Medulla - review

Carlos Santana put this wonderful release into a historical context when he spoke about it in a recent documentary about Miles Davis’ ‘electric period’. What he said was so obvious that I find it would be a mistake not to repeat it for all to hear and know. I do feel slightly hesitant in doing this because, for me, this album was never about the history, it was just pure calm beauty, and that’s all I ever heard when I put it on, it was a very focused beauty that drifted, and had nothing to do with history. Perhaps that’s still true, but regardless, “This was a very soothing music” said the wise and, at this point, seasoned guitar legend, his moustache still defiant, his face full of specific precision and care when attempting to describe ‘In a silent way’. “But you have to understand, that this was coming out at the end of the 60’s, the Vietnam was was going on, Martin Luther King was assassinated, Malcom X, civil riots, and this was a very soothing music which came out of such brutal times”. I paraphrase, but that was the essence of what he said.

Miles Davis music from that period (mid/late 60’s to mid 70’s) seems almost like an alien entity, an unknown quantity. It has always seemed like that, and based on my observations of fellow-artists and young people, I think the ‘alien-ness’ of Miles’ music would probably be felt by many people of my generation who were raised on much more obvious and specifically focused forms of art/music; hip-hop being the prime example. Nothing is spoken in Jazz, it is pure sound, and with the Miles Davis of this period, that Jazz is made even more abstract by the fact that it is almost devoid of melody, it is just wandering, varying sounds coming from almost totally random places. Nothing about it makes sense.

Compared to the recordings he made immediately before and after, ‘In a silent way’ stands out like a midnight blue chandelier lying at the center of a black cave. Just as with Rodrigo and Miles’ magic on ‘Sketches of Spain’, credit has to go to Joe Zawinul who actually wrote that main theme. The sparks and angel-drops of notation and soul that John McLaughlin puts into the piece with his guitar are also worthy of the highest praise, as is the production work of Teo Macero, who, in my opinion, could be regarded as the worlds first hip-hop producer. No one else could have brought all those elements together to make that wonderful music but the main man himself. It needed Miles to understand the full scope of that sound, in the way that only he could, and to run it through his horn, to orchestrate it to such a delicate and perfect degree.

The whole album is a listening experience that can be taken with you anywhere, and you can be soothed anywhere by it. It could obviously be played in those ‘most brutal of times’ as a remedy, however its subtlety of sound means it can be played in an endless amount of situations and different benefits will be had every time. It is like a jewel viewed from many different angles. Even in the dark this music would shine.

Y.Misdaq aka Yoshi, 4th Oct 2005