Miles Davis with Quincy Jones & the Gil Evans Orchestra Live at Montreux Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Miles Davis with Quincy Jones & the Gil Evans Orchestra Live at Montreux Blu-ray Movie Review

The cool lives on.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 13, 2013

Claude Nobs may not be a name that’s overly familiar to many who consider themselves relatively well schooled in 20th (and early 21st) century music, and yet it’s arguable he helped shape the face of one of the most unique art forms of all time: jazz. Nobs had the good fortune to be born and raised in one of the most picturesque sites imaginable, the lovely city of Montreux, Switzerland. Through a variety of happy accidents, Nobs managed to make some connections in the United States music business while he ended up working for the tourism industry in Montreux. Somehow he got the bright idea to combine these two seemingly disparate elements and the Montreux Jazz Festival was born in 1967. While the Festival began with jazz and only jazz in mind, over the years Nobs and his staff opened it up and it began featuring a number of high profile pop, rock and folk acts. Legendary trumpeter Miles Davis had his own long history with the Montreux Jazz Festival, appearing there several times between 1973 and 1991. As Nobs reveals in a sweet interview that’s included on this Blu-ray as a supplement, he met Davis quite by chance outside one blistering summer day when Miles was on his way to a stage to perform. The shirt Nobs was wearing evidently caught Miles’ notoriously moody eye, and the jazzman complimented Nobs on it. Without even so much as the blink of an eye, Nobs literally took the shirt off of his back and handed it to Miles, which actually brought a smile to the often brusque legend.

It was a graceful gesture, and one that perhaps instantly endeared Nobs to Davis, and Davis repaid that kindness over the years with a series of performances that have had CD and DVD releases, but no Blu-ray releases until now. This particular performance is especially historic in that it pairs Davis with another legend, Quincy Jones, for (as unbelievable as it may sound) the first time ever on stage. Making it even more spectacular is the fact that the concert is an homage to one of Davis’ greatest (if sadly unsung and still underappreciated) collaborators, the amazing arranger and orchestrator Gil Evans. Evans and Davis are often credited with giving birth to the so-called “cool jazz” movement which emerged from the shadows of both bebop and the then-dying big band era to become a dominant force in the late forties and fifties. In one of the great ironies of the semi-modern recording industry, though Evans and Davis recorded several sides in 1949-50 with their groundbreaking ideas, The Birth of the Cool didn’t reach record stores until 1957, almost simultaneously with the first “real” Davis-Evans collaboration, Miles Ahead. Davis and Evans reteamed several more times for such masterpieces as Porgy and Bess and Sketches of Spain. Though Davis especially disliked it and raised quite a fuss when it was released against his wishes, Quiet Nights remains a beautifully wrought jewel that combines Evans’ totally unique voicings for brass within a more or less general context of the then-hot bossa nova.

I came dangerously close to opening for Miles Davis when I was still a smart aleck kid convinced that I was the greatest thing to hit jazz since—well, since Miles Davis. A frankly kind of sleazy promoter with whom I had a passing acquaintance approached me about the gig, but he needed some more money to secure Miles. I called my Dad, who put up the requisite amount (which was an appallingly little sum, now that I think back on it, especially for a musician of Miles’ caliber), but the deal ultimately fell through, due I believe to Miles’ recurring problems with phlebitis. I say “dangerously close” because I’m sure I would have been eaten alive by someone of Miles’ temperament, especially since I was still quite young and too full of myself. Davis had a famously prickly demeanor a lot of the time and raised quite a few hackles for his live performance style over the years, which would include such bizarre traits as turning his back on the audience when he soloed. While it can’t be stated that he’s “warm and fuzzy” in any way during this concert, he’s at least facing the audience, which I guess is a step in the right direction. There’s little if any emotion on his face during the hour or so he’s on stage, and in fact he seems kind of remote, an Olympian God above the rabble of the band and especially the audience. (Note how fellow trumpeter Wallace Roney is relegated to page turner for Miles to see how detached Davis really is, though that may simply be a sign of deference from Roney, who had a rather close relationship with Davis.)

