Track Listing

1. My Funny Valentine- Live
2. All Of You- Live
3. Stella by Starlight- Live
4. All Blues- Live
5. I Thought About You- Live

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32363 in Music
• Released on: 2005-02-01
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Live

Customer Reviews

Never again. Last best Miles, then a change of heart
This CD was part of the 2 CD set Miles Davis in Concert 1964, My Funny Valentine & Four and More. This part is broken off. The original CDs interlaced ballads and upbeat tunes as they were performed. Then the ballads were put on one CD and upbeat stuff on another, now (finally) the ballads are released by themselves. And I say "Good for Columbia!" Ordinarily, this would be a poor practice but not in this case.

This concert was months after the Kennedy assasination (JFK). The country was in shock. The Concert was a benefit for the NAACP, CORE and SNCC. The backup band found, when they got there, that they were donating their time. Surprise! They were quite wizzed and it showed, especially in the upbeat stuff, on "Four and More" which is far too up-beat and has a forceful strong angry edge.

The ballads, captured only on this CD are wonderful. Sensitive. Miles poured his soul out through the horn. He had done this before on "Round About Midnight" "Kind of Blue" "Someday My Prince Will Come" etc (see my list) but sadly, he would not do that again.

Miles had a change of mind (or a change of heart) after '64. He played and composed his own music and continued til his death in '91. But he never really exposed the depth of his feelings like this again. And he fled from playing standards with that harmon mute.

(Yeah, Late CD's "Aura" and bit of "Tutu" are good, and other bits here and there, but he never sounded like this again.)

All cuts are good. "All Blues" is far too fast, but not angry. The much maligned George Coleman, like Hank Mobley, has a fine lyric tone (less ascerbic than Coltrane).

Brooding title cut is rumoured to be dedicated to Kennedy. CD label says "incandescent beauty and romance". Yes.

Half of the Philharmonic show.
On February 12, 1964, Miles Davis took his band (then George Coleman- tenor sax, Herbie Hancock- piano, Ron Carter- bass, and Tony Williams- drums) to perform at New York's Philharmonic Hall, recording the show for release. Not one but two albums were yielded from this recording, "Four and More" and "My Funny Valentine". By this point, this group was a well honed unit, and their work together on these two albums is fantastic.

"My Funny Valentine" by and large collects together the ballads that were performed-- Davis was a remarkably lyrical trumpet player, and in his young rhythm section Davis had a group that could inspire and push him-- his playing had rarely in the past been as adventerous, with his solos finding him reaching, both in terms of ideas and his horn's register. In Coleman, Davis had an odd foil who could match his romanticism. The best performances show off how well this group worked together in framing Davis and Coleman's lyricism-- the title track finds the leader lush and inventive with Carter countering in the upper register before Coleman manages to out-Miles Miles. "All Blues" gets an excited presentation (no doubt due to Tony Williams' explosiveness), and "I Thought About You" features Davis at his most speechlike, enunciating through the horn before turning over to a soulful solo from Coleman and a lovely touch from Hancock.

All in all, this is quite a good show albeit not quite a flawless performance-- Davis seemed pretty uninterested in the theme on "All of You" and I don't really care for this reading of "Stella By Starlight" (although Hancock is fascinating behind the soloists). Noentheless, fans of Davis' lyrical playing wil want to check this out. Recommended.

Just Shimmers With Beauty. This One is Magical.
From the very first chord that 23 year-old Herbie Hancock plays the listener realizes that they've popped something very special (dare I say magical?) into the CD player. I am a huge fan of Miles's electric period but lately I've been collecting the earlier releases. I wasn't sure what to expect from this, I picked it up along with its sister release "Four and More" that was recorded during the same concert.

Surely this release was inspirational to Manfred Eicher who founded the ECM record label, known for its extraordinary sound production. "My Funny Valentine" sounds as though it could have been produced for that label, in fact, I'm very much reminded of Kenny Wheeler's 1975 release "Gnu High" (that featured x-Miles sidemen Jarrett, DeJohnette, and Holland). After listening to this I can understand why Miles's earlier fans were so upset with Bitches Brew - it hasn't changed my mind about the brilliance of Miles's electric music but this release is a testament to his ability to create great music in any genre (except maybe polka music).

I don't think I can add much more to what anyone else has said in the other reviews other than it is clear that on this disc and on "Four and More" that these musicians were playing and communicating on a level that is a rare achievement, thank God the tapes were rolling that night in February 1964! All of the players far exceed their usual brilliance. In particular I want to point out Herbie's playing on this release. I've always been aware of Herbie Hancocks abilities and brilliance, but his incredibly sensitive touch on those keys is almost overwhelmingly beautiful in places.

Not sure why everyone equates Miles's second great quintet with the addition of Shorter to the Carter-Williams-Hancock group. In my mind the second great quintet started with this band that included Coleman.

It's all good folks. I can't fathom why anyone who in musically knowlegeable would give this release less than 5 stars. Buy this along with its sister release "Four and More" You will not be disappointed!