miles' band changed profoundly when he came aboard.
This deluxe CD set reprises material originally released on LIVE AT... and COOKIN' AT THE PLUGGED NICKEL, restoring all the edits and missing solos. More significantly, THE COMPLETE LIVE AT THE PLUGGED NICKEL contains every note of music played on December 22-23, 1965--seven complete sets over two evenings. Stunning, revelatory music that in some ways exceeds the radical vigor of contemporaneous studio material on E.S.P. and MILES SMILES. The band's collective approach to rhythm and harmony transforms these songs into free-form expositions. Listening to this band blossom, you can hear why the great director waited on Shorter to become his new tenor star--and how they would influence each other.
There are so many extraordinary moments, it seems almost arbitrary to single out highlights. There's the giddy freedom of Shorter's line on "The Theme" from the very first set (and the way the rhythm section continually reshuffles the deck); the "aw-shucks" aplomb with which the band navigates the white water rapids of "Oleo" during the last set; and the classic elegance with which Miles begins the second set, second night--only to dissolve into the futuristic strains of "Agitation." Needless to say, the quintet's joy of discovery is surpassed only by the glint of jubilation and insight listeners will observe in each other as these historical performances become old friends.
Industry Reviews
...Raw, real, and penetrating, it makes you feel like you're in the club with Davis. - Rating: A
Entertainment Weekly (07/21/1995)
4 Stars - Excellent - ...Davis is clearly the leader, his playing at its most self-expressive--yet even he struggles to keep up with the rhythmic genius of Tony Williams, or to tune in to Wayne Shorter's poised tenor lines. It's music on the cusp seldom easy to listen to, but engrossingly thrilling, tense and unsettling.
Q (06/01/1995)
...this quintet's chemistry was nothing less than magic. The revelation of the complete Plugged Nickel sessions is just how potent it was set after set....As a player, Miles was one of the giants, as this set confirms; but, his true genius was as a bandleader...
JazzTimes (10/01/1995)
...the whole enchilada...a trove unlike any other....an unexampled view of an artist in transition....He takes increasing risks as the evenings progress....[Wayne Shorter often] enters with one eye open, as if waking, but eight bars later the spinach has hit and Bluto better watch his ass...
Village Voice (10/03/1995)
...Davis remains unique...because, in his music, context always plays the crucial role. The players here didn't merely create awe-inspiring solos, but atmospheres in which serious improvisation could flourish...
Musician (07/01/1995)
5 Stars - Excellent - Scrimp and save where necessary--you're going to want this....Breathtaking, bountiful and a bit overwhelming....The leader is in prime form....Shorter is amazing throughout--urgent, fluent and unpredictable....COMPLETE PLUGGED NICKEL is still fresh and vital...
Down Beat (09/01/1995)
...As [Miles Davis' producer] Teo Macero sees it, `It was a very aggressive band, they had a lot of power. They were very young, and Miles liked to record live.'....The club is long gone. But the music--a delicious, reconstructed mix of standards and band staples--lives on...
Down Beat (03/01/1995)
Runner Up in the JazzTimes Readers Poll for `Best Reissue of 1995.'
JazzTimes (03/01/1996)
4 Stars - Excellent - ...Davis is clearly the leader, his playing at its most self-expressive--yet even he struggles to keep up with the rhythmic genius of Tony Williams, or to tune in to Wayne Shorter's poised tenor lines. It's music on the cusp seldom easy to listen to, but engrossingly thrilling, tense and unsettling.
Q (06/01/1995)
...this quintet's chemistry was nothing less than magic. The revelation of the complete Plugged Nickel sessions is just how potent it was set after set....As a player, Miles was one of the giants, as this set confirms; but, his true genius was as a bandleader...
JazzTimes (10/01/1995)
...Davis remains unique...because, in his music, context always plays the crucial role. The players here didn't merely create awe-inspiring solos, but atmospheres in which serious improvisation could flourish...
Musician (07/01/1995)
...As [Miles Davis' producer] Teo Macero sees it, `It was a very aggressive band, they had a lot of power. They were very young, and Miles liked to record live.'....The club is long gone. But the music--a delicious, reconstructed mix of standards and band staples--lives on...
Down Beat (03/01/1995)
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