Davis was a pretty understated soloist after his bebop phase, especially in his collaborations with Evans, where Davis seemed to understand almost intuitively that he was part of a larger canvas instead of typical frontman. That means that for the most part during this concert his solo comments are somewhat limited and discursive, and the vast bulk of them are played with a mute, making them even less showy. Roney and saxophonist Kenny Garrett offer much more fiery blasts of improvisation, adding some nice energy to the proceedings. The real standout here, though, is Evans’ immaculate arranging skills. His completely distinctive blending of brass and winds has never been equaled, and under Q’s calm but assured direction, this legacy band brings those arrangements into full flower, creating a swirling tapestry around which Davis and his cohorts are able to weave their own intimate magic.

The setlist for this concert includes:

• 01. Boplicity
• 02. Maids of Cadiz
• 03. The Duke
• 04. My Ship
• 05. Miles Ahead
• 06. Blues for Pablo
• 07. Orgone
• 08. Gone, Gone, Gone
• 09. Summertime
• 10. Here Come De Honey Man
• 11. The Pan Piper
• 12. Solea

Miles Davis with Quincy Jones & the Gil Evans Orchestra Live at Montreux Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Miles Davis With Quincy Jones and The Gil Evans Orchestra Live at Montreux is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eagle Eye Media (yet another imprint of Eagle Rock, which seems to have more sublabels than any other distributor I can think of) with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. The bulk of this high definition presentation looks rather good, though there are some noticeable issues along the way. The first problem occurs with an upstage camera, which was either defective or had smudges on its lens, for there are several huge blotches which are clearly visible when it's pointed directly at the blue lighting downstage. Luckily this camera is not used much during the actual concert and these issues occur mostly during the introductions when various players take the stage. However, that very blue lighting creates some softness issues which are prevalent in midrange and wide shots. That tendency is balanced by some amazing sharpness and clarity in close-ups (take a look at Davis' wrinkled fingers in the screenshot accompanying this review for a great example). While everything being bathed in blue light robs the image of some detail and color accuracy, overall this is an above average high definition presentation that should please most fans.

Miles Davis with Quincy Jones & the Gil Evans Orchestra Live at Montreux Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Miles Davis With Quincy Jones and The Gil Evans Orchestra Live at Montreux features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround mix as well as an uncompressed LPCM 2.0 stereo fold down. Once the music starts, both of these tracks offer superior fidelity and remarkable clarity. There's a weird anomaly on the 5.1 track in the early going before the music starts, where the ambient audience noise sounds like it's been phase shifted, with that peculiar white noise swirling sound that's hard to describe but will be immediately apparent to most listeners. It seems to be a processing or monitor situation that dissipates once the music gets underway. The 5.1 track offers some nice discrete separation of instruments. Davis' muted trumpet is just a tad on the bright side for my personal tastes, although others may like the somewhat brittle sound of his instrument. The Evans Orchestra sounds fantastic, with clearly delineated inner lines and excellent reproduction of all instruments.

Miles Davis with Quincy Jones & the Gil Evans Orchestra Live at Montreux Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Claude Nobs Interview (480i; 27:04). This is a wonderful set of reminiscences from Nobs, who recounts quite a bit of his extended history with Miles.


• About Miles Davis (480i; 46:19) includes briefer interviews with many legendary players who provide some great anecdotes about him. These include Monty Alexander, Helen Merrill, Betty Carter, Charlie Haden, Gil Goldstein, Stanley Clarke, Jean-Luc Ponty, Al DiMeola and Michel Petruccianni.

Miles Davis with Quincy Jones & the Gil Evans Orchestra Live at Montreux Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

1991 proved to be the last year that Miles Davis appeared at Montreux (he returned a couple of weeks after these performances for his final bow with the Festival). It's remarkable that Nobs had the presence of mind to get these historic performances recorded, and it's a wonderful treat to be able to see and hear them now in high definition. Though there are some minor niggling issues with both the video and audio on this release, they're insubstantial enough to give Miles Davis With Quincy Jones and The Gil Evans Orchestra Live at Montreux a hearty Highly recommended.