Miles Davis - Big Fun (1974/2022) [Official Digital Download 24/192]

Released in April 1974, Big Fun filled in a few of the gaps with tracks recorded between 1969 and 1972. Standout performances from November 1969, recorded on the heels of the Bitches Brew sessions, reveal how early Miles began to incorporate Indian instruments—sitar, tabla—into his music: “Great Expectations/Orange Lady,” “The Little Blue Frog” (Miles’s muted trumpet adding a delicate, retro touch), and the soulful and deeply lyrical “Yaphet” were wonderful rescues.

Recorded just a few months later at the start of 1970, “Recollections” and “Lonely Fire” are down-tempo, extended studies in shadowy feel and texture, atmospheric electric keyboards and restrained solos. “Go Ahead John” is a lengthy, hard-driving jam from the Jack Johnson sessions; John McLaughlin’s brash guitar up front and center. “Ife,” from the summer of 1972 and named for the daughter of percussionist Mtume, is an Afro-futurist mini-suite, flows with a rich, suite-like narrative of rhythm and space.

Big Fun is not a studio album by the great Miles Davis, but a compilation with themes taken from various recording sessions performed by different groups. It is not, therefore, a cohesive work that functions as a whole, but a collection of pieces that have in common the trumpeter's leadership and jazz-fusion-electric, but little else.

On the other hand, given that in this reissue the Columbia Records label added up to four bonus tracks (representing half of the album), from different recording sessions and only released, until then, in The Complete Bitches Brew Sessions, the sensation of being in front of a collage is accentuated. Nevertheless, like everything Miles Davis released, it is a recommendable edition for jazz lovers, especially for those who enjoy his electric phase in which he tried to fuse jazz and rock.

In fact, the opening track Big Fun, Great expectations, a composition by Davis and Joe Zawinul, was recorded two months after the session that resulted in the masterpiece Bitches Brew (Columbia Records, 1970), so it is almost a continuation. However, the tracks included here were recorded from 1969 to 1972, and some of the pieces were not released by Teo Macero, so it is an unfinished work, which only saw the light of day due to the company's interest in taking advantage of the trumpeter's commercial pull: Bitches Brew was one of the best-selling albums in the history of jazz.

TRACKLIST

1. Miles Davis - Great Expectations (2022 Remaster)
2. Miles Davis - Ife (2022 Remaster)
3. Miles Davis - Recollections (2022 Remaster)
4. Miles Davis - Trevere (2022 Remaster)
5. Miles Davis - Go Ahead John (2022 Remaster)
6. Miles Davis - Lonely Fire (2022 Remaster)
7. Miles Davis - The Little Blue Frog (2022 Remaster)
8. Miles Davis - Yaphet (2022 Remaster)



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