Miles Davis

Miles Davis performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival an astounding eight times, seven of which occurred during the last eight years of his life. Live At Montreux illustrates why the festival's founder broke his rule and allowed the now mythical Davis to play the festival two years in a row. The highlight is the 27-minute "Ife," from 1973, which marks the debut of any video footage from Davis's criminally maligned Big Fun/On The Corner period and it's a monster. Michael Henderson lays down an entrancing four-note bass riff that develops into a sea of funky, improvisatory cosmic slop that's incited by Mtume and Al Foster's African percussion as a cooler than cool Davis, resplendent in oversized thick shades, conducts the action with hand gestures and nudges, alternating between wah-wah pedal trumpet and a Yamaha keyboard. Subsequent performances from the '80s are equally sizzling, particularly "Jo Jo," from 1989, which sees Davis incorporating synthesizers, drum pads and sampling into a tripping go-go groove. The disc closes with a performance of "The Pan Piper" and "Solea," from Sketches of Spain, shot three months before his death in 1991. With Quincy Jones conducting and backed by the Gil Evans Orchestra and the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, a frail Miles delivers one last haunting solo that brings this collection to a somber, meditative conclusion.