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Miles Davis - Seven Steps to Heaven Audio CD

A fair review of the Miles Davis "Seven Steps to Heaven" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Miles Davis reviews here, or go back to the Miles Davis tabs.

Miles Davis Band: Miles Davis
Title: Seven Steps to Heaven
Rating:
Release Date: 2005-03-15
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: Basin Street Blues 2: Seven Steps to Heaven 3: I Fall in Love Too Easily 4: So Near, So Far 5: Baby Won't You Please Come Home 6: Joshua 7: So Near, So Far [*] 8: Summer Night [*]

Heading in the right direction...
Over the years, I have always preferred Miles' era with Gil Evans (Miles Ahead, Porgy & Bess, Sketches of Spain), but this album, in 1963, brings a more crisp & refined sound. This album is a great collection of songs from two different collctions of good musicians. The opening cut ('Basin Street Blues') is absolutely marvelous, and Victor Feldman shines on a soft, emotional piano solo about midway through the song. All the songs (including the bonus cut: 'Summer Nights') are thoroughly enjoyable with peaceful melodies. This album is a winner, and should be considered as one Miles Davis' best. . . very close to being 'heavenly'.


The road to future greatness
Despite being at an age when most musicians would rather sit on their laurels and play on some giants of jazz tour, he decided to assemble a new working band. In 1963, the Kelly/Chambers/Cobb rhythm section packed up and left, leaving Miles Davis without a band. This CD shows that assembly in progress. The three ballads were recorded in LA with George Coleman (tenor sax), Victor Feldman (piano), Ron Carter (bass), and Frank Butler (drums). "Basin Street Blues" is very different from Louis Armstrong's version -- Davis's trumpet playing is much sadder, merging abstraction and the blues. The ballads are lovely, but the real treasures in the set are the three tunes recorded one month later with Carter, Coleman, and two younger musicians: pianist Herbie Hancock and drumming prodigy Tony Williams. Williams, only 17 years old here, generates an incredible level of excitement on "Joshua" and the title track. These may be the most exciting up-tempo tracks Davis had recorded since "Two Bass Hit" and "Straight, No Chaser".

While most of the excitement surrounds the brilliant young rhythm section, George Coleman's playing here is outstanding. While I am a huge Wayne Shorter fan, dismissing Coleman would be a huge oversight. The quintet with Coleman, Hancock, Carter and Williams would soon evolve into one of the trumpeter's greatest groups, and this is where they got started.

The two bonus tracks are a mixed bag. "Summer Night" is a beautiful ballad performance, but the alternate "So Near So Far" is from the LA session with Feldman and doesn't even come close to the one recorded with Hancock/Carter/Williams.


often neglected top-notch Miles
I consider it an excelent album, and listen to it quite frequently. This album is often given short shrift, which is a real pitty.

This was released in 1963 and is a transitional album. It was recorded by two separate bands in separate sessions. The song order alternates between the two. The first is a pick-up band that Miles put together after his previous band with Coltrane broke up, in order to fulfill some live commitments. This band includes Victor Feldman on piano, and the session consists of slower, bluesy standards. These tracks are very soulful and really show Miles for the master balladeer that he is.

The other half is recorded by the beginings of what would become Miles' great mid-60's quintet, only with George Coleman playing sax, rather than Wayne Shorter, and featuring a very young Tony Williams. This session features more uptempo numbers. While this is still a way from "Miles Smiles" or "Nefertiti", in the exploration of musical boundaries that this group would become famous for, there are some of the features taking shape. The title track is performed by this band, and is probably the best-known track. My personal favorite is "So Near, So Far", which features Miles stating the melody simply with Coleman providing an interesting "counterpoint" (I use the term loosely).

Despite the disparity in the sound of the two sessions, they actually cohere into a very enjoyable album. Give this one a listen!
.


(3.5 stars) As far as transitions go, this could've been worse
It's actually much smoother than your stereotypical transition album, interesting because Miles cleared out the whole Kind of Blue band and started from scratch, recruiting George Coleman on tenor sax, Herbie Hancock on piano (Or at least I think. This ain't no heavenly record, but it'll do. I'll have to check on that), Ron Carter on bass and Tony Williams on drums. Miles' taste in musicians was impeccable, but I don't see Benson as a worthy successor to Coltrane. Wayne Shorter, on the other hand. . . So yeah, new band, similar mindset: most of it is still cool jazz (title track) with only the fast `n' furious "Joshua" changing the tempo up. Now there are some lapses in taste (ten minutes of "Basin Street Blues"? I ask you!), and I don't see anything about "So Near, So Far" other than its pleasantness. Three songs are quite strong though; the aforesaid cool-jazz title song; the abovementioned bop thingy "Joshua", and the as-of-yet unmentioned "Baby Won't You Please Come Home", slow and emotional. That's all I have to say. Shove off now! .


A very "warm" album
Not in terms of tempos, but there's very little to prove here. In some ways, this is Miles's most relaxed album. The ballads don't despair too much, the burners wink and nod (so near so far is a very hip tune), and Basin Street/Baby Won't You Please Come Home find him investigating some old-school sources. I Fall in Love Too Easily, which was in his book for decades, sounds sensitive but very assured, and all of these recordings could have been released in 1990 or so--it is all clean, but not too clean. .


You can see a complete list of all Miles Davis discography, or go back to the Miles Davis tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.

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