When it was decided in 1990 to delve deeply into jazz, there had been a bit of previous toe-dipping through the music of Miles Davis, including his music of the mid to late Eighties (which had some interesting elements) as well as the sublime Kind of Blue (1959) and the phenomenal Bitches Brew (1970). When it was time to take that headlong dive, one of the first recordings purchased was Pangaea, issued in 1991 for the first time in the United States. As testament to how powerful the impact of this album was, the recollection, thirty years later, of where the long box double-disc set was purchased is still crystal clear, even to the exact location on the south wall of the store.
Taking Pangaea home and listening to it was, simply put, a mind-blowing experience. The septet of the leader, Sonny Fortune on saxes and flute, lead guitarist Pete Cosey, guitarist Reggie Lucas (co-producer of Madonna's first album), Michael Henderson on electric bass, drummer Al Foster, and Mtume (James Forman, the son of the great saxophonist Jimmy Heath before he became a pop success), was an incredibly tight and powerful band as they traveled to Japan early in 1975 and performed afternoon and evening concerts in Osaka on 1 February that yielded the albums Agharta, released the following year, and Pangaea, which was withheld for fifteen years. So, while the latter has more of a visceral memory and is now viewed as a classic, because it was the first purchased, the former is generally accounted the better of the two, with the reasoning being that the band had more energy and intensity in the afternoon and showed some fatigue, especially Miles, in the evening, where the playing was somewhat more restrained and with darker and edgier passages reflective, perhaps, of some flagging of energy.
While that debate about which is better is interesting, this admirer doesn't see that much difference, with perhaps more up-tempo, high-energy playing, including by Miles, during the earlier session. There are times during both performances where the band is locked into what seems an eternal groove, with Henderson and Foster (whose stamina and power are something to behold) holding down the steadiest of rhythms, Mtume creating all sorts of fascinating percussive effects, Fortune wailing away on the sax, Lucas keeping his rhythm guitar solid and steady and Cosey, when soloing, elevating his guitar cries to the heavens with some amazing playing. Much of the music on these two albums, however, goes into quieter spaces, almost ambient at times, with stabs of synthesizers and drum machines influenced by the likes of Stockhausen as a counter to the insistent rock and funk elements that pervade many other moments. There are even moments of "old-fashioned" swing and times when Fortune beautifully plays the flute. As for Davis, it was once said that his playing and soloing didn't change even as the music around him did, but he still, at an age much older than his bandmates, had to keep up a terrific and demanding pace to direct and perform with the young ones and he still sounds strong for most of these recordings.
Once Miles and the group returned to the United States there were a few more performances, but in great pain with a variety of physical ailments, hobbled by chemical addictions, and exhausted by a relentless pace going back some thirty years, Davis withdrew from music for five full years. After a haze of drugs, drink and other diversions and hardly leaving his home, Miles returned in 1980 a very different musician. In a creative sense, Agharta and Pangaea were an end of an era and the culmination of three decades of a constant need to change course and pursue "new directions in music," as his albums once proudly stated. Hearing these records remains a powerful experience and definitive statements of an era by a master musician and his stellar band.
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