Page 9 Friday, September 18, 1981 The Michigan.Daily I. Uf r BIG BIKE SALE ALL RALEIGHS ~~~3-SP.-5-SP. & 1O-SP. n stock I Miles Davis The trumpet master is back an By JERRY BRABENEC The trumpet's sound is utterly unique-its open, simple, crying lines summon the most profound human emotions. Muted, it dips and punches like a prizefighter. The electronic vibrations are futuristic yet feral, slashing across a turbulent background of drums and guitars. Always, a mystery seems to lurk in the sound, shaping the spare phrases and looming in the ominous pauses. THIS IS THE trumpet of Miles Davis, producing perhaps the most individual and striking sounds in jazz. One of the great jazz innovators, Davis' extended withdrawal from the public eye and re-emergence last spring haveinspired great speculation. But he's back, and Ann Arbor gets a look at the Davis of the '80s tomorrow night at Hill Auditorium, in one of his few ap- pearances away from the east coast. Davis was born May 5, 1926 just outside of St. Louis. His father was a dentist and landowner, and the, Davis family was a distinguished one, with musical roots extending back to slavery days. Excelling on the trumpet in high school, Davis ran up against the barriers of prejudice in the field of classical music. But he, could and did play with the fathers of bebop, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, in a big band led by Billy Eckstine on its visits to St. Louis. Davis attended the Juilliard music school in New York, studying piano by day and following Charlie Parker through New York's jazz haunts at night. He had already had two or three recording sessions under his belt when, at 19, he joined Parker's quintet for its first session, in November, 1945. Parker was effepting a revolution in jazz on these recordings, some of the first recorded documentation of the radical tempos, extended har- mony, and nervous rhythms that became known as bebop. Scorned by traditionalists as "Chinese music," bebop was the music of a new generation of jazzers, intent on pushing the music beyond the structures of swing. Confronting the derision of short-sighted critics and musicians head on, beboppers took a distant, condescending at- tiude toward their audiences and alienated traditional musicians by playing old standards-and their own intricate com- positions-at insane tempos. DAVIS TOOK the. bebopper's remote self-assurance and tran- sformed it into his own style of "cool." In 1949, already ap- pearing in all-star bands, Davis, led his first recording session, a set of intricate arrangements for an unusual nine-piece ensemble including French horn and tuba. The band bombed in the New York clubs, but its modern har- monies, concise solos, and cool mood met with great critical ac- claim, and this project was very influential in swinging jazz away from open ended, "hot" bebop tunes back toward a style of more sophistication and economy. Soon Davis was working with tenorman Sonny Rollins, recor- din "Walkin'" and other tunes whose moderate tempos and simple changes cleared the decks for soloists to concentrate on assimilating the technical and harmonic resources of bebop into the jazz vocabulary. By 1956, Davis was working with a standard quintet including a relatively unknown tenor player named John Coltrane. With the addition of altoist Can- nonball Adderly, Davis had an exemplary sextet with which to develop and mature his style. His playing, rather tentative and nervous in his early recordings- with Parker, had gained assuran- ce and power, and his skill as a composer and leader was uncan- ny. IN THIS PERIOD, tunes like "My Funny Valentine," and "Bye, Bye, Blackbird" had become Davis signatures, and although the group produced many classic albums, Davis had lost the cutting edge of in- novation. John Coltrane left the group to blaze his own trail through the '60s. Davis' next really influential group was a mid-'60s band that included some of the most respected names in contem- porary jazz-Herbie Hancock on piano, Ron Carter on bass, the prodigious Tony Williams on drums, and Wayne Shorter on tenor sax. The subtle meshing of these talents pushed beyond the limits of conventional harmony and rhythm, creating music that was spacey and ethereal, abstract and dramatic. In 1969, using many of the same personnel (with the notable addition of John McLaughlin on electric guitar), Davis recorded one of the landmarks of jazz, "In A Silent Way," an album whose calm mood and extended open solos achieve a transcendent serenity and inspiration. ADDING A ROCK beat and more electronics, the album "Bitches Brew," a gold record and Grammy winner, pointed the way for the so-called fusion jazz of the '70s. Soon Chick Corea was leading Return to Forever, John McLaughlin was leading the Mahavishnu Orchestra, and Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter for- med Weather Report, all achieving great popularity in the idiom Davis had pioneered. Meanwhile, on such albums as "Live-Evil" and "On the Cor- ner," Davis was taking his open rock beats farther and farther in- to fantastic improvisations and African rhythms. He became sort d cooking of a cult figure, earning the nickname "Dark Magus," which derived from the title of one of his albums of the period. The music rolled in thick elec- tronic textures and often cooked with the excitement of funk and rock. During performances, Davis presided on organ or elec- tric trumpet, glowering at his band or simply leaving the stage for an hour at a time. IN 1976, DAVIS, a long-time sports car afficionado, was in a serious car wreck. As his absence from the jazz scene con- tinued-ultimately lasting five years-many theories about his withdrawal arose, but no one really knows why he stayed out of action so long. Some speculated illness; perhaps a self-appraisal took place. His absence was not without precedent,, however; Sonny Rollins has taken several sabbaticals in the course of his career. Maybe Davis remembered his days of breaking in, clashing with the jazz establishment he now represents. Whatever the reason, he's back. His new band resem- bles his groups of the mid-'60s and includes electric guitar, per- cussion, drums, electric bass, and soprano sax. The music is simpler; Davis. has returned to a straight trum- pet sound, without electric alteration. And it cooks-the new album, "The Man With the Horn," is rather inconsistent but includes really successful rock, funk, and straight-ahead jazz cuts. Davis is apparently settling in, like he did in the late '50s, con- solidating his position. His traditional crowds-dressy, lively, and very hip, are back too, ready for a real event tomorrow night. I till) 7W4L4Ti:«"ice:i ': ;lrTa O& 211 M:[*I':A IkW I vrr&K M %.VlwlrlClG rV6ww JGRV IIw& VGT Mra rrwiG rel. rrv ww rJ THE TIME FOR SUMMER TUNE-UPS. I RUBIK'S CUBES, SNURF'S, STUFFED ANIMALS !a _ _IM-t I . VV C 44R I %Wf~riG lG IIN. V 0%. '.LGM4 {.-l VR1- I 'The Friendly Family Store" CAMpUS Bike & oy 314 E. William St. 61140 Moo. &Et. 3hiN Twos. & Thur.9M4 Sot. *5Wb3 7-77177- -- - .... :. , ,r. \lich igan 'Ensemnble't'heatre % - c~tirandotfna by Carlo Goldoni. Sept. 24-27 ~ Oct. 1-4 8:00 P.M. REFORM JEWS & EX-NFYites Reform Shabbat Services Tonight 7:30 p.m. at HILLEL-1429 Hill St. Daily Classifieds Bring Results Dan Fogeiberg Sunday Mat. 2:00 p.m. Joe Vitale Mike Hanna Kenny Passarelli Mark Hallman Ross Kunkel Barry Burton Lydia Mendelssohn TTheatre Tickets at PTP-Mich. League 764-0450 1 T *0 U R 19 8 I r .._.