5 CD 24-bit digitally remastered set includes music from the original albums 'A Tribute To Jack Johnson' (1971), 'Live Evil' (1971), 'Big Fun' (1974), 'Get Up With It' (1974) & 'Directions' (1981). Led by John Mc Laughlin, musicians include Ron Carter, Billy Cobham, Chick Corea, Jack DeJohnette, Steve Grossman, Herbie Hancock, Sonny Sharrock, Wayne Shorter and more. 42 tracks with 34 of them previously unissued. Over 4 hours of brand new Miles Davis music plus a 120-page booklet containing extensive essays, rare photos & complete discography. Deluxe metal-bound packaging with cardboard slipcase. This set has already garnered 7 grammy awards. Columbia. 2003.

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One warning, even the greatest Miles and John M. fans will find it hard to listen to 5 or more takes of tracks like "Willie Nelson" in one sitting. I strongly recommend mixing up the tracks by either burning a mixed copy of each disc or programming your CD player. Listened to in this way, you don't tire of the same groove for an hour, and you'll find that just about every track in this box set holds a wealth of treasure (disc four is a bit out there, but I'm sure a lot of listeners like this flavor of Miles as well).

If you enjoy electric Miles, especially with a streamlined guitar oriented band, this set is priceless. It would also appeal if you like instrumental King Crimson, the Grateful Dead's jams on a good night, or other progressive rock and fusion. Packaging and remix sound quality are outstanding.

42 of 45 found the following review helpful:

Now we really know Jack...Oct 07, 2003
By J. Lund "jazzbrat"
Miles Davis' most prolific period of activity in the recording studio (1967-1970) ended with the sessions issued here. It was rumored that by the 1st half of 1970 Davis was recording far in excess of what could possibly be released, and with this nearly-comprehensive boxed set series one can see the truth to the rumors. In this case, 34 pf 42 tracks are unissued. If ever progressive strains of jazz, rock, blues, and funk found common ground--without selling any of the above short--I'd argue it was in the sessions that comprise the bulk of this box. Most of what's here rocks steady, gets on the good foot, and does so with jazz intuition and blues feeling.

What I find most impressive: (1) Miles' trumpet playing is incredibly strong, full of power across the entire range of his horn. Invariably he builds solos that find a perfect balance between basic and abstract improvisational lines (he plays mostly with open horn, with occasional muted passages). (2) Guitarist John McLaughlin also turns in hall-of-fame performances...like Miles he expertly mixes silence with imaginative solo lines, and he has an ability to crank up his axe so that sonically he captures the power one associates with the likes of Hendrix, Clapton, Page, etc., without remotely falling into imitation. And on Sonny Sharrock's few appearances...well, I hear the wheel being reinvented. (3) the "tunes" are melody-free, drums-n-bass defined mini-structures that are designed to propel the soloists to think out of the box. More often than not you can overtly hear Davis' influences (Sly Stone, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, etc.), yet Miles and his bandmates consistently put their stamp of individuality on those inspirations.

(4) The reedmen are also impressive, with Steve Grossman sounding better here than on the live dates (where imo he often seemed to be spinning his wheels, overusing the same improvisational phrases). And when it isn't Grossman playing, it's some even-better reedman like Wayne Shorter or Benny Maupin. (5) Several tracks from these sessions were originally issued with post-production ping-ponging of instruments from left-to-right in the stereo mix...that irritance is thankfully eliminated here. Furthermore, the remastering /remixing brings out the power of the music as never before, with the guitar(s) in particular now sounding up front as you would expect in rock-influenced music. (6) Quite a bit of the music here sounds awfully close to drums'n'bass, electronica, acid jazz, and other genres that solidified many years after these recordings were cut. Nice touch to add great jazz-like interplay and solos. (7) The funky/rocky/jazzy rhythm section, courtesy of Dave Holland, Michael Henderson, Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette and others.

Although I don't take the Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Fame picks all that seriously, I might if Davis got in it--and based on what's heard here he should be a shoo-in.

15 of 15 found the following review helpful:

"A mother of a motherlode..."Jun 04, 2008
By Thomas Plotkin
...quoth critic Robert Christgau, and I cannot put it any better. I'll leave the next word to Miles himself, who can be heard at the end of a take of "Go Ahead John" rasping to guitarist John McLaughlin, "That's some raunchy s*&%t, John." And raunchy is the operative word, because these sessions, recorded in the spring of 1970, scant months after Miles had scandalized the jazz world by plugging in on Bitches' Brew, are where The Prince of Darkness discovered The Heavy Funk. Paring back his ensemble to Fender bass, drums, and McLaughlin's searing electric guitar, with occasional keyboard flourishes and reed solos, Miles sought to cut his few remaining ties to jazz ("a white man's word," as he was fond of saying) by emulating the sound of Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsies. These jams, amelodic, rhythmic as the JB's, with Miles' open horn soloing at length (pretty much for the last time in the decade) while McLaughlin, cranked up to 11, spars with him, evoking a heavyweight bout, is the first step in the direction of the nuclear meltdown that are Miles' pre-retirement discs, Agharta and Pangaea. Unlike his work from On The Corner onward, this disc is lean and mean, with plenty of trumpet. Brighter, more optimistic, less thick with percussion and cross-rhythms,bluesier. Significantly, Jack Johnson is where MD's steadiest collaborator till '75 , teenaged Motown bassist Michael Henderson, makes his first appearance, playing those broad circular lines that anchored the wildness, and definitively took Miles out of the jazz mainstream, and into a genre that still has no name -- it certainly doesn't sound like what was marketed as "fusion" and largely played by former Miles sidemen in that era.

