Miles Beyond : Electric Explorations of Miles Davis, 1967-1991

by Paul Tingen

Presents an in-depth exploration of the musician's controversial electric period and the impact it had on the jazz community, as drawn from firsthand recollections about his artistic and personal life.

Genres: Music, Jazz, Nonfiction, Biography, Music Biography

352 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2001

Reviews

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had some great insights into Miles' electric work from the late 60s onward, as well as some fantastic interviews with the may men who played with Miles during this period. The author spells out lots of cool stuff about the influences Miles took and why he developed in the direction he did throughout the electric portion of his career.

Despite the great content, Tingen was a bit of a know-it-all throughout the book, seemingly dropping references to every bit of intellectual matter he possibly could so that you couldn't ignore how much he knows about...well, everything! He also shoehorned in a lot about zen and a bunch of philosophical theories that I did not think added to the picture of Miles' artistry at all.

Further, Tingen felt overly harsh on a lot of Miles' work that is pretty fantastic. For example, he says On the Corner, universally regarded as a unique and influential masterpiece, was just a fine experiment that planted the seed for other, better works later. In addition, the dude seems a bit arrogant. In the beginning of the book, he says that he is writing the book because jazz critics are not able to accurately assess the worth of Miles' electric music, but he can write about it because of his background in rock music. However, when he later writes about free jazz, he writes off the whole thing as a childish, failed experiment. Why does he have the expertise to make this assessment? Overall, I did not love the author's voice/personality.

So, a good book if you're really into electric Miles, but, be warned, you may be annoyed by the author.

[Karl · Rating 5 out of 5]

In Paul Tingen book "Miles Beyond: Miles Davis, 1967-1991" he gives the reader an in-depth look into Miles Davis's "electric" period from 1967 to 1991. What brought it about and how it impacted his fans.

The book also contains an extensive musician list, discography, bibliography and session information.

[Nathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you play music, don't play the idea that's there, play the next idea. Wait. Wait another beat, or maybe two, and maybe you'll have something that's more fresh. Don't just play from the top of your head, but listen and try to play a little deeper.

This is more of an attitude and a way of thinking about music than a style or a genre. It's a challenge to reevaluate one's basic conceptions -- what music is and how it's to be created. The idea is to be so open that the players are required to be completely present every second.

Don't play what's there. Play what's not there. Listen to what you can leave out. Less ornamentation can sometimes get you closer to the soul and the spirit. Play as if you don't know how to play. Don't follow what the others are doing. Don't finish the phrases that you start.

Collective improvisation in this style is dependent on freshness and unpredictability, intuitive inspiration in the moment, never slipping back into habit. The melody can be in the bass, or a drum sound, or just a sound. And every rhythm can be played three or four different ways.

So don't play too much too soon. Don't jump in too quickly. Take your time, find your pace, develop a solo logically and musically. Listen. Listen before breathing. When you come into any situation, it's the best thing to to: to listen. That is how you learn. Then make music. Play the way you breathe.

By the 70s, the drums and electric bass were the foundation, the rock, of the Miles Davis band. The keyboards and guitars gave a palette of colors, a wall of sound. Then the trumpet galvanizes everything, brings it all together into focus in the beginning, the end, and transitioning from piece to piece. Pure sound, a fantastic, magical sense of space. Establish a mood and it can go on for hours.

Receptivity and awareness are considered feminine traits, as opposed to the masculine domain of domineering and penetrating. For all of the volume and violence of his life and band during these years, his was always a vulnerable, soulful sound. His trumpet more like a human voice, singing rather than playing. Rough and raspy, sad and pained.

Honesty, nobility, darkness. Confidence, control, passion. Like a bomb of energy, riding the waves of the jazz revolutions he pioneered, each decade putting together new bands of fresh talent and taking them in original directions, breathing individuality and innovative expression at every point.

adapted from the text

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Paul Tingen's MILES BEYOND: The Electric Explorations of Miles Davis 1967-1991 is one of the few explorations exclusively of Miles' electric era. The albums from IN A SILENT WAY until Miles' first retirement in 1975 are my favourite of all his output, so I looked forward to reading Tingen's book. The book is indeed informative, covering all the recording sessions, the ever-changing lineup, and Miles' disputes with the label. Perhaps the most interesting portion was Tingen's distinction between Miles' studio lineup and his live band in the era from 1968-1971, revealing that he was actually pursuing different artistic directions at the same time.

