Miles Davis – The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: That’s What Happened 1982-1985 (3-CD)
Review
Each of the previous six volumes in Miles Davis' bootleg series concentrated on the formative periods of the 1950s-'70s, focusing on the trumpeter's concerts at the Fillmores in 1970, the Newport Jazz Festival throughout the years, Davis' final collaborations with John Coltrane, etc. For this latest set, encompassing three discs, the action shifts to the early '80s, when Davis was working on music that would be released on the albums Star People, Decoy and You're Under Arrest. Few fans would cite those years as their favorite, but that doesn't mean that Davis was stagnating. As always, he was looking for something new, and in order to get there, he surrounded himself with top-notch players like guitarists Mike Stern and John Scofield, bassists Marcus Miller and Darryl Jones, drummer Al Foster and others. The first two discs consist of previously unreleased studio sessions, and from the first track, a 13-minute jam cut in 1983 and titled "Santana"—the inspiration becomes apparent when you listen—there's no denying that Miles is still very much a potent creative force, capable of pushing his musicians to great heights. Disc two finds the musicians testing the waters with interpretations of such then-hits as Tina Turner's "What's Love Got to Do With It," Michael Jackson's "Human Nature" and Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" to mixed results. But the most artistically valuable of the three discs is undeniably the last, recorded live at the Montreal Jazz Festival in July 1983. On one tour de force performance after the next— "Star People," a wildly percussive "Hopscotch," a spacey and super-funky "Star on Cicely"—Davis and company prove more than viable, still pointing the way for others to follow.
— Jeff Tamarkin, Relix
Product Details
Miles Davis returned from a six-year self-imposed exile in 1981 with a restless hunger to engage with contemporary sounds, collaborating with the likes of Marcus Miller and working with producer Tommy LiPuma during this period. The sessions and performances captured here document a Miles who was listening hard to Prince, Cyndi Lauper, and Scritti Politti, absorbing everything around him rather than retreating into past glories. For listeners who came up on *Kind of Blue* or the electric fire of *Bitches Brew*, this era rewards patience and an open ear.
That’s What Happened 1982-1985: Bootleg Volume 7 is the next installment in the celebrated, award-winning archival series that began in 2011, shining an in-depth light onto different eras of the legendary career of Miles Davis. In the 1980s, popular music had moved to a smoother, electronic-based sound that traded the steam of previous years for subdued arrangements meant to elicit peace and deep reflection. Miles Davis embraced this era, pulling inspiration from FM radio and an upstart music video channel called MTV. He was searching for the next frontier, letting his creativity roam. This music on The Bootleg Series Vol. 7 captures that exploration, and finds Miles beginning to re-emerge in a creative landscape far different than the one he left in 1975. He’s touched every inch of pop culture while keeping true to his iconoclastic vision of jazz as amorphous art that’s supposed to bend and flow and mutate to something else. On That’s What Happened, we get to play in the rubble of what would become yet another period of unprecedented innovation. Beauty resides in evolution. The set collects nearly 4 hours of unreleased music including 2 CDs of studio material from 1982 to 1985 plus another CD containing a complete, blistering show of one of Miles’ last amazing bands captured live at the Festival International De Jazz De Montreal in July 1983. Side men include a multi-generational who’s who of jazz talent from JJ Johnson, John McLaughlin, Al Foster and John Scofield to Mike Stern, Marcus Miller, Daryl Jones and Vince Wilburn.
Tracklist
Disc 1
Disc 2
Disc 3
UPC: 194398638522
Label: Sony Legacy
Release Date: 9.16.22
Format: CD