Most of the stuff here is never-before released out-takes from the eponymous album; some are weak, but it is amazing how much over five discs is quality. Miles was both spooked and inspired by Hendrix and Sly Stone and here is where the influences first raises their acid-addled heads. It is also interesting to hear how producer Teo Macero cut and pasted these jams into the coherent statement that was the original "Jack Johnson" LP (included in the set). Biting, incisive, full of guitar and trumpet call-and-response, and so funky you'll hurt yourself listening to it...these are Miles' Basement Tapes, a laboratory for the dark, guitar-driven free-form funk he kept hidden from the world while he was touring rock ballrooms playing jazzier music with his Bitches' Brew crew. And like multi-disc bootlegs of The Basement Tapes, this box actually coheres and fills a huge hole in the Davis discography. Get this while it's still available at a bargain price, I do not trust Sony to keep this set in the catalog...

35 of 41 found the following review helpful:

Essential music in a questionable presentation.Feb 10, 2006
By Michael Stack
In the spring of 1970, Miles Davis entered the studio a number of times, recording primarily with guitarist John McLaughlin with him. The apex of these sessions was the stunning "A Tribute to Jack Johnson", soundtrack for an underground movie about the pioneering boxing figure and a clear statement from Davis concerning his music-- the album was firmly entrenched as a jazz/rock fusion record, soaked it overdriven guitars, funky backbeats, and downright powerful playing. Typically, it was ignored at the time of its release. But the years have been kind to 'Jack Johnson', these days its regarded as one of the peaks of its genre.

And why not? Davis was playing as well as he ever did in his career-- exploring fluidity and his horn's upper register in a way he never had, and his band was pretty much all collectively destined for stardom-- McLaughlin, Herbie Hancock and Billy Cobham have all gone on to be legends. To this, add the work of producer Teo Macero-- splicing together the two tracks that made up the album from several different sessions into two seemless suites-- the first revolving around a jam session the rhythm section had while waiting for Davis (before the trumpet player entered for what may well be his most ferocious solo on record), the second around a couple vamps and themes. The net result is something that mixes spontenaeity and composition; looseness and high production, and somehow, it all works, perfectly.

And so all of this sort of leads us into this boxed set-- 17 titles recorded over a bit less than four months in the first half of 1970 filling 5 CDs. Take after take, a couple jams, some fumbling, some missed notes, all the stuff Davis and Macero didn't really want you to hear, along with a bunch more sidemen who would go on to be legendary in the future-- Sonny Sharrock, Keith Jarrett, Dave Holland, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter and a bunch more.

I would be remiss in telling you this material isn't exciting and powerful-- it really is, it's amazing in fact, and moreso than any of the other boxed sets, it really is a peek inside the working process and unedited majesty of Davis, but it's a bit much, and it's pretty obvious why some of these takes were never released. I'd also point out that Macero has publicly denounced this reissue series as exposing things that were never meant to be heard. And really it's a dilemma for me. This is great stuff, I'm glad to have it, but it somehow feels dishonest to me, like the kind of thing that I should be trying to trade for or pick up on sketchy European and Japanese record labels, not from Columbia.

But it is really fantastic music, and while occasionally some of the takes drag a bit, all in all it's quite a set.

Still, make your own decision-- is six takes of "Willie Nelson", which ended up spliced in the middle of 'Jack Johnson', too much? Maybe, the quality is sketchy but wow, Sonny Sharrock shines like you never knew he did. Is it really critical to have a dozen takes of material that made up the studio portions of "Live-Evil" with vocalist/songwriter Hermeto Pascoal? Not for me, but then again, I'm ecstatic to have 45 minutes of "Go Ahead John". The material on here wasn't just for 'Jack Johnson', it ended up on "Live-Evil", "Big Fun" and "Get Up With It". And as we've come to expect in this series, it comes with a rather extensive set of detailed liner notes, and quite frankly and the sound is untouchably fantastic. I'll call it four stars-- five star music in questionable presentation. More than the other boxed sets, this one convinced me maybe Macero was right.

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