DAVIS MILES PORGY AND BESS

DAVIS MILES PORGY AND BESS

Average Customer Review: ( 64 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.

This may be the best collaboration of Davis and Gil Evans. When you add the gifts that they have shown on their other work to a combination with the Brothers Gershwin, you understandibly come up with something splendid, notwithstanding the fact that Gershwin and Davis could not have been different sociologically as they could have been.

The melodies here are comfortably familiar to anyone with more than a passing knowledge of American music, because they have been done so often by such a diverse group of performers. However, the minimalist playing of Miles Davis, combined with the musical tapestry created by Evans makes this wonderful music new again.

Hearing the trumpet of Miles Davis in the familiar strains of "Summertime" would make both Louis Armstrong and even Gabriel put down their horns and say "wow".

No music collection can be considered complete without this epic.

31 of 34 found the following review helpful:

Chilling.Mar 06, 2001
By Tom
I write this review as a confessed jazz amateur.

That said, this is some of the most beautiful music I am aware of .

Miles Davis employs a sensativity and subtlty that defy desription.

I would not be the first of his fans to be awed by his almost pervasive minimalism, but I am constantly chilled (in a most positive way) by the startling sound that appears from the black silence he paints.

Samuel Beckett once wrote that "...every word is a stain on silence and nothingness..." certainly Davis has taken this thought to heart.

Like a negative contour sketch that highlights the empty space, Davis dances around the silence, telling only enough of a musical story to leave you begging for more.

Whether or not "Porgy and Bess," sounds as Gershwin intended is largely irrelavent, because it sounds very much as Davis intended, and that makes this a fabulous recording.

18 of 20 found the following review helpful:

Dark variations on a theme by Gershwin.Aug 29, 2001
By darragh o'donoghue
For centuries, it was common for classical composers to display their virtuosity by creating variations on famous operas, such as Beethoven on 'The Magic Flute', or Liszt on Bellini. This lost art in the 20th century has been taken over by jazz musicians, the opera of choice being, naturally enough, Gershwin's 'Porgy and Bess', that innovative explosion of classical and jazz.
Miles Davis' and Gil Evans' restructuring the narrative or song order of 'Porgy and Bess' is the most obvious hint of the total reworking and reimagining they effect here. Indeed, this recording is closer to Ravel than Gershwin - as in a piece like 'La Valse', popular material retains its points of reference, but is put through a deconstructing blender, dismantled, fractured, restructured. Like Ravel, Evans' orchestration is not lush, soft or soothing, but brittle, jerky and piercing, with Miles' understated, melancholy playing centring the work's heart. Songs from the opera which are upbeat, poppy, such as 'It Ain't Necessarily So', become expansive, ruminative; while tragic, deeply sorrowful songs, like the lament 'Gone', become in Evans' hands a propulsive, rhythmic monster. This is 'Porgy and Bess' shot in film noir, full of menace, anxiety, dark colour - the 'Buzzard song' is an appropriately unseeting, dread-ful opening. The opera's best moment, is appropriately this album's too: the love duet, 'Bess You is my woman now', expanding on the desperation and hints of desolation behind the warmth of the original.

7 of 7 found the following review helpful:

Forty Acres and a MuleFeb 16, 2002
By douglas barton "emotions in motion"
" The greatest music of the past, " wrote George Gershwin, "...has always been built on folk music. Jazz I regard as an American folk music, not the only one but a very beautiful one which is the blood and feeling of the American people. " That being said, Miles Davis/Gil Evans second collaboration " Porgy and Bess " is without a doubt, for me, their strongest, most passionate effort ever released by this incredible duo. A 'musical marriage' that would eventually produce four albums....each and everyone a classic in it's own way. But with " Porgy...." being my absolute favorite ( which must be rather like attempting to decide which one of your children you care for most! ) I thought a review might be one way of showing my respect.... and my admiration for each of these 'giants' in the field of jazz.

Gil Evans had always considered Miles to be his musical 'alter-ego' ( and best friend ) but with the eventual teaming of these two very contrasting personalities ( Miles ever volitale and Gil always soft spoken ) brought rewards due to their unique understanding of what the other was searching for in the studio. Beginning the disc with " Buzzard Song " which has the entire 18 piece ensemble blaring the intro Miles takes the melody and propels the bluesy track into a sort of mid-tempo shuffle that sets the playful yet down to earth tone of this amazing disc. And while there are many highlights to be found, " Summertime " I suspect would be the stand-out track for it's raw simplicity yet it's supple yearning that Mile's gives the song. I know the word 'definitive' is vastly over-used but in this case.... Other stand-outs, at least for me, must include " Bess, You Is My Woman Now " a bluesy number that while incredibly poignant, feels also strangly yearning as well. The other selection that is a must hear would be " Gone " a true piece of be ensemble style jazz at it's very best and adds a wonderful contrast to a disc that is beautiful in it's starkness yet eloquent understanding of this classic. My personal favorite would have to be " Prayer " which shows Miles at his personal best, reveling in the songs almost death march tempo yet allowing a mourful, heartwrenching beauty to escape from his trumpet. Ultimately the entire ensemble brings everything home with a crescendo that is boisterous yet never out of control. A hearbreaking jazz piece that is second only to John Coltrane's " Alabama. "

Perhaps what makes this disc so remarkable is simply due to contrasts. While Mile's musicianship has never sounded more soulfull ( Porgy and Bess, I feel, is taylor-made for his style of playing ) it might be considered Gil Evans who is the real cornerstone of this project. Gil is able to shape and add color to each song by simply knowing when to 'add or subtract' instruments when searching for how each track should feel and what each song is trying to state. For me this is Gil Evans at his creative best, in clear control yet extremely subtle in how he fashions every track to absolute perfection. And, not discounting Ella's and Louis Armstrongs rendition of this classic, this is an essential part of my jazz collection. Subtle, eloquent, with a quiet self-respect yet ultimately 'American'.... maybe that's the glory of " Porgy and Bess. "

9 of 10 found the following review helpful:

A must have for any jazz fanOct 16, 2000
By Anthony D. Riker
I admit, I do not hold George Gershwin in high regard, but this album is a provocative and innovative example of a musical collaboration between Miles Davis and Gil Evans that provided a sound so different it shook the jazz world. After hearing legendary Miles on his trumpet in the song "Fishermen, Strawberry and Devil Crab", I had to turn off my stereo because I could not fathom hearing anything else more beautiful and rich sounding after that.

I've been listening to jazz for quite some time but eveytime I think I've heard every composition or piece by Miles, I get surprised again. This CD was no exception.

See all 64 customer reviews on Amazon.com