But the book desperately needed tighter editing. So much of the book consists only of quotations from Miles' musicians about how great he was. His attempt at connecting Miles' working methods to Zen Buddhism is dilettante, and at one point there's a completely out of place exposition of Ken Wilber's "holon" theory that goes on for page after page. Now that Columbia has released an enormous amount of previously unheard material, such as the "Complete On the Corner Sessions" box, there's an opportunity for a second edition of the book, but I could only hope it would be better edited.

[Jack · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exactly the in-depth overview of Miles' electric period that I needed. He even includes a Sessionography breaking down all the fusion recordings by the dates they were recorded, including who was playing on them and where the recordings can be found. I made a whole playlist based on this information (which is a little outdated now, but still incredibly helpful).

[Gordon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone unfortunate enough to get me onto the subject of music, what I despise about it, and what I like to get my talons into, will no doubt have suffered one of my lengthy polemics about Miles, his electric period, and how only now is his influence on many aspects of contemporary dance music being felt. This is heavy going unless you enjoy music that grips you and becomes a personal adhesive. Like a brazilian waxing, it hurts to pull it off. Miles will remain forever attached to my musical "poonanny" . Booyakasha.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

As anyone who knows me knows, I have no shortage of love for the music of Miles Davis (minus the post-comeback 80's era perhaps). In particular, I've returned to the electric era (roughly '68-'75) over and over again and I can hear something new almost every time. Tingen digs into this era with gusto and, yet, mixed results in Miles Beyond. On one hand, his research is exhaustive and I definitely learned a lot from reading this, especially through the perspectives of his (many!) band members during this time. However, Tingen interjects his personal opinion and makes strange narrative choices (asides, tangents, irrelevant connections) that occasionally left this reader frustrated. I'm not sure why he felt that he had to provide his own opinion on songs, recording details, and pass judgment. Sometimes I agreed with him, but many times I was annoyed that he was critiquing songs and albums that I felt completely differently about. Side note: the photos he included, especially the awful cover photo, were bewildering and of very low quality. The missing star is related to these issues. However, overall, Miles Beyond is well worth the time and incredibly detailed. Tingen does deserve a lot of credit for digging into an era that is complex and overwhelming on many levels.

[S Shah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although Tingen's opinions about what works and what doesnt, and what is of interest and what is not do not always find agreement with my own sensibilities, the content is both insightful and informative. As an amateur musician Enrico Merlin's research into session details and compositional structures proved to consistently be the most fascinating material. An even more technical exploration the rhythmic and harmonic nuances would have been welcome. As it is, despite listening to much of this music for years, the fresh unsdertanding of various nusances and details were enlightening. Tingen's psycho/philosophical analysis magnified the threads that wove the various and many interviews into a coherent picture. The musicians and other associates who worked with Miles also provided candid antecdotes that begin to develop into a blueprint for the way the man worked, if, perhaps the way he lived remains something of a mystery. Overall, a very informative work that left me hungry for more; a favor to Tingen's contemporary biographers, perhaps.

[Todd Meigs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic overview of Miles' later period music. What I really liked was Tingen's specific analysis of songs and albums. For example, he listed all of the different edits in "Pharoah's Dance" so that you could really get a sense of what was done in the studio to assemble the music. It provided me with a framework through which I could start to understand the reasons why I found this music so compelling. Bonus points for intelligently linking Miles' approach to Integral and Ken Wilber's idea of "transcend and include", and for not glossing over the effect of Miles' often chaotic personal life on his music. I'm sure i'll be going back to this book for years to come.

[Kiof · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really really comprehensive while not being that long of a book. The author seems to have interviewed nearly every important musician, and is perceptive about the inner workings of the music (though I would give On the Corner more credit than this book does). More insightful than Miles’ autobiography, too, of course.

