Jazz post-bop: «Prince of Darkness» y «Pee Wee» [ESP/ENG]

This is the third album Miles Davis recorded with his Second Great Quintet and the cover features Cicely Tyson, who at the time was his girlfriend and whom he married in 1981. It’s a transitional album, a cerebral, calm and subtle work that rarely runs amok. Even when the pace is fast, there is little dense and obsessive energy in Davis. He becomes elusive by delving into the group’s music to explore different alternatives with an emphasis on both complex chords and a relaxed sound as well as pure improvisation. The individual adventures don’t have the prominence of previous albums and the musicians blend into each other pointing towards the sound Davis created at the end of the decade. The music is highly sophisticated with an elevated mood within a superbly disciplined chaos. In some impressive passages, Hancock steps back for Shorter and Davis to be carried along solely by Carter’s agile chording base and Williams’ subtle polyrhythms.

Fuente

Both this album and the others by this quintet had a low acceptance in their day due to the fact that jazz was divided between the followers of the old hard bop school and the absolutists of free jazz. However, they were a bridge between these two extremes and have ended up being recognized as true works of art. Shorter’s “Masqualero” is one of the best tunes Davis ever played and he kept it in his repertoire even during his electronic era, but on “Pee Wee” he doesn’t participate. Sorcerer is a good starting point for those who want to begin to get to know Davis’ Second Great Quintet, an experience that is not always easy, but rich and profound, capable of catching with its spells anyone who gives it a chance.

Fuente

This is a comprehensible and easy to hear theme that the group exposes twice with authority. Next Davis enters with a determined and intense solo linking the phrases with skill. Shorter follows him playing in a complex manner full of vitality. After that, the group plays the theme once to give way to Hancock, who starts out more calmly, but then speeds up and offers us a dynamic and balanced speech. At last, the group re-exposes the theme and repeats the last sentence several times.

Fuente

Translated with the help of DeepL

Fuente

This theme is a gentle and relaxed ballad that Shorter exposes with delicacy and lyricism while enjoying it. He then makes his solo with a smooth and exquisite melodic line introducing some quicker phrases. He is followed by Hancock, who plays lightly and deliberately choosing each note with care. To conclude, Shorter returns with his refined and warm tone to re-expose the theme and the rhythm section ends the piece of music.

Fuente

℗ Columbia Records