Miles Davis: Seven Steps (2)

Seven Steps:
Putting Together the Ultimate Rhythm Section

Miles came across his second great quintet by a process of trial and error during 1963-64. Following the recording of Sketches of Spain, his last highly successful work with Gil Evans, he had been treading water, leading groups with a variety of excellent musicians but lacking musical direction. Following the demise of his previous rhythm section consisting of Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, and Jimmy Cobb, Davis hired alto saxophonist Frank Strozier, who recommended pianist Harold Mabern and tenor sax player George Coleman. Mabern and Strozier stayed only briefly, helping Davis satisfy contractual obligations by filling in at a number of live gigs. Coleman stayed on and Davis soon added bassist Ron Carter, pianist Victor Feldman, and drummer Frank Butler. That’s the group that leads off this box set, with Disc 1 providing the group’s sessions for the Seven Steps to Heaven LP in their entirety. When the album was released it contained tracks from this session as well as some from sessions done in New York a month later, with Feldman and Butler replaced by Herbie Hancock and Tony Williams. The first half of Disc 2 presents the entire New York sessions done for the Seven Steps album as well, so now listeners can, for the first time, hear everything laid down by both combos.

The L.A. group is more laid back, with the overall sound often evoking the dreamy feel of Kind of Blue. For example, listen to their takes on Feldman’s composition “Joshua.” The opening track of Disc 1 is the unreleased version from the L.A. sessions, and it presents a group that provides an atmospheric backdrop for Davis’ lyrical playing. The New York version, released on the Seven Steps album is much more aggressive, though still pretty. Williams and Hancock, in particular, distinguish themselves as able to not only support Davis, but to push him towards edgier, more insistent playing. In this context, Coleman, while perfectly able, sounds less interesting overall than on the L.A. sessions. It’s not that he can’t keep up with the rhythm section, but he cannot up the ante. Much the same could be said of the two versions of “Seven Steps to Heaven” included on Disc 1. The tempo is slower, and the drumming, especially, is much more laid back, done with brushes. These takes present the work of a completely competent band, but not one that was up to the standards of innovation that Davis had set with recordings like Kind of Blue and Sketches of Spain. That’s demonstrated pretty clearly by Davis’ version of “Basin Street Blues” which, though it was included on the final album, is definitely a sign that the trumpeter was short on new ideas at the time. The fact that he chose not to attempt the same number with the revitalized rhythm section he put together upon his return to New York shows that he knew he was heading in a new direction that was much more progressive than the place he found himself in early in 1963.

Davis was pleased with Victor Feldman as a pianist, and even offered him a permanent spot in the group, but Feldman didn’t want to leave his lucrative studio work on the west coast. So, on returning to New York, the trumpeter quickly found a new pianist and a drummer who seemed to fit his idea of what he wanted to do with his new group, and so Herbie Hancock and Tony Williams were added to the rhythm section.

Hancock had come to New York to play with Donald Byrd and had already released two albums as a leader on the Blue Note label. "I think he felt I could be molded into something better than what I was" says Hancock. Interestingly, Hancock has already recorded a hit jazz and R&B recording on his first recording for Blue Note, Takin' Off, the funky, hard-bop influenced "Watermelon Man." Hancock's group on that recording includes drummer Billy Higgins, who played with Ornette Coleman's famous quartet, bassist Butch Warren, and Freddie Hubbard and Dexter Gordon on horns. Williams shows up on Hancock's next recording, My Point of View, done in March of 1963. In June of 1964 Hancock records Empyrean Isles, a recording that features the Davis rhythm section along with trumpet player Freddie Hubbard. Included on this recording is "Cantaloupe Island", another funky jazz groove that seems to presage some of Davis' later efforts with the quintet. Yet Miles never really made use of the more obviously funky nature of Hancock’s composing and playing, supporting the idea that he was searching for something more complex.

Drummer Tony Williams was discovered by saxophonist Jackie McLean, who persuaded the 17 year-old's family to let him go to New York. In return McLean promised that Tony would have steady employment and that he could live with McLean's family. He let Davis know about his discovery and soon Miles was showing up to hear the drum prodigy play live. He hired Williams immediately, completing the rhythm section of the second great quintet, as it has come to be known. His band is now a young one, with Ron Carter the oldest member at 27, and the level of musicianship is high. Davis is feeling inspired and beginning to play with renewed interest. The two versions of “Seven Steps to Heaven” heard on Disc 2 tell the story. The first is a rehearsal version on which Davis and the group get their bearings on the number and the trumpeter ascertains just what he wants from the band on this number. It’s a solid performance overall, but on the next take (the album’s master take), Davis sets a quicker tempo and the sound of the second great quintet can be heard to emerge very clearly. Davis’ solo is fiery, inspired, and clearly not the work of a man in an artistic slump.