#13 Honky Tonk - Miles Davis by profyousion
Saturday, February 28th, 2009
get up with it
The signature electronic riffs along with some hot lead/bass guitar licks of “spacejazz” that start this jam have me asking: “to what galaxy are we going”? For that style is the unknown of which I’m sometimes leery.
Have no fear fellow traveler’s, Miles and the crew have a destination in mind. A funk orbit of the planet “honky tonk” in the blues nebula.
Okay, enough of that!
Due to it’s changing meter, honky tonk isn’t predictable, but is contemplative, switching back and forth from funk to blues and back again. The funk is sophisticatedly syncopated with splash accents of trumpet, drums, bass, and guitar. The blues is gut-bucket and mean!
What the fellas do with this tune is some of the best in an almost free form musical exploration.
From the album “Get Up With It” released in ‘74, which is a collection of various tracks over the previous 5 years.
If you listen closely, you may notice the funk groove is slowed down AS the blues groove, kinda like playing a 45rpm at 33rpm.
I wonder could this mean funk is fast blues, or blues is slow funk? Hmmm…
Label Legacy
Orig Year 1974
Personnel Miles Davis - trumpet, piano, organ
Billy Cobham - drums
Airto Moreira - percussion
Michael Henderson - electric bass
Steve Grossman
Badal Roy - tabla
Reggie Lucas
Pete Cosey
Carlos Garnett - soprano saxophone
John Stubblefield
Khalil Balakrishna - electric sitar
Cedric Lawson - Fender Rhodes piano
Dominique Gaumont - guitar
Also: Herbie Hancock, John Mclaughlin, Keith Jarrett, Al Foster, Mtume, Sonny Fortune, Dave Liebman
Get Up With It CD DISC 1:
1. He Loved Him Madly
2. Maiysha
3. Honky Tonk
4. Rated X
Get Up With It Songs DISC 2:
1. Calypso Frelimo
2. Red China Blues
3. Mtume
4. Billy Preston