[Eric Bur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing study of the Miles Davis electric years, which I had previously ignored, save for Bitches Brew. At one point the author was posting updates online.

[Jake Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a student journalist, I was overwhelmed at the sheer level of research and access Paul Tingen put into this critical biography of Miles Davis' most overlooked years. His book contains the amount of first-hand accounts and objective analysis normally reserved for a biography of a great world leader, and it is a delight to see such loving attention paid to who I believe was the most important American musician of the 20th century, perhaps in this nation's young history.

By the same token, as a journalist I am also keenly aware that Tingen falls into the amateur's trap of being so proud of the notes he got that he couldn't leave anything out. The introduction and first two chapters of Miles Beyond are tedious, borderline unreadable. Tingen barely adds anything of his own, instead using repetitive quotes to show off how many of Miles' former bandmates, friends and managers spoke to him. Tingen also, despite assuring the reader that he will not use let his background with Zen Buddhism take over his interpretation of Miles' life and work, immediately defines Davis in terms of Zen Buddhism.

Thankfully, once Tingen moves into the actual electric music with Miles' full foray into electric music, In a Silent Way, the book picks up considerably. Tingen starts to balance the anecdotes with his own input, and his knowledge of musical structure and, more impressively, the exact details of Miles' sessions and what sections of each song cobbled together by Teo Macero come from which players. Miles' work with Macero rivals the Beatles' symbiotic relationship with George Martin, and for Tingen to be able to figure out they pieced together Miles' jazz-rock-Indian-funk mashup is nothing short of impressive. I especially appreciated the serious and positive evaluation given to Miles' '73-'75 band, which I feel is Davis' artistic peak.

Miles Beyond stumbles again near the end when Tingen half-heartedly defends Miles' '80s comeback despite the clear suggestions of his distaste for most of it. Still, he finds the diamonds in the rough of this spotty artistic coda and manages to paint the electronic experimentation brought on by Miles' degenerating physical health as a believable continuation of his musical exploration. Despite these hiccups and the occasional repeat quote (maybe Tingen himself lost track of all he'd used), Miles Beyond is a vital document of a fascinating and underreported stage of a great career. It's like getting a volume on Godard dedicated solely to his post-Weekend work, something that ignores the indisputably great but already canonized early years of a great artist to finally give overlooked decades their due. With some tightening and an updated edition taking subsequent vault releases into account, Miles Beyond could be an essential critical biography. Let's hope the Miles Davis Estate stops holding Tingen back on this front.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Miles Beyond is a great companion to understanding the often confusing electric music of Miles Davis. The copious research and interviews with Miles' former band members makes Tingen's book one of the most complete works on the electric era. While the author clearly favors the 70s jazz-rock era over the 80s fusion he still gives sufficient detail on all parts of Miles' career. The author seems greatly inspired by the music throughout and I would suggest this book to anyone unsure about the electric era of Miles Davis.

[Jamil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun Fact!: Thom Yorke on Bitches Brew: "It was at the core of what we were trying to do with OK Computer." I only read the chapters concerned with Bitches Brew & Jack Johnson. Seems like a good book though if you are interested in electric, "fusion" Miles. I'll probably come back to it once I actually listen to more of the music.

[Brandon Wu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tingen gives a great overview of Miles' fusion output during the latter part of his career, going into great detail about each recording while still managing to keep a momentum throughout that keeps the entire book fascinating. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in this phase of Miles' career.

[Koven Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best straightforward analysis of Miles' work, and without a doubt the ONLY book that deals with his electric period in a responsible way. Reading this actually changed the way I hear a lot of Miles' electric music, which is hard for me to admit. Wonderful!

[Onsetsu Evan Cordes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great details on both studio and live sessions.

Could do without a bit of the hypothesizing by the author, but it really isn't too bad.

Focuses way more on the 70's music than the 80's. For good reason.

Solid.

[Rob · Rating 4 out of 5]

interesting. it's amusing to read between the lines decades later to see who holds a chip on their shoulder and who doesn't.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing and reverent look at Miles late electric period. Definitely opens a whole new look at this most understood music.

[Dean Wilcox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great detail on Miles' electric period. Good info from the musicians that helped make that sound come into being.